Posted on 10/14/2002 1:00:09 PM PDT by WomanofStandard
Born in 1917 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, I was left a virtual orphan by the death of my mother when I was only one year old. Brought to West Virginia by my aunt and uncle to be reared as their own, I grew up in various communities in the bituminous coalfields, mastering life's early lessons and learning its duties as a miner's son, and graduating as valedictorian of my high school class in the depths of the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Unable at the time to afford college tuition, I sought employment wherever I found an opportunity -- pumping gas at a filling station, working as a produce salesman, and then becoming a meat cutter -- picking up new skills as I advanced.
One of those skills -- welding -- was in demand after World War II started, and I worked during the war years building "Liberty" and "Victory" ships in the construction yards of Baltimore, Maryland, and Tampa, Florida.
At war's end, I returned to West Virginia with a new vision of what my home state and my country could be. In 1946, I made my first run for political office, and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates.
After two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates, I was elected to the West Virginia Senate; then to the United States House of Representatives for three terms; and finally, in 1958, to the United States Senate, where I have represented West Virginia continuously since, winning re-election again and again by record margins in statewide elections. I have served longer in the United States Senate than has anyone else in West Virginia's history, an indication of the confidence, faith, and trust that the people of my home state have in me.
In addition to fulfilling my Senate responsibilities, I earned my law degree (J.D.), cum laude, from American University in Washington, D.C., in 1963 after ten years of study in night classes in law school. This marked the first time in history that a sitting member of either House of the Congress has accomplished the feat of beginning and completing the courses of study leading to a law degree while serving in Congress. I was awarded my Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, summa cum laude, by Marshall University in 1994.
Continuing my upward trajectory, I became a member of the Senate Leadership in 1967, when I was selected by my colleagues as Secretary of the Democratic Conference. In 1971, I was chosen Senate Democratic Whip. In 1977, I was elected Democratic Leader by my Democratic colleagues, a position I held for six consecutive terms. For the 12 years I held the position of Democratic Leader -- from January 1977 through December 1988 -- serving as Senate Majority Leader six years (1977-80, 1987-88) and as Senate Minority Leader six years (1981-86).
In 1989, for the first time, I had the opportunity to serve as Chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, on which I have held membership since the beginning of 1959. Also in 1989, I was unanimously elected President pro tempore of the Senate, a post that placed me third in line of succession to the Presidency and gave me the distinction of having held more leadership positions in the U.S. Senate than any other Senator of any party in Senate history. In June 2001, in an unprecedented shift of leadership, I regained the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee and was re-elected President pro tempore of the Senate.
In 2000, West Virginia voters elected me to an eighth consecutive six-year term in the Senate, making me the only person in the history of the Republic to achieve that milestone. I have carried all 55 counties several times, and, amazingly, in my most recent general election in the year 2000, I carried all but seven of West Virginia's 1,970 precincts. I also have the distinction of casting more votes than any other Senator in history. In May 2001, I received what I consider my greatest honor when Governor Bob Wise and the West Virginia Legislature named me "West Virginian of the 20th Century."
I married the former Erma Ora James, my high school sweetheart and a coal miner's daughter, and we are the parents of two daughters, Mrs. Mohammad (Mona Byrd) Fatemi and Mrs. Jon (Marjorie Byrd) Moore. We have been blessed with six grandchildren -- Erik, Darius, and Fredrik Fatemi; Michael (deceased), Mona, and Mary Anne Moore -- and three great-granddaughters, Caroline Byrd and Kathryn James Fatemi, and Emma James Clarkson.
It doesn't matter where in the nation one is reared, it's always a painful experience.
I'll be polite and simply say that's absurd. The Nation has continually defended people who tried to destroy this country, in case you've forgotten Hiss and company.
P.S. Welcome to Free Republic.
Weren't the WTC towers in America?
Our war should have stayed against the Islamic terrorist groups, the shift to Iraq makes no sense.
Iraq is a supporter of those terrorist groups, as has been well known long before 9-11. Additionally he tried to kill a former President of the United States. That too is a matter of American interest, don't you think?
All true conservatives should emulate a KKK recruiter and the biggest recipient of federal pork in Senate history?
We should defend our own nation...
From, say, a nuclear device being detonated in Philadelphia?
...and avoid dangerous foreign wars for foreign interests.
And how is preventing Philadelphia from being reduced to an irradiated crater a "foreign interest"? However, I am glad that you want us to stay out of the "dangerous" foreign wars since I only want to fight in the "safe" ones.
(I would continue the Fisking, but I have things to do today...)
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