Speaker of the House
Once considered the most powerful man in Washington, Congressman Thomas B. Reed, of Portland, left a legacy so complicated politicians are still squabbling over it.
By Jim Brunelle
Earlier this year, as members of the U.S. Senate girded for battle over the so-called "nuclear option" -- a plan to dump the traditional filibuster rule with respect to judicial appointments -- conservative Republicans in Maine invoked the spirit of native Thomas B. Reed in support of the idea.Reed, the nineteenth-century congressman who turns up on just about everybody's list of great U.S. House Speakers, is best remembered for breaking the "silent filibuster" or "silent veto," a parliamentary trick that once allowed a willful minority to bring congressional business to a halt whenever it chose.
