Why does the Senator presiding over the Senate use that little knobby thing instead of a proper gavel? Great Falls, VA - 7/31/00

The Senate (above) and House (below) gavels in use. Click on any picture for a larger image

Well, even without a handle, it is a proper gavel! It is a solid ivory curvy pestle donated by the government of India to the United States Senate in 1954. This ivory gavel was a gift to replace an identical gavel which had become worn and unattractive due to silver braces used to hold it together after a century of hard use. It finally split apart during a long and heated debate on atomic energy in 1954, when it flew out of the Presiding Officer's hand.

The first documented use of the original gavel goes back to one of the first meetings of the Senate in the spring of 1789, when it was wielded by Vice President John Adams. The Senate wanted an identical replacement, but no solid piece of ivory of the necessary size for carving was available through commercial sources. An appeal to the Embassy of India for assistance, resulted in the gift of an identical replica. India sent its Vice-President to deliver it in person to our Vice-President, Richard Nixon.

Both gavels are now housed side-by-side in a velvet-lined mahogany box and kept on the Senate rostrum when the Senate is in session, although only the "new" one is used. A Senate page carries the box into the chamber at the start of each daily session and returns it to the office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms for secure keeping when the Senate adjourns. To see a picture of the two gavels, visit Senate Gavels on the Senate Curator's webpage.

In contrast to this rather elegant history, the House uses a plain unadorned pale wooden mallet -- and because the Chair often wields it with a certain amount of passion in the more unruly House -- it splits and breaks regularly. A large box of back-up gavels is kept under the Parliamentarian's chair on the Speaker's Rostrum.

The Presiding Officer in both chambers use the gavel to achieve order on the floor. The sound of the gavel also accompanies the Chair's announcement of the vote count on a matter and connotes final disposition of it. The gavel is also used to proclaim the convening and adjourning of each daily session.