Eric Heberlig, professor of political science, is a co-recipient of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation’s D.B. Hardeman Prize for the work “Congressional Parties, Institutional Ambition and the Financing of Majority of Control.”
The $10,000 Hardeman Prize is awarded 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. Heberlig’s co-author was Bruce Larson, an associate professor of political science at Gettysburg College.
“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. It 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.
D. Barnard Hardeman Jr. was 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 Speaker of the House Sam 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.
Heberlig and Larson will be presented the Hardeman Prize during a program at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, on Oct. 20.