[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 9, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S243-S246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SENATOR ALBEN BARKLEY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, a few months prior to this body's 
convening last week, I was honored and humbled when my colleagues 
elected me to serve as the Republican leader in the 110th Congress.
  I am thankful for the trust my friends have placed in me, and I won't 
break that trust.
  At such a time as this, and in such an historic Chamber, my thoughts 
turn toward great Kentuckians of the past who have left their indelible 
mark on this body.
  Henry Clay served as Speaker of the House, Senator, and Secretary of 
State, despite losing three Presidential campaigns.
  John Sherman Cooper served as the conscience of the Senate, and I 
have

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spoken on this floor before of the admiration and respect I will always 
have for the Senator who mentored me in my first job on Capitol Hill.
  But there is another famous Kentuckian who once dominated these 
Senate hallways who we should not forget.
  He was a key lawmaker during World War II, and close friend to 
Presidents--a passionate orator, champion of the New Deal, and popular 
teller of tall tales. After his Senate service, he made famous the 
nickname ``the Veep.''
  That man is Alben Barkley, the last, and until now, the only Senator 
from Kentucky to be elected his party's leader.
  Senator Barkley served as majority leader for 10 years, from 1937 to 
1947, longer than anyone else before him. From 1947 to 1949 he served 
as minority leader, and in 1948 he was elected Vice President to 
President Truman.
  But some of my colleagues may not know that Senator Barkley almost 
became the first President of the United States from Kentucky since 
Abraham Lincoln. He lost that opportunity by taking a courageous stand 
to put the Senate, the Senators he led, and principle ahead of 
political ambition.
  Like Lincoln, Alben Barkley was born in a log cabin, literally, on 
his father's tobacco farm in Graves County, KY, in 1877. The Barkley 
family was not a family of means, and Alben grew up chopping wood, 
harvesting tobacco, and plowing fields. Swapping stories with his 
father's hired hands, Alben began to develop his fun-loving, 
storytelling persona.
  When he got older, Alben worked odd jobs to make ends meet. One time 
at a shoe store, a man with exceptionally large feet walked in and said 
to Alben, ``I'd like to see a pair of shoes that would fit me.'' The 
sharp-witted tobacco farmer's son retorted, ``So would I!'' Alben had 
to change jobs quite often.
  Becoming a lawyer in Paducah, Barkley's political career began with a 
race for county attorney in McCracken County. The history books tell us 
he bought a one-eyed horse named Dick and stumped the whole county 
riding that horse.
  At 27 years old, he toppled the incumbent in the Democratic primary 
and easily won the general election in 1905, for Kentucky in those days 
was very much a one-party State.
  Barkley then won election as McCracken County judge before going to 
the U.S. House of Representatives in 1912. Kentucky voters re-elected 
Barkley, an avid progressive and devotee of President Woodrow Wilson, 
six times until sending him to this Chamber in 1926.
  Barkley's long shadow over history was fixed here in the Senate, 
where he served from 1927 to 1949, and then after his Vice Presidency 
again from 1955 until his death in 1956.
  Here in the Senate, Barkley became known as a first-rate speechmaker 
and storyteller. Many can recall Senator Barkley's saying: ``A good 
story is like fine Kentucky bourbon . . . it improves with age and, if 
you don't use it too much, it will never hurt anyone.''
  By 1933, Barkley was selected as an assistant to Senate Majority 
Leader Joe Robinson of Arkansas. In 1937, Robinson died, clearing the 
way for Barkley's election as leader--but the manner of Barkley's 
election to the top spot would serve today as an object lesson to 
Senators of how not to get the job, and it hampered Barkley's 
effectiveness as leader for several years thereafter.
  When the 75th Congress began, the Democrats held a whopping 76 seats 
in the Senate, leaving only 16 Republicans and four Independents. Their 
majority was so large that freshmen Democrats had desks over here on 
the Republican side of the Chamber in the back.
  Senators in those days referred to the lone outpost of Democrats over 
here on the Republican side in the back as the ``Cherokee Strip'' 
because those unlucky Members were off the reservation.
  But the Democratic Party was badly split in two. Half the caucus 
supported Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies, and the other half 
frequently undermined them.
  In the leader's race, the first group lined up behind Barkley, and 
the latter behind Senator Pat Harrison of Mississippi. Each Senator had 
pledges of support from enough Senators to win, so they thought.
  Usually in the Senate, it is the Vice President who breaks ties. But 
this close vote was broken by the President himself. The day after 
Robinson's death, Roosevelt sent Barkley a letter that began, ``My Dear 
Alben.'' Roosevelt even referred to Barkley, correctly, but cheekily, 
as the ``acting majority leader.''
  Now, Roosevelt preferred Barkley over Harrison because he knew he 
could count on Barkley to shepherd his New Deal policies through the 
upper Chamber. Besides his public letter, FDR also dispatched aides to 
exert pressure on Senators to vote for Barkley.
  One week after Robinson's death, all 75 Senate Democrats met to 
vote--75. With 74 votes tallied, Barkley and Harrison stood tied at 37 
votes apiece. The 75th and final vote put Barkley over the top. Senator 
Barkley had won the election, but he had lost a much more important 
race with his colleagues.
  As the Presiding Officer and all of my friends in the Chamber know, 
the Senate has the sole power to choose its own leaders and chart its 
own course of affairs, without interference from the executive branch. 
And every Senator guards that right very seriously.
  Many Senators took offense at the President's influence in Senator 
Barkley's election, and Barkley, frankly, paid the price. His 
colleagues granted him the title of majority leader, but not the 
accompanying authority or respect.
  On his first day in the top post, Democratic Senators ignored his 
plea not to override a Presidential veto, putting Barkley on the losing 
side of a 71 to 19 vote. The bill had originally been sponsored by 
Barkley himself, putting the leader in the humiliating position of 
losing a vote to sustain a veto of his own bill.
  Over the next few years, Barkley's troubles mounted, actually, as he 
kept finding himself on the losing end of votes. Senators cruelly 
reminded him of how he had climbed to the top spot by mockingly 
referring to him as ``Dear Alben.''
  Even worse, Washington journalists, seeing the leader unable to move 
his colleagues, dubbed him ``Bumbling Barkley,'' and the name stuck.
  In March 1939, Life magazine published a poll of Washington 
journalists rating the 10 ``most able'' Senators. Barkley's one-time 
rival Pat Harrison ranked fifth. The Senate majority leader did not 
make the list.
  Despite setbacks, Senator Barkley plunged ahead to lead the Senate 
and to champion President Roosevelt's New Deal. His colleagues began to 
melt under his considerable personal charm.
  In contrast with Robinson's heavy-handed leadership style, Barkley 
often sat down with a colleague, disarmed him with humor or a funny 
story, and then made his case.
  Barkley led from the podium at his desk, speaking persuasively and 
knowledgeably on any and every bill. By 1940, much of official 
Washington realized that legislation was actually moving faster and 
more successfully through the Senate--and that Barkley deserved the 
credit.
  Barkley was crucial at negotiating compromise with his fellow 
Senators. As the war in Europe heated up and international affairs took 
up more of the Senate's time, Barkley's record of success continued to 
mount.
  Historians note the vital role he played in passing the Lend-Lease 
Act, repealing the Arms Embargo Act and the Neutrality Act, and 
enacting the first peacetime military draft.
  As the Senate majority leader, Barkley eagerly embraced the 
responsibility to lead the charge for the administration's legislation. 
But sometimes--sometimes--the President took the loyal leader for 
granted.
  That ended when Senator Barkley dramatically broke with his beloved 
President on a matter of principle.
  Barkley's move may have angered Roosevelt, but by stepping out of the 
President's shadow and throwing off the impression of servility that 
the mocking phrase ``Dear Alben'' implied, Barkley forever earned the 
respect and trust of his Senate colleagues.
  The principle Barkley made his stand on is one dear to my heart; and 
that is, keeping taxes low. By February 1944, America was at war with 
the Axis Powers, and President Roosevelt wanted to raise taxes 
considerably to pay for it. He requested a tax increase of $10.5 
billion, which was, apparently, a lot of money in those days.

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  Majority Leader Barkley knew that the Senate didn't have nearly the 
appetite for higher taxes that the President did. A $10.5 billion tax 
hike simply could not pass.
  But Barkley did the best he could for his President, and successfully 
steered through the Finance Committee and onto the floor a bill to 
raise revenues by $2.2 billion.
  Barkley pleaded with Roosevelt to accept the bill as the best he 
could get and to sign it. He knew the Senate, and he knew his Senators. 
But the President dismissed the leader's advice.
  Even though he knew it was coming, Roosevelt's veto message stung 
Barkley. It was petty, and it was personal.
  The President wrote that, having asked the Congress for a loaf of 
bread, the final bill was ``a small piece of crust.'' Then his next 
words struck hardest of all. He declared the final bill as ``not a tax 
bill but a tax-relief bill, providing relief not for the needy, but for 
the greedy.''
  After years of devotion and support to the President--often at the 
cost of the respect of his own colleagues--this insult to his integrity 
as a legislator, a leader, and a disciple of the New Deal was too much 
for Barkley.
  Overwhelmed with passion, Barkley dictated a speech to his secretary 
and walked out to the Senate floor. Word had leaked of what was coming. 
Journalists packed the galleries, and many Senators took their seats to 
listen to their leader.
  For the first time Senator Barkley, Washington's most famous 
raconteur, seemed to nervously stumble over his words. His voice 
cracked with emotion as he related his history of steadfast support for 
the Roosevelt administration.

       I dare say that during the past seven years of my tenure as 
     majority leader, I have carried that flag over rougher 
     terrain than was ever traversed by any previous majority 
     leader,

  Barkley explained.

       But . . . there is something more precious to me than any 
     honor that can be conferred upon me by the Senate of the 
     United States, or by the people of Kentucky . . .
       Or by the president of this Republic. And that is the 
     approval of my own conscience and my own self-respect.

  And with that Alben Barkley resigned as majority leader.
  Barkley had always believed the leader must have overwhelming support 
for the President's position. Unable to give that, stepping down was 
his only choice.
  Nearly every Senator in the chamber rose for a thunderous ovation. 
The galleries stood as one to applaud as well. Longtime Senators said 
they could not remember the last time a speech received such a 
tremendous response, and Vice President Henry Wallace called it ``the 
most dramatic occasion in the U.S. Senate over which I ever presided.''
  Within a day of Barkley's declaration of independence, he received 
over 7,000 telegrams. Roosevelt saw when he was beaten and wrote a 
letter urging Barkley not to resign. But he needn't have bothered.
  The next day, the Democrats unanimously reelected Barkley to the 
leader's post. ``Make way for liberty!'' shouted Texas Senator Tom 
Connally, expressing the joy of his colleagues that their leader, and 
by extension, the entire Senate, had stood up for the Senate's 
independence as a co-equal branch.
  The Senate turned back Roosevelt's veto 72 to 14, and this time Alben 
Barkley led his colleagues to win that vote. Senator Elbert Thomas of 
Utah summed up the newfound power and prestige of the majority leader.
  ``By his one-vote margin in the 1937 contest when he was first 
elected leader, the impression was given, and it has been the 
impression ever since, that he spoke to us for the president,'' Thomas 
said. ``Now he speaks for us to the president.''
  The majority leader and the President mended the breach soon after 
and continued to work together. But you could say their relationship 
was never again the same.
  That summer, the Democratic National Convention nominated President 
Roosevelt to an unprecedented fourth term. But with Vice President 
Wallace deemed too liberal by most of the party and dumped from the 
ticket, the President needed a new running mate. Could it be Barkley?
  As the convention opened, Barkley emerged as a seeming front-runner. 
He had the respect and confidence of the delegates. The Kentucky 
delegation--not surprisingly--formally endorsed him.
  But ever since breaking with Roosevelt in February, the President had 
had ``a certain intangible reserve'' towards the majority leader. 
Roosevelt emphatically told his supporters Barkley was unacceptable as 
a running mate.
  Of course, we all know that the 1944 vice presidential nomination 
eventually fell to another Senator, Harry Truman of Missouri, who was 
hand picked by the President himself.
  And we all know that in April 1945, less than 3 months after taking 
the oath of office for his fourth term, Franklin Delano Roosevelt died. 
His health had been failing for some time, even back during the 1944 
convention.
  Harry Truman became the 33rd President of the United States. Alben 
Barkley stayed on as Senate majority leader and narrowly missed 
becoming the first President from Kentucky since Abraham Lincoln.
  Henry Clay, who once held Alben Barkley's Senate seat, said ``I would 
rather be right than be President.'' Alben Barkley lived by that motto.
  He chose to stand for his personal sense of honor and the integrity 
of the Senate, knowing it could cost him the favor of the President and 
possibly the Vice-Presidential nomination. It did. But Alben Barkley 
never regretted it.
  In fact, Barkley kept his keen sense of humor. In a speech to newly 
elected Senators in 1945, Barkley warned them to run ``for the tall and 
uncut'' if they ever received a letter from the President that began 
with ``Dear'' followed by their first name.
  Like so many other revered figures who have occupied these chairs, 
Alben Barkley loved the Senate, and he fought to protect it. As the 
Senate majority leader, that was his duty, and he fulfilled it without 
hesitation.
  After 4 years as Vice President to Truman, Barkley retired from 
politics, seemingly forever. But he longed to return to this Chamber 
which had seen his greatest successes and his most ignoble defeats. So 
he ran for and won reelection in 1954, ousting Republican John Sherman 
Cooper.
  Alben Barkley died on April 30, 1956. He left this world doing what 
he loved--giving a speech.
  In his final moments, he explained to a crowd of students at a mock 
convention at Washington and Lee University that as a newly elected 
Senator, he had refused a seat in the front row of this Chamber, 
despite his decades of service.
  ``I am glad to sit in the back row,'' the 78-year-old Barkley said. 
``For I would rather be a servant in the house of the Lord than to sit 
in the seats of the mighty.''
  Those were Senator Barkley's last words before he collapsed. The 
crowd's applause was the last thing he would hear, before suffering a 
massive heart attack.
  I wanted to share the story of Alben Barkley with my colleagues 
because I know that as we all debate the issues of the day in the 
Senate, we are mindful not just of what is happening in our country 
today, but what has gone before. History, and men like Alben Barkley, 
has much to teach us.
  Politics in America today can often be a bruising exercise. But I 
take comfort in Alben Barkley's reminder that even if that is true, we 
can and should put principle over the pursuit of power.
  We've just had a hard-fought election. I for one, have always enjoyed 
a good political contest.
  I appreciate the opportunity to present a set of principles and 
ideals to the people and to hear their choice when they cast their 
votes.
  But while we spar in the arena of ideas, let's not forget what we're 
sparring for. The goal is not just to win, but to win because you stand 
for a cause that will better your countrymen and your country.
  Many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle understand that 
lesson well. It is an honor for me to share this floor with them.
  I am looking forward to continuing the contest in the time ahead. For 
now, we are ready to roll up our sleeves and get back to work on behalf 
of the American people.
  I yield the floor.

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