Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields

6. EXCELSIOR!

Chapter 6 z Excelsior!  Byrd is on the Wing  I n January 1956, Senator J. William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, introduced a resolution in the Senate opposing the sale to the Goodrich-Gulf Corporation of the government’s synthetic rubber plant at Institute, in Kanawha County. Appearing before the Fulbright committee in the Senate, I said that congressional approval of the Institute rubber plant sale would be advantageous to the government, to West Virginia’s economy, and to the consumers of rubber products. I pointed out that the sale of other rubber plants had been overwhelmingly approved and that “to keep Institute idle and out of competition with the other twenty-six plants at this time would seem to be an empty gesture which contributes nothing to the present situation.” In the House, a resolution of disapproval was introduced by Representative Sidney Yates, Democrat of Illinois. Saying that the Yates action represented “a last minute effort to set up a roadblock,” I predicted that the House of Representatives would “overwhelmingly” approve the sale of the Institute plant. “I know the temper of the House and I am supremely confident of what I say,” I declared. Appearing before the House Armed Services Committee, I used basically the same arguments that I had presented to the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency a few days earlier. On February 8, 1956, a voice vote on the Senate floor turned down Senator Fulbright’s resolution to block the sale, while in the House of Representatives, 94 chapter 6 the similar resolution introduced by Representative Yates also went down, by a vote of 309 to 61. Charles E. Hodges, managing director of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, was quoted in the press as saying: “Charleston and West Virginia now find themselves possessed of the largest synthetic rubber producing facility in the United States, and it is in the hands of private enterprise . The Institute plant will be back in production within 45 to 60 days and will mean jobs for between 300 and 350 persons.” In April, Representative Cleveland M. Bailey and I protested, during the House consideration of the Military Construction Authorization Bill, that WestVirginiahadnotbeensharinginappropriationsformilitaryconstruction. We told the House that a careful study of the bill had indicated that West Virginia alone, of the forty-eight states, was not listed. I had lodged a letter of protest with the House Armed Services Committee during the previous session of Congress when West Virginia had not been included in the Appropriations for Military Construction. Chairman Carl Vinson, Democrat of Georgia, responded to Representative Bailey and me that an item for West Virginia was being included, but he stated that he could not discuss the project further. I confirmed the Vinson announcement because I had talked privately with the Armed Services Committee chairman, and I said I could not discuss the nature of the project because of its “classified” status. It was indicated to be in the nature of a $20-million installation. I also wrote to Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, listing reasons in support of the location of a military facility in West Virginia. I requested that the Department of Defense consider West Virginia for a military location: “I make this request, with the end in view that starting at once, every consideration, if not priority, should be given and continue to be given to West Virginia in the expenditure of military funds.” In June, I received a letter from E. B. McKinney, director of shore establishment development and maintenance, Department of the Navy, informing me that West Virginia was being considered as a possible site for a naval installation. The letter from McKinney stated, in part: “Although it is not possible at this time to state categorically that this installation will be located in West Virginia, it does appear likely that such will be the case. Your interest in bringing the advantages of the State of West Virginia as a possible site for future naval installations to our attention is greatly appreciated.” McKinney had written the letter to me as a result of my letter to Secretary of excelsior! 95 Defense Charles Wilson, my letter having been forwarded by Wilson to McKinney’s office. In 1956, I also went to bat for the Sutton Dam, even though it was not located in my congressional district. On June 4, I wrote to Senator Styles Bridges...