Robert Byrd: His last appearance on the Senate floor
| Washington
Sen. Robert Byrd (D) of West Virginia gave much thought to his own place in history, including his last appearance on the floor of the US Senate, where he is to lie in repose Thursday.
鈥淗is eyes twinkled and his face brightened when we touched on that subject at several points over the years,鈥� says Richard Baker, the former Senate historian. 鈥淭he Senate was everything to him.鈥�
Not since 1959 鈥� Byrd鈥檚 freshman year in the US Senate 鈥� has the Senate honored one of its own with a memorial in the Senate chamber, then Sen. William 鈥淲ild Bill鈥� Langer (R) of North Dakota. Before World War II, it was common to hold funerals for former colleagues in the Senate chamber. Since then, expanded airline routes have made travel to services in a member鈥檚 home state more feasible. Byrd wanted both.
IN PICTURES: Senator Robert Byrd through the years
In another nod toward history, his casket will be placed on the Lincoln catafalque, constructed in haste after the 16th president鈥檚 assassination. It鈥檚 used for former presidents and others who have lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda. (Byrd appreciated that it was President Lincoln who signed the law admitting West Virginia to the Union.)
Byrd spent more than half a century studying Senate history and precedent. It laced his floor speeches, informed his strategy as Senate Democratic leader from 1977-89, and was an encyclopedic resource to colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
No one, save the Senate parliamentarian, knew these precedents better. Byrd鈥檚 late wife, Erma, used to complain to friends that she never got to dust her dining room table, because it was always piled high with books. Byrd鈥檚 four-volume history of the Senate, based on 100 floor speeches prepared (and memorized) for the 200th anniversary of the US Senate in 1989, is a standard reference on Capitol Hill.
鈥淎fter two hundred years, [the Senate] is still the anchor of the Republic, the morning and evening star in the American constitutional constellation,鈥� he said in a floor speech in 1989. 鈥淚t has weathered the storms of adversity, withstood the barbs of cynics and the attacks of critics, and provided stability and strength to the nation during periods of civil strife and uncertainty, panics and depressions. In war and peace, it has been the sure refuge and protector of the rights of a political minority. And today, the Senate still stands 鈥� the great forum of constitutional American Liberty!鈥�
And, in another speech: 鈥淢any new senators come here thinking that they will quickly make their mark on the institution. Soon, however, they learn that it is the institution that makes its mark on them. The Senate goes on, like Tennyson鈥檚 brook, forever, and it is far greater than the sum of its one hundred parts.鈥�
IN PICTURES: Senator Robert Byrd through the years
Related:
Robert Byrd: a zeal for preserving the Senate's power and civility
Robert Byrd, longest-serving Congress member, a master historian
