[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S19-S20]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ROBERT C. BYRD'S 50 YEARS OF PUBLIC SERVICE

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, tomorrow, January 8, 1997, will mark a 
momentous day in the life and career of one of this chamber's most 
esteemed and respected Members.
  Fifty years ago, on January 8, 1947, before this Senator was born, 
Robert C. Byrd took his seat in the West Virginia State Legislature, 
thus beginning a remarkable half-century of public service.
  On this golden anniversary of the beginning of a remarkable career, I 
want to take a few minutes to call attention to this achievement, to 
congratulate him for it, and to thank him for his service to the people 
of West Virginia and the United States.
  Fifty years of public service. That is a long time. Perhaps I can 
illustrate.
  It translates into two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates, 
one term in the West Virginia State Senate, three terms in the U.S. 
House of Representatives, and seven terms in the U.S. Senate.
  Since Robert Byrd began serving the people of West Virginia, 10 
Presidents have occupied the White House--that is nearly one-fourth of 
all Presidents in American history. Robert Byrd began serving the 
people of West Virginia before 20 Members of this Chamber, including 
this Member, were born. Before there was a CIA; before there was a 
Marshall plan; before the Korean war.
  When Robert Byrd began his political career, Harry Truman had not yet 
upset Dewey or dismissed Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Senator Joe McCarthy 
had not yet begun his infamous Red-baiting. Lyndon Johnson was still in 
the House of Representatives, and he was being joined by John Kennedy 
and Richard Nixon, both of whom were taking their first congressional 
seats.
  When Robert Byrd began his remarkable half-century career in public 
service, it was 2 years before the Soviet Union had tested its first 
atomic bomb, 10 years before the Soviet Union launched sputnik, and 12 
years before there were 50 States in our Union.
  Five decades is indeed a long time, but it is not for longevity alone 
that we recognize and applaud the senior Senator from West Virginia. We 
recognize our esteemed and respected colleague for the quality as well 
as the quantity of his public service. His life-long commitment to 
public service has been one of total dedication to serving the people 
of his beloved State and to the highest ideals of public service. And 
the people of West Virginia have honored him for it.
  In Robert Byrd's 50 years in public service, he has won every 
election in which he has been a participant. In 1970, he received the 
largest percentage of the total vote ever accorded a person running for 
the Senate in a contested election in the State of West Virginia.
  In 1976, he was the first person in West Virginia history to win a 
Senate seat without opposition in a general election. He has held more 
legislative offices than anyone else in the history of his State. He is 
one of only three U.S. Senators in history to be elected to seven 6-
year terms. He is the longest-serving Senator in the history of his 
State. And, on January 13, Senator Byrd will have served 38 years and 
10 days in the Senate, becoming the fourth-longest-serving Senator in 
U.S. history--behind Senators Hayden, Thurmond, and Stennis.
  West Virginians are not only pleased with their man in Washington; 
they are proud of him. They have honored him with nearly every honor 
the State has to offer; this includes being selected as the West 
Virginian of the Year three different times--the only person ever 
selected more than once.

[[Page S20]]

  This Saturday, January 11, a 10-foot, 1,500-pound statue of Senator 
Byrd will be unveiled and formally dedicated in his honor in the West 
Virginia State Capitol. No other person in the history of the State has 
had such an honor bestowed upon him or her. The statue appropriately 
depicts Senator Byrd holding the Constitution and pointing to the 
section of the document that provides Congress with the power of the 
purse.
  Of course, West Virginians are in the process of renaming the State 
after him. Every town you go into, it seems you can find something 
named after Robert C. Byrd. His name is prominently displayed on 
hospitals, university buildings, roads, and bridges throughout the 
State. There is the Robert C. Byrd High School in Harrison County, and 
the U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies at 
Sheperd College, in beautiful Sheperdstown. There is the Robert C. Byrd 
Community Center in Pine Grove, the Robert C. Byrd Visitor Center in 
historic Harpers Ferry, and the much-needed Robert C. Byrd Cancer 
Research Center.
  Last year, the Governor of West Virginia, Gaston Caperton, called 
Senator Byrd ``West Virginia's most beloved son * * * truly a legend in 
his own time.'' Truly he is, Mr. President, and Robert C. Byrd has 
become a legend in the U.S. Senate, as well.
  More than two-thirds of his 50 years of public service has been in 
this Chamber. The standards he has set here, the principles for which 
he has stood, the service he has rendered to this Chamber and every 
member in it, have all been in the best traditions of American 
government. For this reason, the ``Almanac of American Politics'' could 
write that Robert Byrd ``may come closer to the kind of Senator the 
Founding Fathers had in mind than any other.''
  He is the Senate's foremost historian--``the custodian of the 
Senate's ideals and values,'' as Senator Nunn has called him.
  He has held more leadership positions in the U.S. Senate than any 
other Senator in history, and he has cast more votes than any other 
Senator in history.
  He was the first man in the history of the Senate to hold the job of 
Senate majority leader, lose it, and then gain it back again. ``That 
fact,'' wrote Michael Barone, ``tells us something about the 
determination, the combination of hard work and ambition which have 
propelled this coal miner's son to the top ranks of the American 
Congress.''
  I love that description, so I want to repeat it: ``the combination of 
hard work and ambition which have propelled this coal miner's son to 
the top ranks of the American Congress.'' This is a remarkable 
statement about a remarkable man. An orphan boy who was raised by a 
coal miner in the hills of West Virginia, who once pumped gas at a 
filling station and worked as a produce salesman to make a living, who 
worked as a meat cutter and a welder in the shipyards of Baltimore and 
Tampa in order to feed his family, has risen to and succeeded at the 
very top of our government.
  His life, in the words of President Clinton, is a ``testament to the 
idea that public discourse and public life can be a thing of very high 
honor.''
  One of Senator Byrd's favorite quotes is Horace Greeley's observance 
that:

     Fame is a vapor;
     Popularity an accident;
     Riches take wing;
     Those who cheer today may curse tomorrow;
     Only one thing endures: character.

  Mr. President, as Senate Democratic Leader, I salute the enduring 
character of Robert C. Byrd while I congratulate him for 50 years of 
outstanding public service. And I thank the people of West Virginia for 
their wisdom in keeping him here with us.
  Mr. President, I now yield the floor.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kempthorne). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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