76th United States Congress

76th United States Congress
75th ←
→ 77th

January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1941
Members96 senators
435 representatives
5 non-voting delegates
Senate majorityDemocratic
Senate PresidentJohn N. Garner (D)
House majorityDemocratic
House SpeakerWilliam B. Bankhead (D)
(until September 15, 1940)
Sam Rayburn (D)
(from September 16, 1940)
Sessions
1st: January 3, 1939 – August 5, 1939
2nd: September 21, 1939 – November 3, 1939
3rd: January 3, 1940 – January 3, 1941

The 76th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.[1][2] It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 1939, to January 3, 1941, during the seventh and eighth years of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the 1930 United States census.

Both chambers had a Democratic majority - holding a supermajority in the Senate, but a greatly reduced majority in the House, thus losing the supermajority there. With President Roosevelt, the Democrats maintained an overall federal government trifecta.

The 76th is also the most recent Congress to have held a third session.

Chaplain of the United States Senate ZeBarney Thorne Phillips delivering prayer to open the session
  1. ^ Riddick, Floyd M. (1939). "First Session of the Seventy-sixth Congress, January 3 to August 5, 1939". American Political Science Review. 33 (6): 1022–1043. doi:10.2307/1948729. ISSN 0003-0554.
  2. ^ Riddick, Floyd M. (1941). "Third Session of the Seventy-sixth Congress, January 3, 1940, to January 3, 1941". American Political Science Review. 35 (2): 284–303. doi:10.2307/1948700. ISSN 0003-0554.