# When was the last recorded brawl in the US House of Representatives or Senate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 28, 2021, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678 "2021-08-28T16:16:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/1 "2021-08-28T16:16:27Z")
When was the last recorded brawl in the US House of Representatives or Senate ? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/2 "2021-08-28T16:29:35Z")
There were other skirmishes between individual reps but it seems that this was the last all-out melee (1858, just before the Civil War). > **[The Most Infamous Floor Brawl in the History of the U.S. House of...](https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/The-most-infamous-floor-brawl-in-the-history-of-the-U-S--House-of-Representatives/)** > > The most infamous floor brawl in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives erupted as Members debated the Kansas Territory’s pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution late into the night of February 5-6. Shortly before 2 a.m., Pennsylvania Republican... ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/3 "2021-08-28T16:46:31Z")
Thanks asahi. I’m curious as to why it hasn’t occurred again since then. Are there logistical reasons or are Congressmen (and women) more restrained than in other countries where brawls occur quite frequently. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/4 "2021-08-28T18:16:10Z")
Members of either house are subject to chamber rules, with violations of those rules having consequences including arrest by the Sgt at Arms, criminal convictions, formal censure, and in extreme cases, even expulsion by the full House. The most infamous cases of legislative violence at the federal level occurred in the years leading up to the Civil War, but there have been a few dust-ups in the years since. Almost all of these, however, have been bad blood between individual lawmakers that eventually led to fisticuffs. I think the last one involved Bob Dornan R-CA, who was known to be abrasive and wasn’t afraid to personally and publicly insult other members. What I remember most about Bob Dornan, though, were his numerous midnight harangues in an empty House, which could be viewed late at night if you were flipping through channels and happened to land on C-SPAN. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/5 "2021-08-28T18:56:12Z")
LOL one of my ancestors was involved in that. Have to love someone willing to wade into a fracas with a blackthorn cane =) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/6 "2021-08-28T21:58:03Z")
It stopped just short of physical violence, but the 1890 House battle between Republicans under Speaker Tom Reed, and minority Democrats attempting to thwart legislation by “silent filibuster” was… entertaining. “…the Democrats foamed with rage. A hundred of them “were on their feet howling for recognition,” wrote Dunn of the AP. Little Joe Wheeler, a famous former Confederate cavalry general, unable to reach the front because of the crowded aisles, came down from the rear, “leaping from desk to desk as an ibex leaps from crag to crag.” As the excitement grew wilder, the only Democrat not on his feet was a huge representative from Texas who sat in his seat significantly whetting a bowie knife on his boot…” …“members rushed madly about the floor, the scowl of battle upon their brows…shouting in a mad torrent of eloquent invective.” “They called Reed tyrant, despot, and dictator, hurling epithets like stones, even threatening to pull him bodily from the chair.” - Barbara Tuchman in _The Proud Tower_. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/7 "2021-08-28T22:16:48Z")
> [@Octagon](#): > > Thanks asahi. I’m curious as to why it hasn’t occurred again since then. Are there logistical reasons or are Congressmen (and women) more restrained than in other countries where brawls occur quite frequently. I’ve wondered the same thing: I’ve attributed it to the lack of party discipline in the USA (less a gang, more a paid employee of the district). If so, we may yet see brawling return. In the Australian parliament, there is a large table in the center of the chamber. By intention, the table is wide enough so that you can’t reach across it with a sword or a baseball bat… ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/8 "2021-08-28T23:12:10Z")
Canada too seats the opposing sides 2 sword lengths apart, and the speaker of the house has a ceremonial mace to maintain order ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/9 "2021-08-28T23:21:08Z")
Not the House, but two senators got into a wrestling match outside a committee hearing in 1964. Strom Thurmond (still a Democrat at the time) was denying the committee a quorum to vote on an LBJ civil rights appointee. Sen. Ralph Yarborough (D) of Texas playfully gestured to pull Thurmond into the room only to be repeatedly pinned to the floor by Thurmond. This went on for about ten minutes until the committee chairman was called from the hearing to break it up. Both senators played it off as friendly horseplay (as 61 year old men are wont to do). ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-recorded-brawl-in-the-us-house-of-representatives-or-senate/949678/10 "2021-08-28T23:31:55Z")
It got close on January 6. Not sure I’d like to tangle with former NBA player Al Lawson > **[Tallahassee Congressman Al Lawson reportedly involved in U.S. Capitol floor...](https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/07/congressman-al-lawson-reportedly-involved-capitol-floor-altercation/6578762002/)** > > Lawson rallied with other Democrats to form a defensive line around one of his colleagues on the floor of the U.S. House. Even today, he’s an imposing physical specimen