REVIEW
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Title: Barred by Congress: How a Mormon, a Socialist, and an African American Elected by the People Were Excluded from Office
Author: Robert M. Lichtman
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Genre: Political History
Year Published: 2022
Number of Pages: 420
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0700632725
Price: $34.41
Reviewed by Conor Hilton for the Association for Mormon Letters
Barred by Congress: How a Mormon, a Socialist, and an African American Elected by the People Were Excluded from Office by Robert M. Lichtman is a book that implies some comparative possibilities and empathetic directions for Mormon thought that I find remarkably fruitful and generative. Lightman relates the history of three men, B.H. Roberts, Victor L. Berger, and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., each excluded from the House of Representatives after being elected. In Lichtman’s telling these were the last three elected people to be excluded from office.
Key to the book’s discussion in each of the three cases is the distinction between exclusion and expulsion. Exclusion occurs prior to a member of Congress taking their oath and being seated. Expulsion is a removal from office after the oath has been taken. The closeness of these terms can cause some confusion if Barred by Congress is not read carefully and slowly.
The book has three parts, one dedicated to each of the three men, which focus largely on the events leading up to and following exclusion. Lichtman does offer a couple of chapters dedicated to providing a fuller biography of each of the figures pre-exclusion, at least in part because the exclusion debates for each of the men relate to earlier events (Roberts’ polygamy and Mormonism, Berger’s anti-war stance and socialist politics, and Powell’s (mis)use of various funds).
I found the first two sections far more engaging than the third, which I think dragged a bit. This is perhaps due to my own interests, which are much more aligned with the Mormon Studies angle of the first section and the anti-war/radical politics angle of the second than the political corruption and race-relations angle of the third. That said, the implicit connections being drawn by Lichtman between these different stories speaks to me about the need for Mormons and Latter-day Saints to use the very real political, legal, and other structural persecution of our past to develop solidarity with a range of groups and folks facing such persecution today.
The details of all of these cases often had my blood boiling at the injustices these men faced—William Randolph Hearst starting a nationwide year-long newspaper campaign to smear Roberts and the Church all to deny him his rightfully elected seat? The labeling of Berger as a traitor simply because he personally was opposed to WWI and wrote editorials about it being a class war and labor-oriented decision? The targeting of Powell for corruption even though white elected officials behaved similarly without repercussions?
Barred by Congress is a dense, thoughtful description of these events, inviting comparisons between them. The book is primarily a political and legal history, rooted in Lichtman’s experience with a special commission concerning Powell’s seating. Lichtman’s work is great for folks interested in an academic, legally-minded approach to an important element of Mormon history and especially for those also interested in antiwar or other Socialist politics as well as the early Civil Rights movement, race relations, and political corruption. Barred by Congress is a fascinating, thoughtful, enraging read perfect for all your antiwar, antiracist Mormon friends and family.