[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10255-10256]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   SENATOR BYRD, A TRUE SENATE LEGEND

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity--because we 
have been so busy in the last couple of days--to talk about one of the 
great honors I have had in my career. That took place right down here 
when I had the opportunity to administer the oath of office to Robert 
C. Byrd as President pro tempore of the Senate of the United States.
  Mr. President, I am a historian. I have written a history book, and I 
love to read history. I just finished reading a book about Seabiscuit, 
the great racehorse. I love history. I have no doubt I was part of 
history in administering the oath to the President pro tempore of the 
Senate today.
  We have a lot of athletic contests where people keep minute records 
of home runs--when they were hit, how many were hit in a month, and all 
such things. I have followed baseball, but I certainly don't go to 
games anymore. They take up too much time. But I have played in a few 
and I have watched a few in my day. I know a lot about baseball 
records. I know of those who have left a permanent mark upon baseball.
  I also understand the Senate and the history of it. I understand that 
those people who come to visit like to meet Senators. I can remember 
coming here in 1974, and out in the waiting room I was able to visit 
with Hubert Humphrey. He was very ill at the time. He could not stand 
for a long period of time. He sat down in the reception area, and I had 
the pleasure of visiting with him. He was a friend of my wife's uncle, 
a pharmacist in Minneapolis. It was a great honor to meet him. He is a 
legislative legend, and I will never forget the experience of meeting 
him.
  I serve in the Senate with who I believe is the Babe Ruth of the 
Senate. If there is a Babe Ruth in baseball, there is one in the 
Senate. The No. 1 player in the history of baseball is Babe Ruth. That 
is to whom everybody looks. I really believe, without any exaggeration, 
without any hesitation, the Babe Ruth of the Senate is the President 
pro tempore Robert C. Byrd.
  I have had the opportunity to serve with Senator Byrd, which to me is 
something I will always treasure. If you research the life of Senator 
Byrd, you will find he has a remarkable history. Senator Byrd's mother 
died in the influenza epidemic in 1918. I have heard Senator Byrd tell 
various bits and pieces and parts of his history, some of which I 
remember as if he had said it a minute ago--about waiting on the tracks 
for his father--he was orphaned, so it was his adoptive father--to 
bring home a lunch bucket with things in it for his son.
  Senator Byrd, like me, knows what it is to have a father coming home 
out of the mines. My dad used to say, ``I had a rough day at the 
office,'' and he was covered with mud and grime. His office was down in 
the bowels of the Earth. So I have some comprehension of how Senator 
Byrd was raised. I understand how Senator Byrd didn't have money to go 
to college. Yet he graduated from college here in Washington, DC. He 
graduated law school while he was a Member of Congress. It is hard to 
comprehend.
  The history books will have to be filled with Senator Byrd, whose 
achievements are unparalleled. He became a member, as I understand it, 
of the Democratic Senate leadership in 1967 when he was selected to be 
secretary of the conference. In 1971 he became the whip, the assistant 
leader. In 1977 he was elected Democratic leader, a position he held 
for six consecutive terms. For these 12 years as Democratic leader, he 
served as both majority and minority leaders.
  To me, Senator Robert C. Byrd will always be Mr. Chairman. As a 
freshman Senator, I had the opportunity to serve on the Appropriations 
Committee. To be elected to the Senate and to be able to serve on the 
Appropriations Committee and then to serve under Robert C. Byrd is a 
fulfillment of the legislative dream.
  We in this Senate are very fortunate to have the wisdom and 
experience of this man. The people of the State of Nevada benefit every 
day from what the Senator from West Virginia does. It is not only the 
State of West Virginia that benefits from what he does but every State 
in the Union benefits from what the Senator from West Virginia does.
  He is serving in his eighth consecutive term as a Senator, making him 
the only person in the history of the Republic to achieve this 
milestone.
  His great rise from the bituminous coal fields of his hardscrabble 
youth is a tribute to America. It is a tribute to Senator Byrd, but it 
is also a tribute to America. In America, one does not have to be born 
into money, prestige; one does not have to have educated parents to 
become an educated man; one does not have to have parents who have 
fancy homes and houses to come to Washington and serve in the greatest 
legislative body in the history of the world.
  I believe Senator Byrd is an American patriot, underscored and 
underlined, a dedicated servant to the people of West Virginia, and a 
Senate legend. I believe I speak for everyone in the

[[Page 10256]]

Senate when I say how proud I am to serve with the Babe Ruth of the 
Senate, Robert C. Byrd.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. If the Senator will withhold momentarily.
  Mr. REID. I withdraw my suggestion.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair thanks the Senator.

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