Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields

7. THE SAPLING GROWS TALL

chapter 7 z The Sapling Grows Tall  The Class of 1958  S ome members of the Class of 1958 aspired eventually to leadership roles within their parties. In 1969, Senator Hugh Scott became Republican whip, and, following the death of Everett M. Dirksen, he became Republican minority leader, a post he held until his retirement in 1977. On the Democratic side, I served as secretary to the Democratic conference from 1967 until I was elected Democratic whip in 1971 and then majority leader in 1977, in which position I served until the beginning of 1981, at which time the Republicans took control of the Senate. Subsequently, I served as minority leader, 1981 through 1986, when the Democrats again took control and I again became majority leader and served as such through the Hundredth Congress (1987-88). Senator Frank Moss succeeded me as secretary to the Democratic conference in January of 1971, while Ed Muskie chaired the Legislative Review Committee. The class of 1958 was an outstanding class; the class of 1958 was also a fortunate one in terms of longevity and seniority. The thirteen Democratic members averaged eighteen years in the Senate, while the three Republicans averaged thirteen years. In their first stand for reelection in 1964, all Democrats in the class won their races, with the exception of Senator Clair Engle, who had died that year. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson’s coattails not only carried back all of the incumbent Democrats but also added a host of new the sapling grows tall 115 Democrats to the House and Senate, including Robert F. Kennedy, who defeated Kenneth Keating to become a U.S. senator from New York. In the 1970 election, Eugene McCarthy and Stephen Young did not stand for reelection, and Tom Dodd was defeated. The rest of the class once again was reelected. Not until the third reelection bid in 1976 did the class ranks thin noticeably . Hugh Scott retired. Philip Hart, suffering from a terminal illness, did not run for reelection and died shortly before his term ended. Vance Hartke, Gale McGee, and Frank Moss were defeated. Winston Prouty had died in 1971. Among those reelected in 1976, Ed Muskie was appointed secretary of state in 1980; Harrison Williams resigned in 1982; and Howard Cannon was defeated in 1982. Jennings Randolph, who had been elected to fill a short-term seat in 1958 and who was, therefore, part of another election cycle, retired after 1984. At that time I became the last member of the class of 1958 still serving in the Senate. In their many years of service, the freshmen members of the class of 1958 passed through their Senate apprenticeships and into positions of national prominence and influence. In contrast, the so-called Senate establishment lost ground. Kennedy’s death in November 1963 and Lyndon Johnson’s ascension to the presidency changed the political climate of Washington. The combination of sympathy for the martyred president and the legislative skills of the new president helped to enact bills long stalled in Congress. And the election of 1964 brought in such an overwhelming number of Democrats that Johnson’s entire Great Society program was enacted with breathtaking speed during the Eighty-ninth Congress.  The Blooming of Many Flowers  The class of 1958 earned many of the trophies for legislation passed in this heady period. Howard Cannon, who served on the Commerce Committee during this period, took pride in the twenty major federal consumer laws that were passed in the 1960s, noting that experts had called it “the greatest single period of concentrated consumer activity in the history of the nation.” In 1964, Phil Hart of Michigan was assistant floor manager of the Civil Rights Act and the following year served as floor manager for the Voting Rights Act. Vance Hartke was one of the principal authors of the Higher Education Act of 1966 and the Adult Education Act of 1967. Eugene McCarthy chaired the Select Committee on Unemployment, where he helped to marshal support for the 116 chapter 7 Youth Conservation Corps and for vocational training and retraining. Ed Muskie sponsored the Clean Air Acts of 1963 and 1965, the Water Quality Act of 1965, the Clean Rivers Restoration Act of 1966, and the Housing and Urban Development Act and Model Cities Act of 1966. Jennings Randolph sponsored the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965. Harrison Williams shepherded mass transit legislation...