Studying the U.S. Senate: An Introduction to the Hendricks Symposium Papers.

This and the next two issues of LegisIative Studies Quarterly will publish a group of articles based on papers presented at the 1988 G. E. Hendricks Symposium on the United States Senate. Held on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in October 1988, this symposium brought together leading students of the U.S. Congress. Their articles fall into three large categories, and these categories will be used to divide the articles among the three issues (see Appendix). Following this introduction, three historically oriented articles will appear in this issue. The August issue d l contain five articles on the organization and operation of the Senate, and the November issue will present six articles relating to Senate elections. Collectively, these articles constitute an impressive portrait of current research on the Senate. Why is it important to obtain such a portrait? Of what value was our symposium and the papers it produced? What did we hope to accomplish, and did we do it? In this brief introduction to the Hendricks Symposium studies, we address these and related questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]