Note: This post was previously listed under our "News from the Grey Box" blog series Part 1 of a 4-Part Series
By Malorie Matos Senator Robert Byrd was well-known for his political accomplishments and prowess as a fiddler, but many may be unaware of just what an integral role fiddling played in the senator’s life. Note: This post was previously listed under our "News from the Grey Box" blog series By Jody Brumage “What is the relevancy of Roman history? To put it simply and elementally, by delivering the line-item veto into the hands of a president – any president, Republican or Democrat or Independent, the United States Senate would have set its foot on the same road to decline, subservience, impotence, and feebleness that the Roman Senate followed in its own descent into ignominy, cowardice, and oblivion.” - Senator Robert C. Byrd, June 22, 1993 Senator Robert C. Byrd, beginning in May 1993, delivered fourteen speeches in the Senate on the history of the Senate of the Roman Republic. While these speeches, delivered entirely from memory, gave a condensed history of Ancient Rome, from the foundation of the Republic to the rise of the Empire, Byrd’s larger thesis was always clear. The Senate had allowed the line-item veto to creep back into floor debate, and it was gaining support. President Bill Clinton, who had enjoyed the privilege of line-item veto while Governor of Arkansas, along with 42 other state governors, was asking for such power to be granted to the presidency as well. Senator Byrd believed such a provision meant the end of Senate supremacy over the purse strings of the federal government and, more importantly, the unraveling of the system of checks and balances which enabled the three branches of government to coexist. Senator Byrd saw the line-item veto as an unconstitutional measure. By Sarah Brennan
Senator Robert C. Byrd was more than a politician from West Virginia. He, and his wife Erma represented West Virginia on the national stage. Their support was frequently symbolic and always brought positive attention to their home state. One such example occurred during the 1980s, when Senator Byrd persuaded the United States Navy to name a nuclear submarine in honor of the state. Correspondence in the Byrd Collection at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies shows the Senator’s desire to have a nuclear powered submarine named the West Virginia as early as May 1987, the same year that a planned relocation of the United States Coast Guard National Operations Computer Center to Martinsburg was to take place at his request. Byrd appealed to U.S. Naval Secretary James Webb, asking him to consider that the previous ship named after West Virginia saw action at Pearl Harbor and Tokyo Bay during World War II. That ship was decommissioned in 1959, and to Byrd, the patriotism of West Virginians warranted the naming of a new one. Note: This post was previously listed under our "News from the Grey Box" blog series An essential part of any archive’s mission is to field research queries from patrons. Most of the requests about the Byrd Center’s collections have come via email. In turn, I’ve been able to field many of these requests with some degree of success relatively quickly (usually the patron is asking about a particular document rather than a larger topic that would require many documents and more research time). I’m then able to send the researcher an electronic file which not only saves them a trip (especially if they’re from say, California), but it also drives our digitization efforts (as we now have that paper file as a PDF).
Sometimes we don’t have what the researcher is seeking, so we try and point them to other resources that may bear more fruit for their search. Other times, we strike gold–the “magic bullet” of documents that are rumored to exist, but rarely seen. Note: This post was previously listed under our "News from the Grey Box" blog series By Casey Dehaven
On October 8, 2013, NPR aired a story entitled “Enter The Quiet Zone: Where Cell Service, Wi-Fi Are Banned.” This news item described two scientific installations in West Virginia: the Green Bank Telescope and the Sugar Grove research facility. Senator Byrd was instrumental in securing funding for these two sites, and we wanted to highlight his role in advancing the cause of science in his home state. In November 1988 in the foothills of Pocahontas County, West Virginia, the gusset plate, an integral piece of a structure’s anatomy, came loose and reduced the original Green Bank Telescope to a pile of rubble. Less than a year later, Senator Robert C. Byrd pushed a $75 million Emergency Supplemental Appropriation through Congress in order to secure federal funding to rebuild a more advanced model of the Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia. Construction of the telescope began in the summer of 1993; with Senator Byrd observing in one of his many Byrd’s Eye View columns that the “official operation of the new, technologically advanced National Radio Telescope is anticipated to begin in 1995.” He mentioned that one of his main reasons for funding this project was to ensure that the state of West Virginia was kept in the “front ranks” of radio telescope technology as a “brilliant star” for a scientific future. Note: This post was previously listed under our "News from the Grey Box" blog series By Marc Levitt Several of Senator Byrd’s constituents sent him works of art during his long tenure as a senator. These gifts were quite diverse in their materials, including a fiddler carved from coal and a miner’s head fashioned from an apple (and properly preserved). We wanted to highlight a collection of objects sent to Senator Byrd that showcased the care and dedication some of his constituents displayed to show their appreciation for the senator’s work on their behalf. Mr. S., a native of Iran and resident of West Virginia, sent 15 canes to Senator Byrd circa 2007 when the senator first started using canes. Mr. S. made the canes from material found on his land including copper pipe, wood, and even PVC. He also used several coins as decorative accents ($3.90 worth of quarters, nickels, and pennies). The senator assisted Mr. S with various things including his trailer, social security matters, transportation to the doctor, and some emergency needs. Mr. S. was a great fan of Byrd and would always call to check on him when he heard that he was ill. This is but one example of a warm relationship the senator had with his constituents, all of whom Byrd held in high esteem: “[the people of West Virginia] treat everyone as family. We show people respect, treating them as we ourselves would want to be treated.” The art that was sent to Senator Byrd can certainly be said to display such a mindset.
Source: Byrd’s Eye View, Honoring the Spirit of West Virginia, June 14, 2007. Note: This post was previously listed under our "News from the Grey Box" blog series
Note: This post was previously listed under our "News from the Grey Box" blog series
Recently Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and his senior staff paid a visit to the Byrd CLS to learn more about how Congressional collections are managed and the types of programs that centers like ours conduct for the study of Congress. Our Executive Director Ray Smock gave opening remarks about how the CLS was established and explained our relationship with similar institutions through the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress (ACSC). Marc Levitt, the Director of Archives, followed up with a slide show regarding the processing of Senator Byrd’s collection that he has supervised over the past three years. Senator Leahy and his staff then took a tour of the Byrd Center, where they saw an exhibit of artifacts from Byrd’s collection, the archival stacks (complete with processed textual documents), and the rest of the facilities of the CLS. The Byrd CLS is always happy to host members of Congress and their staffs to explore the many ways in which congressional archives can be used to foster a better understanding of how the legislative branch of government works. We appreciate the Senator taking time out of his schedule to learn more about how centers like ours operate. Note: This post was previously listed under our "News from the Grey Box" blog series Here at the Byrd Archive, we are often asked: “How much money did Senator Byrd bring to West Virginia?”
We’ve always been able to answer in general terms (“billions!”), but now we’re working to get a more specific and accurate total. Note: This post was previously listed under our "News from the Grey Box" blog series By Jody Brumage Between 1990 and 2001, the complete transformation of a derelict train station to a community health center was witnessed by the residents of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The town’s historic Norfolk and Western Railroad Depot had stood unused for thirty years when Town Mayor Audrey Egle began an effort to restore the structure. Soon, the restoration project became a rehabilitation project, and then a call to Senator Byrd’s office was made. In response to Mayor Egel’s interest, the Historic Shepherdstown Commission formed a committee, comprised of Robert Fodor, Harvey Heyser, and Joseph Snyder, to investigate the structure and determine what could be done with it. |
Welcome to the Byrd Center Blog! We share content here including research from our archival collections, articles from our director, and information on upcoming events.
Categories
All
Archives
July 2023
|
Our Mission: |
The Byrd Center advances representative democracy by promoting a better understanding of the United States Congress and the Constitution through programs and research that engage citizens.
|
Copyright © Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education
|