Word: byrds
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...contrast between Hart's decision to vote against Eastland for ideological reasons, and his colleagues' selection last week of Senator Robert Byrd to be Senate Majority Leader is striking...
...suggested that 1976 could be viewed as a turning point, a watershed in Americar history. Making generalizations about American politics is a risky thing, even with the benefit of hindsight. Nonetheless, three events of the past month--the death of Michigan Senator Philip Hart, the election of Senator Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) as Senate Majority Leader, and the announcements of Carter's cabinet nominations, especially those of Griffin Bell for Attorney General and Harold Brown for Secretary of Defense--suggest some of the critical choices confronting congressional leaders and some desirable solutions...
...Byrd possesses one of the worst civil rights voting records of any man in the Senate, having voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and most of the other major civil rights measures of the 1960s. He once condemned the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a "self-seeking rabble rouser," suggesting later that the slain civil rights leader had incited the riots that broke out in the wake of his assassination. Byrd was so opposed to the progressive decisions of the Warren Court that he broke ranks with his colleagues...
Surprisingly, Byrd received strong support in his campaign for the post not only from conservative Southern Democrats, but from liberals who might more naturally have been expected to support Byrd's challenger, Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn.). In fact, so widespread was the liberal defection to Byrd that Humphrey, recognizing he had no chance of winning, withdrew. Two days later, however, Humphrey received a consolation prize--he was made deputy president pro tem of the Senate, garnering a $7500 pay increase, a limousine, a larger office, and no new formal responsibilities...
...only hitch in Byrd's arduous climb to the top may be the secret vote in the 62-Senator Democratic caucus. Head counters give Byrd 30 votes, two 14 short of a majority, and Humphrey 22. Humphrey hopes to pick up the ten votes he needsthat Byrd is acceptable to labor. He wasn't about to go against a sure winner." Humphrey's health also worries Senators, who wonder whether he will have the vitality for the job after undergoing removal of his cancerous bladder. Says Hubert, who insists that he has been advised he is healthy enough: "I prefer...