Did you know the famous “Do Nothing Congress” of 1947-1948 actually accomplished a great deal? I didn’t. When I interviewed him for my dissertation, National Journal’s Carl Cannon pointed me to this piece of his (NJ sub. req.), which debunks the myth:

By 1948, while running for his own election, Truman denounced his rivals as the “Do-Nothing” Congress. Actually, the 80th Congress created the Air Force, the CIA, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and funded every element of the Truman Doctrine, including the Marshall Plan. “It’s astounding the things that Congress accomplished,” says congressional scholar Michael Robinson, co-author of an account of the 80th Congress. “It’s a complete crock to call it a ‘Do-Nothing’ Congress. And Truman knew it.”

But Truman also knew that despite the significant accomplishments of the 80th Congress, many Americans had concluded that with their myriad investigations and oversight hearings, Republicans had overindulged their partisan impulses, giving credence to accusations of gridlock.

“Even though they did so much, there were a lot of partisan clashes, and oversight-type investigations that went too far,” congressional expert Norman Ornstein says. “The lesson here is that except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Congress cannot stage a confrontation with the president and win.”

Democrats of the present day, beware…