When the Democrats took control of the Senate in 1933 with the election of Franklin Roosevelt as President Robinson was named Senate Majority Leader, in which capacity he helped to pass much of the [[New Deal]] agenda. He was the last U.S. Senator elected by a state legislature rather than by direct popular vote, mandated by the [[Seventeenth Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]], which took effect on April 8, 1913. | When the Democrats took control of the Senate in 1933 with the election of Franklin Roosevelt as President Robinson was named Senate Majority Leader, in which capacity he helped to pass much of the [[New Deal]] agenda. He was the last U.S. Senator elected by a state legislature rather than by direct popular vote, mandated by the [[Seventeenth Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]], which took effect on April 8, 1913. |