UNC Charlotte political science and public administration researcher Eric S. Heberlig has received a national prize for the most significant book on the U.S. Congress, awarded by the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation. The foundation awarded the D.B. Hardeman Prize to Heberlig and Bruce A. Larson of Gettysburg College for their book Congressional Parties, Institutional Ambition, and the Financing of Majority Control, published by The University of Michigan Press.
The researchers will receive the $10,000 prize on October 20, 2014 at a program to be held at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. The LBJ Foundation awards the prize for the best book on the U.S. Congress from the fields of biography, history, journalism and political science. Candidates are judged on their contribution to scholarship and to the public’s understanding of Congress as well as literary craftsmanship, originality and depth of research.
This book, Congressional Parties, Institutional Ambition, and the Financing of Majority Control, analyzes the increasing role of fundraising in congressional members’ advancement within party and congressional committee hierarchies. The book addresses the consequences of selecting congressional leaders on the basis of their fundraising skills rather than their legislative capacity and the extent to which the battle for majority control leads Congress to prioritize short-term electoral gains over long-term governing and problem solving.
About the authors
Heberlig earned his doctorate from The Ohio State University and is a professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration in UNC Charlotte’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. He is also co-author of How Government Got in Your Backyard; American Labor Unions in the Electoral Arena; Classics in Congressional Politics; and numerous articles on the politics of Congress, interest groups, elections, and campaign finance. Heberlig co-directed the 49er Democracy Experience, UNC Charlotte’s academic activities during the 2012 Democratic National Convention. He has served as a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association.
Larson earned his doctorate from University of Virginia and is an associate professor of political science at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A Fulbright Lecturer at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing in 2013, Larson is a specialist in American political institutions and processes. He has taught and conducted research on a variety of topics, including the U.S. Congress, the politics of public policy, and political parties and elections. He has authored and co-authored several articles and books on U.S. politics.
About the prize
D.Barnard Hardeman Jr. served as a long-time assistant to legendary Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn of Texas. Hardeman was a dedicated student of the Congress, a teacher, politician, and political advisor. He was a member of the Texas legislature before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1957 to serve as assistant to Rayburn. After Rayburn’s death in 1961, Hardeman worked for Majority Whip Hale Boggs of Louisiana, and in 1964 he was named the first Honorary Congressional Fellow by the American Political Science Association. Upon his death in 1981, Hardeman bequeathed the seed money to create the prize that bears his name as well as his extensive collection of books on American history and biography to the LBJ Presidential Library.
Members of the 26th Hardeman Prize Selection Committee are Don Carleton, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History; Jason Casellas, University of Houston; Tom Daschle, DLA Piper; Lee Hamilton, Center on Congress at Indiana University; Thomas Mann, The Brookings Institution; Leslie Sanchez, Impacto Group, LLC; Clay Smith, Kirkus Media; Jeremi Suri, The University of Texas at Austin; Sean Theriault, The University of Texas at Austin; and Nancy Beck Young, University of Houston.
