period book ended by eisenhower and jfk. as a kid in the 1880s grew up on a cotton farm in springs, texas, presided over congresses that declared war multiple times during world war ii and passed major legislation including the first civil rights act since reconstruction in 1957. the creation of nasa and the admission of alaska and hawaii as the 49 th and 50th states. there have been other legendary house speakers. tip o neill during the reagan years. and john william mccormick, a bostonian whose house during the 88th passed the civil rights act of 6 4. as well as notoriously the gulf of tonkin resolution that dragged us deeper into vietnam. columbia university historian alan brinkley called the 111th congress with the first woman