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History
In 1827 (most likely), young men were
first hired to serve as messengers in the United States House of
Representatives. In 1839, the first use of the word "Page" to
describe these young men was recorded in the Congressional Globe
(now known as the Congressional Record). The word originates
from Medieval Times, when young boys would serve as apprentices
to knights.
The original Pages of the House of Representatives were all male
and all white, but in 1965, the first African-American Page (in
the Senate, however... not the House) was hired to serve. He was
appointed by Senator Jacob K. Javits (R-NY). Later, in 1973, the
Page Program became co-educational with the first appointing of
girls to the program.
The House of Representatives Page Board was established in 1982.
The Board consists of two Members from the majority party
selected by the Speaker, two Members from the minority party
selected by the Minority Leader, the Clerk of the House and the
Sergeant-at-Arms of the House. Also, on the Board is the Page
Residence Hall Manager, the Page School Principal, the former
Clerk of the House, and a former page representative. The
make-up of the Board changes from year to year. The former Clerk
of the House, for instance, was never a part of the Board until
Donnald K. Anderson (a former page, as well as former Clerk of
the House) joined. Also, the Page Residence Hall Manager and
Page School Principal were recently added to the Board. After taking control of the House in 2006,
Democrats passed legislation to add a former page and a parent
of a former page to the oversight panel.
In 1983, the Page Program saw many changes. Most notable, Pages
were now required to be of 16 or 17 years of age and in their
Junior year of High School. Also, Pages were now provided
housing.
After the Mark Foley scandal of 2006, the Page Program was
changed drastically. On October 2, 2006, Representative Ray
LaHood (R-IL) called for the Page Program to be temporarily
suspended. He stated that "this is a flawed program. The fact
that a member of Congress is sending e-mails to a page and that
he can get away with it (shows that) obviously there are
problems." Two more Representatives, Jon Porter (R-NV) and Kay
Granger (R-TX) also supported LaHood's recommendation to suspend
the Page Program until an outside team could evaluate its
security protocol. Dennis Hastert announced on October 5, 2006
that he was launching an investigation to evaluate and make
improvements to the Page Program. After the Page Program was
investigated, many changes were made to the Program, including
added security and oversight for the Pages.
In 2007, the Page Program was called under investigation again
by Speaker Nancy Pelosi after two of the Republican Members on
the Board quit in December of 2007. "Program administrators had
kept the Page Board 'in the dark' about shoplifting by a Page
and sexual encounters between Pages," according to Rep. Ginny
Brown-Waite (R-FL). In that fall semester of '07-'08, five Pages
were dismissed from the program for various reasons, causing the
Inspector General of the House of Representatives to launch a
full investigation of the program.
Although bogged down by numerous Page scandals in 1983, 2006,
and 2007, the Program continues to thrive and the application
process to become a Page remains competitive. The Page Program
has produced many politicians, Members of Congress, as well as
other famous men and women. Some of these include: the Honorable John Dingell,
the longest serving Member of Congress, Bill Gates, founder and
CEO of the Microsoft Corporation, and Donnald K. Anderson,
former Clerk of the House. |
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