Question: When did the party with majorities in Congress prior to the 1954 elections gain control of the body which determines rules of the US House and US Senate?

The Standing Rules of the Senate are the parliamentary procedures adopted by the United States Senate that govern its procedure. The Senate's power to establish rules derives from Article One, Section 5 of the United States Constitution: ``Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings... '' <SEP> They had needed a net gain of at least six seats to obtain a majority. The Republicans regained the majority of the Senate in the 114th Congress, which started in January 2015; the Republicans had not controlled the Senate since January 2007. They held all of their seats, and gained nine Democratic - held seats. Republicans defeated five Democratic incumbents: <SEP> the constitution designates the vice president of the united states as president of the united states senate. the constitution also calls for a president pro tempore to serve as the leader of the body when the president of the senate (the vice president) is absent. in practice, neither the vice president nor the president pro tempore -- customarily the most senior (longest - serving) senator in the majority party -- actually presides over the senate on a daily basis; that task is given to junior senators of the majority party. since the vice president may be of a different party than the majority and is not a member subject to discipline, the rules of procedure of the senate give the presiding officer very little power and none beyond the presiding role. for these reasons, it is the majority leader who, in practice, manages the senate. this is in contrast to the house of representatives where the elected speaker of the house has a great deal of discretionary power and generally presides over votes on bills. <SEP> as a result of these measures, blacks acquired the right to vote across the southern states. in several states (notably mississippi and south carolina), blacks were the majority of the population. by forming coalitions with pro-union whites, republicans took control of the state legislatures. at the time, state legislatures elected the members of the us senate. during reconstruction, only the state legislature of mississippi elected any black senators. on february 25, 1870, hiram rhodes revels was seated as the first black member of the senate, while blanche bruce, also of mississippi, seated in 1875, was the second. revels was the first black member of the congress overall. <SEP> Eisenhower then articulated his position as a moderate, progressive Republican: "I have just one purpose ... and that is to build up a strong progressive Republican Party in this country. If the right wing wants a fight, they are going to get it ... before I end up, either this Republican Party will reflect progressivism or I won't be with them anymore." As the 1954 congressional elections approached, and it became evident that the Republicans were in danger of losing their thin majority in both houses, Eisenhower was among those blaming the Old Guard for the losses, and took up the charge to stop suspected efforts by the right wing to take control of the GOP.