The Freshmen: What Happened to the Republican Revolution

Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998. First Printing. Hardcover. Very good/very good. 24 cm. xvi, 463, [1] pages. Illustrations. Appendix: Freshmen Elected in 1994. Index. TLS by the author and publisher's ephemera laid in. Linda Killian is a journalist and senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She has been a columnist for Politico, U.S. News & World Report, and Politics Daily. She has also written for The Washington Post, The New Republic, and The Weekly Standard, and other national publications. She is the author of The Freshmen: What Happened to the Republican Revolution? She is a nationally-recognized expert on independent voters and was the founder of Independent Americans United. She is the creator of the Boston University Washington Journalism Center. Killian was the senior editor of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and was responsible for the editorial content of NPR's national evening news program. She has a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. "The Freshmen was praised by The New York Review of Books and other reviewers as a colorful, well-written and insightful analysis of what happened to the congressional Republicans of 1994. Killian explains how Gingrich and the Republicans tried but failed to change American politics. "The Freshmen" reveals the maneuvering and intrigues, the successes and failures of the 104th Republican Congress and is based on two years of reporting and hundreds of interviews. The book is considered the definitive work on the Class of '94 and Killian has been quoted in Time magazine, The Washington Post and Politico. In November 1994 the Republicans won control of both Houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years in a victory they immediately dubbed the Republican Revolution. Swept into office in that election were 73 Republican freshmen, the storm troopers in Newt Gingrich's army. The Freshmen is the inside story of those men and women and of the tumultuous 104th Congress, one of the most historic and eventful congresses in recent history. The freshmen were at the heart of the Republican revolution. Journalist Linda Killian presents a revealing portrait of their maneuvering and intrigues, their successes and failures. Were they committed idealists or wild-eyed zealots. Killian reveals how Congress really works through amazingly candid conversations with the freshmen. She offers a probing and intimate character study of the colorful and always unpredictable freshmen who shared their private thoughts with her. In early 1995 the Republicans were riding high but they were sent crashing by the government shutdown. Killian explains how they rebounded from that disastrous political maneuver to maintain control of Congress despite Bill Clinton's reelection to the presidency, and also explains how the Republican revolution never really existed. Despite being labeled Gingrich clones when they arrived in Washington, in 1997 the freshmen attempted to overthrow Newt Gingrich as speaker of the House. Killian tells the real story of that failed coup. This book is the first detailed, behind the scenes account of the entire 104th Congress and is based on two years of extensive reporting and hundreds of interviews. Killian goes beyond the headlines to show us the power struggles through the eyes of the freshmen. She takes us to the House floor, the committee rooms and private offices of Congress and follows the freshmen back to their districts in small town America in places like Crossville, Tennessee; Wamego, Kansas and Janesville, Wisconsin. We meet class everyman Van Hilleary of Tennessee; firebrand and troublemaker Mark Neumann; former entertainer Sonny Bono; Enid Greene Waldholtz who is forced to leave Congress in disgrace and Sam Brownback who uses his freshman notoriety to win Bob Dole's seat in the U.S. Senate. The Freshmen is a fascinating look at who the freshmen are and why they are different from other politicians. What did they actually accomplish and how did they change American politics? Much more than just the story of the Republican freshmen, this is the story of power and democracy, a vivid portrait of our times and of the issues facing our nation as we head into the 21st century. Derived from a Kirkus Review: An engrossing look at the 104th Congress, in which Republicans, their ranks bolstered by first-time legislators, took control of the House of Representatives. Killian's book is successful largely thanks to her focus on a handful of the freshmen and the key issues that made the 104th Congress important. Rep. Van Hilleary of Tennessee is among the lawmakers Killian portrays. She dubs him the "Everyman" of the freshman class, and his thoughts and feelings in the period following his election, during crises such as the two government shutdowns that marred the Congress, and throughout his reelection campaign, are given strong emphasis. Florida's Mark Foley is similarly illustrative for Killian, except that he's not a "True Believer" (as the young anti-establishment conservatives of the 104th Congress dubbed themselves) but a moderate on social issues. Although it is clear that Killian takes issue with the opinions of many of her subjects, she's also ready to blame President Clinton for failures during that period. She argues, for instance, that the government stalemate in early 1996 was used by Clinton to advance political goals, despite the detrimental effects on both parties and on a large segment of the American people. The other, less likely, villain in Killian's study is Newt Gingrich, who increasingly comes to view the freshmen as an unruly group of men and women who frequently vote their conscience and not as he, the party leader, dictates. The end result of the 104th Congress—that the electorate chose in 1996 to keep the executive and legislative branches of government divided—is indicative of the times in that, as Killian writes, "it seemed to suit the voters' desire for marginalism rather than dramatic change in either direction." Moving pre-mortem material on Sonny Bono adds a light touch, as well, to Killian's fair, thoughtful, and eminently readable account.