[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 12 (Thursday, February 10, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S589-S591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             FLOYD RIDDICK

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I wish to speak briefly regarding the late 
Floyd Riddick.
  Floyd Riddick was for several years the Parliamentarian of the 
Senate. Floyd Riddick was born in 1908 in Trotville, NC. That was the 
same year in which the Model T Ford was made. The Model A Ford came 
along in December of 1927, but the Model T Ford came on the market in 
1908.
  Floyd Riddick was from that generation of Americans committed to 
duty, excellence, and hard work. His entire life reflected a love of 
duty, of excellence, and of hard work. Floyd Riddick attended Duke 
University. He attained his master's degree at Vanderbilt, and then he 
returned to Duke University to earn his Ph.D. in political science. 
While working on his doctoral dissertation, Floyd Riddick spent a year 
observing the workings of the U.S. House of Representatives. And then, 
in 1941, he published an expanded version of that research as 
congressional procedure.
  For the benefit of the viewing public, I hold in my hand a copy of 
the volume about which I have just spoken. The title is ``Riddick's 
Senate Procedure.'' This particular volume, which was printed by the 
U.S. Government Printing Office here in Washington in 1992, including 
the appendix, contains 1,564 pages. Mr. President, I have read this 
book on Riddick's Procedure through and through and through a number of 
times. It used to be that when I was the Democratic whip, and while I 
was also Secretary of the Democratic Conference in the Senate, and 
during the

[[Page S590]]

time I was majority leader, minority leader, and majority leader again, 
I read this book once every year--the complete book. It is a very 
valuable book. If one hopes to ever have a fairly good understanding of 
the Senate rules and precedents, then he or she should read this book. 
The Parliamentarians of the Senate are very familiar with it. They 
resort to it many times a day, and it is a sure and dependable 
guideline with respect to the rules and precedents in the Senate. Doc 
Riddick--we called him ``Doc''--published a book on congressional 
procedure. This book is on Senate procedure.
  He then came to Washington permanently as a statistical analyst and 
as an instructor of political science at American University. He was a 
Ph.D. in political science. I never received my baccalaureate in 
political science until I was 76 years old. That was about 6 years ago. 
I received my baccalaureate in political science, but, of course, I 
knew a lot about political science long before I ever received that 
degree. I am a graduate of the school of hard knocks, and I learned a 
long time ago the lessons that are taught by service in this body and 
in the other body. This is my 48th year on Capitol Hill.
  The late Richard Russell talked with me one day about the rules in 
the Democratic Cloakroom, right in back of where I am now standing. He 
said: Robert, you need not only to know about the rules, you need also 
to understand the precedents of the Senate.
  I said: Where can I learn about them?
  He picked up this book, ``Riddick's Procedure,'' and he said: This is 
the book where you can learn a lot about the precedents of the Senate.
  Doc Riddick--as I say, because he had a Ph.D. in political science, 
Doc Riddick wrote the book. From 1943 to 1946, Dr. Riddick edited the 
Legislative Daily for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a post which led to 
his being asked to set up a Daily Digest in the Congressional Record 
which would summarize congressional events and serve as a guide to the 
daily Record.
  Now, Doc Riddick wasn't the first man who ever thought of that. 
Julius Caesar developed what well might have been called the 
legislative daily. He developed a process whereby the daily actions of 
the Senate would be noted and would be distributed to the various parts 
of the Roman Empire, and nailed upon walls for all to see.
  That was a kind of daily legislative digest. That came along quite a 
good many years before Dr. Riddick's time. But he followed in the shoes 
of Julius Caesar in that regard in that he set up a Daily Digest in the 
Congressional Record. It is still to be found in the back of the 
Congressional Record. In the back of the Record there is a Daily 
Digest, and Senators can go to the Daily Digest and very quickly be 
informed about the actions of the Senate and the House the day before, 
and what legislation was passed and how many rollcall votes there were. 
It is a very valuable compendium of the actions of the Senate and the 
House on the day previous to the day on which the Congressional Record 
appears in our office.
  From that position in 1951, Dr. Riddick joined the Office of 
Parliamentarian as an assistant, succeeding to the position of Senate 
Parliamentarian in 1964 where he served until 1974. After his 
retirement, Dr. Riddick continued to serve the Senate as 
Parliamentarian Emeritus and as a consultant to the Senate Committee on 
Rules and Administration. Do you know what his salary was? Zero. He 
didn't charge anything for his services.
  That was a deeply dedicated man who enjoyed giving of his knowledge 
and talents, his expertise, his experience to other Senators. I have 
been a member of that committee for a long time, so I am quite familiar 
with Floyd Riddick and his work on the committee.
  Most Senators now serving will be most familiar with the name of 
Floyd Riddick in connection with Riddick's Rules of Procedure. He also 
authored a series of articles summarizing each congressional session 
which appeared in the American Political Science Review and the Western 
Political Quarterly, along with several other books on the 
organization, history, and procedures of the Congress.
  I used to conduct a seminar on the legislative process at American 
University during the summers. I didn't earn much money, but the money 
that I earned I put into a fund for the college education of a Chinese 
orphan. I would have Dr. Riddick over to speak during those days when I 
was conducting the seminar. Dr. Riddick would come over and speak to 
the class. It wasn't an easy class. It was a tough one. I gave between 
600 and 700 questions on the final exam, and I flunked three or four 
individuals in the class who apparently thought it would be an easy 
thing to skip when they wanted to. But they didn't make the grade. I 
had no hesitancy in flunking them. Dr. Riddick, though, was one of 
those who spoke for me from time to time.
  I also had Senator Sam Ervin over to speak to my class. I had the 
late Speaker, Carl Albert, over to American University from time to 
time to speak in this seminar. I asked some of the officers of the 
Senate to visit the class. So we offered those young people a real 
treat in the legislative process.
  The Random House College Dictionary gives us this definition of the 
word ``integrity'': ``Adherence to moral and ethical principles; 
soundness of moral character; honesty.''
  That word ``integrity'' is used repeatedly in the publication 
entitled ``Tributes to Dr. Floyd M. Riddick'' upon the occasion of his 
retirement and designation as parliamentarian emeritus, which was 
ordered by the Senate to be printed on December 19, 1974. Senator after 
Senator, in speaking of the services of Floyd Riddick upon his 
retirement, used that word ``integrity.''

  He was a Parliamentarian who would not be swayed by anybody in the 
Senate. He called the shots exactly as he saw them. He didn't lean 
toward the Republicans; he didn't lean toward the Democrats. He called 
the questions as he saw them, and based them on the Senate rules and 
upon the precedents. When we received advice from Dr. Riddick while he 
was Parliamentarian, we knew that was the way it was. We knew he wasn't 
bending the rules to favor any of us or to favor either political 
party.
  So the word ``integrity'' was an extremely well-fitting word for 
Floyd Riddick.
  There are some individuals who come up from their origins with a 
closeness to earth and a nearness to growing things--growing things, 
the lilac bush, the rosebush, the tomato plant, the ordinary weed, a 
blade of grass--these individuals have integrity. There is a sort of 
elemental trueness about them which even the foibles and the follies 
and the bright lights of Washington politics cannot shake from their 
being.
  As Popeye says, ``I am what I am and that is all I am.'' And these 
people are just what they are and that is all they are. That was Dr. 
Riddick. Even the foibles and follies of politics in Washington could 
not shake his being.
  So it is not surprising to learn that Floyd Riddick enjoyed being on 
a farm. He used to give some of us here a few of his tomatoes. He grew 
those large, beefsteak tomatoes, and he would bring them in from the 
farm. He would give me some in the summer. And there were others who 
were fortunate enough to be the recipients of Floyd Riddick's tomatoes. 
And later in life, Dr. Riddick routinely escaped to his farm in 
Rappahannock County, VA, as if for renewal and refreshment.
  Rappahannock County, VA--my distant forbear, whose name was William 
Sale, came from England in 1657 and settled on the Rappahannock River 
in Virginia. He worked 7 years as an indentured servant to pay for his 
trip across the Atlantic--7 years. Then he received 160 acres of land. 
So it was in Rappahannock County that Dr. Riddick had a farm. He loved 
that farm.
  Emerson said, ``The true test of civilization is not in the census, 
nor the size of cities, nor the crops. No. But the kind of man the 
country turns out.''
  This was the kind of man we could emulate. He was a noble soul, Floyd 
Riddick. He was the kind of man we could proudly call a friend or 
associate.
  Emerson also said: ``It is easy in the world to live after the 
world's opinion.'' That is easy. ``It is easy in solitude to live after 
our own.'' That is easy. ``But the great man is he who, in the midst of 
the crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.''
  Floyd Riddick never seemed frazzled, never seemed exasperated by the 
pressure cooker atmosphere that can and does develop here on the Senate 
floor.

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 Even though Dr. Riddick's tenure as Senate Parliamentarian coincided 
with some of the most difficult and passionate issues ever encountered 
by the Senate, such as Vietnam and civil rights, he was ever the calm 
professional, always willing and ready to lift a hand, always desirous 
of helping especially the new Members who were sworn into this body, 
always there, too, at the beck and call of the Members who had been 
here a long time.
  Such a common, friendly, warm, congenial, accommodating, decent 
individual! Around him there seemed to be always an aura of peace and 
control. He kept his mind on his responsibilities, and he never ever 
forgot that, as Parliamentarian--in effect, the silent referee of 
Senate debate and procedure--he had to maintain complete and total 
objectivity. No partisanship--complete and total objectivity.
  Senators on both sides of the aisle knew it. They knew when they went 
to him, they would get the straight answer and it would not be colored 
or tinctured by partisanship. Doc Riddick was in every sense of the 
word a scholar. He was quiet, soft spoken, unassuming, and absolutely 
rock solid. That was Floyd Riddick!
  I leaned upon him heavily in my earlier years in the Senate. He was a 
delight to work with, and I enjoyed his company. He was one of those 
completely dedicated selfless people who labored for the good of the 
institution. He loved the institution. He labored for the good of the 
Senate and for the good of his country.
  Robert E. Lee said that the word ``duty'' was the sublimest word in 
the English language. Dr. Riddick understood what that meant, and, to 
him, duty was sublime. He was above politics, as I have repeatedly 
said, he was honorable, and he was entirely above reproach.
  Floyd Riddick did not need praise, although he certainly deserved it. 
He did not covet recognition, although the recognition of his scholarly 
expertise was widespread. For him, the glory of the work, the glory of 
serving the Senate, the glory of serving Senators, and through Senators 
the glory of serving the American people, was enough.
  We will long remember Dr. Riddick, those of us who served with him. 
Whence cometh such another?
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senator from 
Virginia may proceed as in morning business for such time as I may 
require.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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