Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields

9. CLIMBING THE LEADERSHIP LADDER

Chapter 9 z Climbing the Leadership Ladder I n December 1966, I announced that I was a candidate to succeed Senator George Smathers of Florida for the office of secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference. A contest ensued between Senators Joe Clark of Pennsylvania, Fred Harris of Oklahoma, and myself. The secretary and the majority leader and the Democratic whip were frequently called to the White House to confer with President Johnson. Thus, becoming secretary of the Democratic Conference would provide me with national publicity that could also help me in West Virginia, where I would be up for reelection in 1970. Much interest was sparked in the state by the announcement that I would be a candidate for the office. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch of Sunday, December 25, 1966, carried a lengthy article titled, “Senate Democratic Post Likely to Be Won by Byrd Despite the White House.” Beginning with “Liberal Democratic Senators have been disorganized, divided, and late in preparing for the election to fill the Senate’s number three Democratic leadership post,” the article went on to speculate that, “as a result, there is a good chance that the position will go to Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.” The article also speculated that I had “begun campaigning quietly last June,” and went on to say, “White House efforts to head him off were too subtle and too late.” According to the newspaper article, Senator Muskie had considered himself a candidate as had Senator Philip Hart of Michigan. “But, rather than create a split among the liberals, Muskie and Hart withdrew and pledged their support to Clark on the climbing the leadership ladder 195 first ballot.” While Clark was publicly expressing confidence that he would win on this ballot, the article stated, “The outcome could turn on personality factors rather than on regional or policy factors.” The Post-Dispatch article referred to my former Ku Klux Klan membership and to my work on the Appropriations Committee in ridding the welfare rolls of welfare cheaters, but asserted that: “Even his enemies concede that he has obtained increased funds for District of Columbia public schools and that he puts on a brilliant display each year in hearings on the District budget. He impresses listeners by reciting the budget for hours at a time from memory.” The year 1967 would be a turbulent year in America—a year marked with anti-Vietnam war protesters marching in the streets, mounting violence and attacks on police, and a deterioration of the fabric of law and order. It was a year leading up to what would be an even more turbulent year, 1968, when U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy would be assassinated, Martin Luther King would die of an assassin’s bullet, and Lyndon Johnson would announce his decision not to run again for the office of president. In this maelstrom of disorder and uncertainty, amid signs of growing anarchy in America, I would raise my voice in the interest of stability, respect for law and order, stern dealing with criminals, and public support of the nation’s policemen. In doing so, I would be denounced as a “racist” and as an enemy of the poor—“hardheaded and hardhearted.” Yet, I would not waver from the course that I thought best for our troubled country in those anxious hours, nor would I be intimidated by those who sought to silence me or drive me into a closet. Meanwhile, I would be constant in protecting the interests of West Virginia, and in promoting the funding of projects and programs beneficial to my state and the people I represented. I would also seek greater responsibilities within my party and within the Senate as an institution. All of these things would unfold in due course.  Vows to Represent Legislative Independence  Following my election as secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference, I issued a statement saying that I had been “highly complimented by the honor , and, as a part of the Democratic leadership in the Senate, it will be my desire to do all I possibly can to continue to support programs which I deem to be in the best interests of the country.” Furthermore, I said, “I shall cooperate , wherever possible, with the executive branch and with the majority lead- 196 chapter 9 er of the Senate, keeping in mind that ours is a governmental system in which...