Thomas Brackett Reed

Defining a “statesman” as “a successful politician who is dead,” Thomas Brackett Reed gave himself some latitude in pursuing his goals as a congressional leader. His leadership style is encapsulated in the Reed Rules, which serve as the institutional foundation of the modern House of Representatives and as a metaphor for the practice of power politics for partisan ends. Thomas Brackett Reed tells the story of a roller-coaster career in the Gilded Age. Speaker Reed reached a pinnacle when Republi