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2 MR. GORE GOES TO WASHINGTON A SHORT TIME after arriving in Washington, Gore received a special invitation to visit the White House. The young congressman's opposition to President Roosevelt's housing bill was the reason for the honor. The thirty-two-year-old Gore arrived with a new briefcase full of documents, prepared to point out to the president the shortcomings of his public housing bill. Instead of the anticipated discussion on housing, the charming Roosevelt shared with Gore his vision for relieving the desperate economic plight of America's farmers and workers. The discussion of an annual wage and full employment "was such music to the ears of a young Populist from Tennessee" that Gore never got around to explaining his position on the housing bill. He was so distracted that a presidential aide had to retrieve the unopened briefcase he had left behind in the Oval Room on his departure.1 This visit to the White House would not be his last. Gore arrived in Washington in January 1939, an important juncture in U.S. history. The ravages of the Great Depression, while still felt, had subsided somewhat. The nation's focus remained on economic recovery, but the New Deal had stalled. Increasingly , international relations took center stage, especially fascist aggression in Europe and Asia. Within a short time, the country would find itself embroiled in a world war, and Gore would become involved in a whole series of issues including price controls, the developmentof the atomic bomb, and preparations for the postwar world. As with most members of his generation, World War II dramatically changed his life and attitudes. Congressman Gore's journey to the nation's capital had commenced soon after Christmas Day 1938, when he, Pauline, Nancy, and Nancy's nurse, Ocie Bell, bundled up and piled into the car for the drive to Washington. As the car pulled away, it was unlikely that his father gave him the sendoff that SamJohnson gave his son, Lyndon: "Now you get up there, support FDR all the way, never shimmy and give 'em hell."2 The two-day trip from Carthage through the Appalachian Mountains and up the Shenandoah Valley to Arlington, Virginia, took on symbolic significance as little Nancy took her first steps along the way. Once there, the Gore family rented a room for $62.50 a month and began their life in Washington society.3 41 The young couple was frugal, much like the entire generation that matured during the Great Depression. Gore's congressional salary was $7,500 per year, by far his largest earnings to date, and would have been sufficient to purchase a home. It was the bustling Washington of the New Deal, housing was readily available, and a home would have been a good investment. Yet Gore's political principles dictated that the family would rent because he believed that as long as he represented the people of Tennessee, he should maintain his permanent residence in Carthage.4 Gore began preparing for the upcoming session by hiring a staff and moving into his office. Pauline played a substantial role by helping him organize the office. She would run the day-to-day operations and allow him to concentrate on studying the issues. With staff members, she helped with the mail, greeted constituents, and handled everyday duties. In the early stages of his career, Gore's most significant influence was Cordell Hull. A frequent adviser to Tennessee legislators, Hull told Gore to keep his mouth shut early and "learn the rules of the congress procedure, make friends of all congressmen whether Democrat or Republican and don't be afraid to speak on all subjects before the House plus study the issues and be knowledgeable on them." Hull also advised Gore to "try to be a master of one subject" and told another Tennessee congressman, Estes Kefauver, that once he had found his niche with the federal income tax and reciprocal trade, "I read everything I could on it, and made about a speech a year." "Take a lot of time in deciding how you will stand on issues," Hull suggested, and "never let your constituents down."5 Following Hull's advice, in the first seven months of his term, Gore cast his votes but was not very active on the floor. "As in my father's household, the youngsters were to be seen and not heard," he later recalled.6 He was appointed to the House Banking and Currency...

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