Before World War II, Congress spent less than half the year in session. With government increasingly active in meeting domestic and foreign challenges in the postwar years, Congress became a fully staffed, year-round legislative body.

After the war, anxiety fueled by the Cold War helped Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin use the Senate to hunt for Communists allegedly working in the government. A decade later, in the 1960s, civil rights and the Vietnam War dominated Senate debate. In the 1970s, the Senate Watergate Committee investigated presidential misconduct, while members also focused attention on Southeast Asia, the Soviet Union, and the Panama Canal. As the 20th century gave way to the 21st, worldwide issues of poverty, disease, and illiteracy inflamed the international political climate and required attention from U.S. policymakers.

Continuity

The Senate has changed significantly over the past two centuries. However, despite important innovations, the Senate remains a symbol of continuity. Senators still treasure the tradition of virtually unlimited debate. They enjoy the ability to amend legislation throughout the legislative process. The Senate still conducts groundbreaking investigations, and scrutinizes—and sometimes rejects—presidential nominations to executive and judicial offices. As Senator Henry Cabot Lodge observed more than one hundred years ago, “Administrations come and go, Houses assemble and disperse, Senators change, but the Senate is always there in the Capitol, and always organized, with an existence unbroken since 1789.”