[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 10] [Senate] [Pages 13473-13475] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]THE GREENBRIER Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, tucked into a sheltered green valley in Southern West Virginia is a magical place, a place where fascinating history, natural majesty, and sumptuous comfort have combined since the first days of our nation's founding to create a spot that is justly world-renowned. That place, Mr. President, is called The Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It has been a special place for several decades now, overflowing with game for the Shawnee Indians, a spa since colonial days, a place of high society idylls and balls, fought over during the Civil War, a World War II diplomatic internment site and then a rest and recuperation hospital for wounded soldiers, and a secret government relocation site--all cloaked behind the well- bred, white-columned face of a grand southern belle of a resort. Mr. President, in May, my wife Erma and I celebrated our 63rd anniversary. Erma is my childhood sweetheart, the former Erma Ora James. We have written a lot of history together over the past 63 years, and I could not ask for a better coauthor. This year, as we have in the last several years, we celebrated at the fabled Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs. I am certainly not original in my inspiration to celebrate moments of marital bliss there--President John Tyler, the first President to be married in office, spent part of his 1844 honeymoon in White Sulphur Springs. Actors Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher spent part of their 1955 honeymoon there, and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy arrived at the Greenbrier on October 11, 1914, for a two-week honeymoon. Many, many, other famous names are inscribed in the Greenbrier's guest register. The history that Erma and I have created together is a blink of the eye compared to that of The Greenbrier, whose healing waters were first enjoyed by hardy colonists in 1778, as they had been by Shawnee Indians for untold years before that. The Greenbrier has been a resort almost since the day in 1778 that Mrs. Anderson, one of the first homesteaders in the Greenbrier area of the ``Endless Mountains,'' as the region was identified on colonial maps, first tested the wondrous mineral waters on her chronic rheumatism. Word of Mrs. Anderson's recovery spread rapidly, and numerous log cabins were soon erected near the spring. The ``summer season'' at the spring was born, albeit in a somewhat primitive state. Still, the fame of the spring along Howard's Creek continued to spread. Thomas Jefferson mentioned ``Howard's Creek of Green Briar'' in his ``Notes on the State of Virginia'' in 1784; that same year, George Washington focused the Virginia legislature's attention on the commercial prospects of the ``Old State Road'' running between the Kanawha River valley, through The Greenbrier's lands, to the piedmont and tidewater sections of Virginia. Along the route of today's roadway between the hotel and the golf clubhouse stands a monument to this vision. The Buffalo Trail monument commemorates the point at which the pre-colonial Indian Buffalo Trail crossed the Allegheny Mountains on its way from the Atlantic Coast to Ohio. This trail became the James River and Kanawha Turnpike, which for over a century carried commerce and development from the settled East to the future states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. By 1809, a tavern with a dining room, a barn, a stable, mills, and numerous cabins constituted a hospitable stopping place along the still-rugged route West. And rheumatism sufferers were joined at this watering hole by others more interested in the creature comforts and social interaction than in relieving joint pain. By 1815, the first spring house was built over the spring head, and a thriving resort was attracting visitors who typically stayed for several weeks at a time. A hotel and many surrounding cottages, some quite sumptuous, were erected over the years. Commodore Stephen Decatur, hero of the Barbary Wars, brought his wife for a 16-day stay [[Page 13474]] in 1817, and Henry Clay of Kentucky, Speaker of the House of Representatives, spent some time at White Sulphur Springs during several summers over some 30 years. The cool mountain breezes under the shelter of ancient oaks, combined with stylish fans and gentle rocking chairs on a shady porch, made the Greenbrier a comfortable spot in those sweltering summers before air conditioning. In many ways, the Greenbrier has changed little over the years. The gracious sweep of lawn, the stately trees, the ranks of white cottages and imposing hotel facades hark back to that earlier era. Many of the cottages, most too sumptuous to be called merely ``cottages,'' have their own special histories. One of the cottages was owned by Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, who was a nephew of the French Emperor. General John J. Pershing, Commander of the Allied Forces in World War I completed his memoirs in the cottage named ``Top Notch.'' Early morning horseback rides are still popular, and Erma and I recently enjoyed the romantic carriage ride through the grounds. Hunting, fishing, and even falconry are still practiced. But more golf courses, tennis courts, and swimming pools encourage a more active lifestyle than in those early days. The Greenbrier is justly famous for its golf and for the Sam Snead Golf School. Though I do not play, I still enjoy the beautifully landscaped courses with their wide sweeps of lawn and water dotted with sandy island obstacles. The partaking of the sulfur water, that elemental component of the original spa experience, is now complemented by health and beauty facilities and services that pamper every part of you. A visit to the Greenbrier has grown ever more restorative over the years. Henry Clay, that great man from Kentucky, the State of the Senator who now presides over the Senate with a dignity and degree of charm and skill and poise as rare as a day in June, often visited at the Greenbrier, as I have said. Henry Clay was an early political fan of the Greenbrier, surely the most gracious and comfortable stopping place on his many trips between Washington and his home in Kentucky. Other well-known figures and luminaries who visited the resort prior to the Civil War were Presidents Martin Van Buren, Andrew Jackson, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan. I have already noted that President John Tyler honeymooned at the Greenbrier. Dolly Madison, Daniel Webster, Davy Crockett, Francis Scott Key, and John C. Calhoun, and many other political notables have also contributed to engrossing dinner conversations there in more recent years, including Senate greats such as Everett Dirksen, Sam Ervin, Jacob Javits, and Barry Goldwater. Other politicians preferred the outstanding golf at the resort, including President Eisenhower, President Nixon (as a Vice President), and Vice President Hubert Humphrey. President Woodrow Wilson has also graced the Greenbrier, though I do not know if he was a golfer. The Greenbrier has always been a favorite spot of other celebrities, as well. The Vanderbilts, Astors, Hearsts, Forbes, Luces, DuPonts, and the Kennedys have sojourned there, as did Prince Ranier and Princess Grace with their children Albert and Caroline. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor danced the night away in the grand ballroom. Bing Crosby has sung there, and Johnny Carson, Steve Allen, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Rudi Valle, Art Buchwald, Dr. Jonas Salk, Cyrus Eaton, and the Reverend Billy Graham have all made mealtime conversations there sparkle more than the crystal chandeliers in the dining room. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are just two of the sporting greats who have autographed the guest register. Clare Booth Luce wrote the first draft of her most enduring play, ``The Women'', during a three-day stay in 1936. Like Tennyson's brook, the fascinating list of notables could go on and on forever. People watching--that is watching people--has always been a spectator sport at Greenbrier functions! The Greenbrier has experienced trauma as well as galas. During the Civil War, the Greenbrier's location astride a strategic rail line into Richmond, Virginia, put her in the line of fire. Troops were billeted in her guest rooms, but both sides spared a favorite pre-war vacation site and fighting raged along the Greenbrier River. Being in what became Southern West Virginia, during the debate over succession in 1863, the Greenbrier's fate as a West Virginia or a Virginia citizen was uncertain. I am surely glad that West Virginia was the winner! During Reconstruction, the hotel's healing waters also helped to heal the wounds of war, as grand society from both sides of the conflict continued to meet at the Greenbrier. General Robert E. Lee was a frequent visitor. In General Robert E. Lee's single post-war political statement, he led a group of prominent Southern leaders vacationing at the Greenbrier in drafting and signing what became known as ``The White Sulphur Manifesto'' of 1868. This document, widely reprinted in newspapers across the country, declared that, in the minds of these men, questions of secession from the Union and slavery ``were decided by war,'' and that, upon the reestablishment of self-governance in the South, the Southern people would ``faithfully obey the Constitution and laws of the United States, treat the Negro populations with kindness and humanity and fulfill every duty incumbent on peaceful citizens, loyal to the Constitution of their country.'' The war was truly over. In 1869, one of the most famous photographs ever taken at White Sulphur Springs included Robert E. Lee and a group of former Confederate Generals, among them Henry Wise of Virginia, P.G.T. Beauregard of Louisiana, and Bankhead Magruder of Virginia. Other ex- Confederate officers who visited the resort were Alexander Lawton of Georgia, Joseph Brent of Maryland, James Conner of South Carolina, Martin Gary of South Carolina, and Robert Lilley of Virginia. Former Union General William S. Rosecrans visited General Lee while Lee was vacationing one summer at the Greenbrier. The Greenbrier has served the nation well in two other wars, as well--World War II and the Cold War. At the outbreak of World War II, the hotel served as a rather gilded cage for several thousand foreign diplomats and their families, from Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, and, later, Japan. It was then taken over by the federal government for the Army's use as a rest and recuperation hospital for wounded soldiers, before returning, like the soldiers it housed, to civilian life. Much has been made, in recent years, of the Greenbrier's secret life as a covert agent of the U.S. government. In 1992, the existence of an emergency government relocation center built secretly deep beneath the Greenbrier was revealed. The result of an extraordinary partnership between the CSX Corporation and the federal government, the bunker contained facilities to house and operate the entire United States Congress in the event of nuclear attack. It had its origin in plans created by President Eisenhower to ensure the survival of the constitutional system of checks and balances. The President had to convince Congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, to go along with the plan, which was carried out in the greatest secrecy for over forty years. The secrecy was necessary, because the bunker at the Greenbrier was not designed to withstand a direct hit, but, rather, to ensure security through a combination of physical design and camouflage. The remote shelter of the West Virginia hills proved a perfect combination of cover, concealment, and denial. Now, the bunker is open to the public for tours. It is fascinating to see the level of detail that was included in the bunker, but it is also sobering to reflect upon the real fear of Armageddon that existed in this country during those years and which justified this kind of contingency planning. As you finish the tour and return to the sunlit world of golf, lazy country walks, luxurious settings, and fine dining that is the hallmark of the Greenbrier experience, it is difficult to recall those not-so-distant times when school children practiced hiding under their desks in the event of a conventional or nuclear exchange. [[Page 13475]] I encourage my fellow Senators, and, indeed, anyone listening, to visit the Greenbrier, to tour the bunker, and to relish the history and the service that are so much a part of this precious piece of West Virginia. Avoid the current high gas prices and road congestion, and take the train as so many have before you. Leave steamy, contentious, Washington behind for a time, and step out at the Greenbrier's rail depot wondering at the beauty, the cool breezes that smell of fresh, clean air and wildflowers. Allow yourself to be swept along by the attentive, unobtrusive service of an earlier age and be deposited in a bright, flower-bedecked room before a pre-dinner stroll about the grounds. You will be walking with the celebrities of the past as you write a wonderful new chapter in your own history. I was mentioning the Amtrak train. My recollection went back to a time in England when the distinguished Senator from Washington, Slade Gorton, and his nice wife Sally, and Erma and I rode the train from London up to York. Oh, my, what a wonderful time we had in York, visiting through the countryside with its narrow roads and its hedges and having our meetings with the British. Those were most enjoyable days and memorable ones. But riding the train in itself is a real treat. I like to ride trains, and I know Slade Gorton does, too. Has he ever told about his bicycle journey across the United States? He and his wife and their children traveled by bicycle, a bicycle odyssey, across the United States of America, all the way from the Pacific to the Atlantic. That would be something worth reading about. Better still, talk with him in person about it. I close with the immortal words and images of the poet William Wordsworth, who lived from 1770 to 1850, when the Greenbrier was yet in its early days. But his lines eloquently capture the sights one can now happen upon when strolling through the magical grounds of this wonderful outpost of gentle civilization amid the mountains, and they capture the happiness such beauty inspires: I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed--and gazed--but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. Like the Greenbrier, the forests in West Virginia. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Collins). The Senator from Tennessee. Mr. THOMPSON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 20 minutes as in morning business. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. THOMPSON. Madam President, I say to the Senator from West Virginia how much I appreciate that rendition and bringing us back to a better reality here from time to time. I remember the comments by that same poet who once said: Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers, Little we see in nature that is ours. I don't think anyone can ever say that about the senior Senator from West Virginia. Mr. BYRD. He said, ``we lay waste our powers.'' But I can assure you that the Senator from Tennessee doesn't lay awaste his powers. He is a busy man, and he serves his country and his State in a great fashion. I thank the Senator for his kind words. Mr. THOMPSON. I appreciate that very much. ____________________