Congress Needs Help

Abstract

Congress Needs Help, an NBC News documentary that aired at 10 p.m. November 24, 1965, detailed problems and suggestions for improvement in America's legislative machinery. It is notable for its sweeping scope and because NBC News commissioned a $100,000 organizational efficiency study to underpin the documentary's research. The broadcast spawned a pamphlet circulated to every member of Congress, a Random House book, and legislative reform. The story of Congress Needs Help also offers a glimpse into the effects of seniority on committee obstructions to civil rights legislation and very early criticism of congressional oversight of President Johnson's Vietnam War policy. Using archival methods in primary documents, this article examines the history of the film and assesses its impact and unique place in documentary journalism history.

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Notes on contributors

Thomas A. Mascaro

THOMAS A. MASCARO is a professor at Bowling Green State University's School of Media & Communication and author of Into the Fray: How NBC's Washington Documentary Unit Reinvented the News. A Moody Grant (2006) from the LBJ Foundation supported research used in this article and travel to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library & Museum. The author also acknowledges the assistance of Dr. Kenneth Kato, associate historian, Office of the Historian of the House of Representatives, for a conversation about congressional history and practices.