[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 6, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S28]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             50TH ANNIVERSARY OF SENATOR BYRD'S SWEARING IN

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, today we begin the 111th Congress. As it is 
every two years, this is a moment for new beginnings, but also an 
opportunity to bid farewell to some dear friends of ours as they move 
on to the next chapters in their remarkable lives.
  While it is always a joy to see this moment--to see the pride visible 
in not only the Members' faces, but their families' as well--this 
year's is especially poignant for me.
  Each of the men and women who have taken this oath during my time in 
this institution has made an impression on me--influencing my life, my 
work--in one way or another.
  But 50 years ago this week, two Members were sworn in--one who is 
here today and another who remains here in spirit--each of whom had a 
singularly important impact on me:
  My father, Thomas Dodd, who represented my State of Connecticut, and 
our esteemed colleague and friend from West Virginia, Robert C. Byrd.
  I was only a boy then, but I remember that moment as if it were 
yesterday, seated with my family in the gallery above, as we looked 
down on my father, as he began what would turn out to be the final 
chapter in a public life--a life that had already taken him from 
Norwich, CT, to Washington, DC, as an FBI agent and lawyer at the 
Department of Justice; to Germany where he served as a prosecutor at 
the famous Nuremberg Trials, before returning to our Nation's Capital 
to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.
  Fifty years later, I take no small amount of pride in noting that in 
each of these endeavors, my father proved to be ahead of his time--an 
advocate for universal health care, a proponent of sensible gun safety 
laws, an early voice warning of the effects of violence on TV and the 
dangers of drug addiction; and an insistent defender of those whose 
human rights were being denied.
  Indeed, it would not take long before a fellow freshman made his own 
mark, becoming not only this body's President pro tempore and the 
longest-serving Member in its history, but the undisputed master of 
this body's arcane parliamentary procedures, an award-winning author 
and historian and the foremost champion of sunlight in government.
  Today, as the whole world watches these historic moments, we should 
note that it was Robert Byrd who staved off the threat that the Senate 
might become ``the invisible branch of government'' by ensuring that 
our proceedings be televised.
  Some two-and-half decades ago, when I was sworn in myself, it was my 
colleague from West Virginia who handed me a small book--a pocket-sized 
Constitution. For all I know, he did this for every freshman Senator.
  His message was simple: as a Member of the Senate, you are a 
temporary custodian of this document.
  And so, I kept that book. For 28 years, I have carried it with me in 
my back pocket--Saturday, Sunday, every day of the week to remind 
myself how important this document is, the values and the principles 
that are incorporated in it.
  Senator Byrd has put it better than anyone: ``The limits that the 
Constitution places on how political power is exercised have ensured 
our freedom for more than two centuries.''
  Each of these men taught me, in different ways, that we cannot defend 
and protect the vision of the Framers if we are ignorant of the 
Constitution's history and the rule of law.
  And so today, as we look forward to the 111th Congress and all that 
we hope to achieve, may we also remember this gift that was given to 
all of us in the 86th Congress all those years ago. May it continue to 
shine for many, many more.

                          ____________________