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Home , 1840s, Affirmation (law), Aisle (political term), Barry Goldwater, Candy Desk, Congress

Traditions of the Cover: The Senator from Interrupts, William A. Rogers, Harper’s Weekly, , 1897.

The author extends his deepest appreciation to Emily J. Reynolds, Mary Suit Jones, Diane K. Skvarla, and David J. Tinsley for their careful and experience-based suggestions. Thanks also to Senate Historical Editor Beth Hahn, Senate Photo Historian Heather Moore, and Printing and Document Services Director Karen Moore.

Additional copies available through the Senate Office of Printing and Document Services, Room SH–B04. of the

Richard A. Baker Senate Historian

Prepared under the direction of Nancy Erickson Secretary of the Senate Contents

Becoming a Senator ...... 2 • Orientation programs • taking • Members’ order-of-service numbers • “Father of the Senate” • Seniority • Senate Bean

On the Senate ...... 6 • Senate officers • Senate desks • Maiden speeches • Senate pages • Official photograph • • Seersucker Thursday

Senate Floor Proceedings ...... 14 • Chaplain’s prayer • • Senate gavels • Decorum • “Golden Gavel” Award • Floor leaders’ right of priority recognition • Honoring distinguished visitors • Presentation of messages

Senate Legacies ...... 20 • Naming of buildings and rooms • Vice-presidential busts • Senate Reception Room’s “Famous Nine” • • ’s Farewell Address • Senate spouses’ organization • End-of-session valedictories and eulogies • Funerals and memorial services

“Citadel of Constitutional and Democratic ” ...... 28

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE Traditions of the United States Senate

At a few yards’ distance [from the Chamber early years of the Senate’s “Golden Age,” of the ] is the door helped to promote that notion. of the Senate, which contains within a small space a large proportion of the celebrated The U.S. Senate relies heavily on men of America. Scarcely an is to and precedent. Change comes slowly. Many be seen in it who has not had an active and of its current rules and procedures date illustrious career: the Senate is composed from the First in 1789. The major of eloquent advocates, distinguished gener- amendment to the U.S. affect- als, wise , and statesmen of note, ing Senate operations—the 17th Amend- whose arguments would do honor to the ment providing for direct popular most remarkable parliamentary debates of of its members—took 87 years from the . time of its initial drafting in 1826 to its in 1913. The decision to make — Alexis de Tocqueville, in it possible under the Senate rules to limit America, 1835 debate required 128 years of consideration. In conducting late 20th-century Senate Welcome to the Senate of the United States, , the Senate closely fol- the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.” lowed procedures established in the No one knows for certain who coined and updated in the . Senate officials that phrase. It came into widespread use still carry 18th-century such as “sec- in the latter half of the , and retary,” “,” “keeper of the stationery,” many have questioned its accuracy at and—until recently—“wagon-master.” various times in the nation’s history, but those words are routinely applied to no Traditions of the United States Senate offers a other legislature than the “” guide to the distinguishing customs and rituals of the . Alexis de of the institution that Pulitzer Prize-winning Tocqueville’s influential survey of author lovingly described as “this American government, published in the lively and appealing body.”

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 1 Becoming a Senator to develop well-organized and responsive Orientation programs. Post-election welcoming programs. (In years with smaller orientation programs provide new mem- classes, such as 1990 with only four new bers a foretaste of Senate traditions. Prior members, the programs have necessarily to 1976, beginning members looked to the been less formal.) other senator from their states, or to party officials, for advice on how to survive in Typically, these programs cover several days this unfamiliar environment. Sena- in November or December and coincide tor recalled how deeply with party leadership . Present- he valued this assistance. ers range from the party floor leaders to of the most recent previous fresh- Early in January 1953, a very frightened man class. Sessions span a host of practical and somewhat timid desert rat landed topics from “” and in Washington, feeling as out of place as “setting up a new office,” to “life in the anyone possibly could. I had not been Senate.” In addition to this bipartisan, Sen- in my hotel room 15 minutes when the ate-wide program, each of the two political phone rang and the voice at the other end parties organizes briefings and retreats. said, “This is Mark Trice.” I wondered then who that could be. He immediately In December 1996, Senate party leaders told me that he was Secretary of the Sen- asked Senator C. Byrd—who subse- ate and his interest that morning was in quently became the longest-serving member helping me to get started. He came to me in Senate history—to brief new senators. like a life ring comes to a drowning man. At a closed meeting in the Senate Chamber, that 15-member class received the follow- ing advice, which was later published in the .

Service in this body is a supreme honor. It is also a burden and a serious responsibili- ty. Members’ lives become open for inspec- tion and are used as examples for other citizens to emulate. A Senator must really be much more than hardworking, much more than conscientious, much more than dutiful. A Senator must reach for noble qualities—honor, total dedication, self- discipline, extreme selflessness, exemplary patriotism, sober judgment, and intellectu- Secretary of the Senate J. Mark Trice al honesty. The Senate is more important The 1976 election produced 17 new mem- than any one, or all, of us. . . . Each of us bers—the largest infusion in 18 years. The has a solemn responsibility to remember next two elections generated even larger that, and to remember it often. classes, with 20 in 1978 and 18 in 1980. These three elections, along with the 1980 The Senate and, therefore, Senators were change in party control for the first time intended to take the long view and to be in 26 years, encouraged Senate officials able to resist, if need be, the passions of the

2 THE UNITED STATES SENATE often intemperate House. Few, if any, up- Occasionally, the senator-elect chooses per chambers in the history of the western a member from another . Former world have possessed the Senate’s absolute senators sometimes share these honors. In right to unlimited debate and to amend and 2003, former Senator escorted block legislation passed by a . . . . his wife, , to take her oath. [Its] deference to minority views sharply In recent years, parents have proudly distinguishes the Senate from the ma- escorted their children in this ritual, with joritarian House of Representatives. The former Senators , Birch Framers recognized that a minority can be Bayh, and shepherding, re- right and that a majority can be wrong. spectively, Senators , , and . The pressures on you will, at times, be enormous. . . . A Senator’s attention to- Senators-elect affirm their oath to defend day is fractured beyond belief. . . . But, the U.S. Constitution by stepping , somehow, amidst all the noise and con- raising their right hand, and repeating the fusion, you must find the time to reflect, words spoken by the presiding officer. Some to study, to read, and especially to un- carry in their left hand a personal Bible or derstand the absolutely critically impor- other sacred text. tant institutional role of the Senate.

The Senate is often soundly castigated for its inefficiency, but in fact, it was nev- er intended to be efficient. Its purpose was and is to examine, consider, protect, and be a totally independent source of wisdom and judgment on the actions of the lower house and on the . As such, the Senate is the central pillar of our Constitutional system. I hope that you, as new members, will study the Sen- ate in its institutional context, because that is the best way to understand your personal role as a United States Senator.

Oath taking. At the beginning of a new six-year term, before senators-elect can exercise their legislative responsibilities, each must take the prescribed in an open session of the Senate. From the earliest days, an elaborate tradition developed under which senators-elect—both freshmen and Senate Oath Book, , 1953 reelected veterans—are escorted down the Chamber’s center to take the oath from The high point in the oath-taking ceremony the presiding officer. Customarily, the other occurs as the secretary of the Senate invites senator from the member-elect’s state serves each newly sworn senator to sign his or as escort. her name on a specially dedicated page in

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 3 an ornate oath book. This practice be- the time of their initial oath-taking, begin- gan during the , after the Senate ning with Senator Stephen Young at adopted an 1864 rule requiring all senators number 1,572. to supplement their oral affirmation by signing a printed copy of a wartime loyalty By tradition, the Senate determines senior- oath. The so-called “Ironclad Test Oath” ity for the purpose of assigning office space included a provision by which senators according to former government service and swore that they had never supported the then state population. The highest rank- nation’s enemies—domestic or foreign. The ing goes to those with previous service, in Test Oath was designed to keep former descending order, as a senator, vice presi- Confederates from taking positions within dent, House member, secretary, and the federal government after the war. . For those with no service in these categories, seniority is calculated according Until 1987, when the first Senate swearing- to state population, from largest to smallest. in ceremony was broadcast on live televi- sion, these events were off-limits to cameras In 2000, the Historical Office extended of any sort. The longstanding ban on - this list back to the Senate’s first meeting tography in the Senate Chamber led newly in 1789. Assigning numbers alphabetically sworn members to devise an alternate way within each arriving class, this list—avail- of capturing this moment for their families, able on the Senate Web site—designates constituents, and posterity. Prior to 1977, Richard Bassett of as senator the vice president invited senators and their number one. During the 110th Congress, families into his formal Capitol office to in June 2007, of reenact the ceremony for home-state pho- became senator number 1,896. tographers. When the remodeled Old Sen- ate Chamber opened in 1976, reenactment ceremonies moved to that elegant setting, evoking the “Golden Age” of the mid-19th- century Senate.

Members’ order-of-service numbers. Another informal custom of opening-day proceedings is to advise newly sworn fresh- men of their “number.” New members’ responses to this information range from confusion to curiosity. “What does my number mean?”

This tradition began in the late 1970s, when a senior senator asked the Senate Historical Office to calculate the number of senators who had served prior to 1959 and to compile a chronological list of all sena- tors who had arrived since that year. This list displayed members’ names arranged and numbered by their relative seniority at Senators of the First Congress

4 THE UNITED STATES SENATE This custom symbolizes the continuous 19th-century Senate “fathers” were Rhode chain of membership from the Senate’s Island’s Henry Anthony and Massachu- founding era to the present. Some sena- setts’ George Hoar. In 1903, Senator Hoar tors demonstrate particular pride in their summarized this role in describing Senator assigned number. At least one displays it on Anthony—whom the Senate had elected his automobile’s license plates. president pro tempore on 17 occasions.

“Father of the Senate.” The extended He had come to be the depository of [the Senate community of members, spouses, Senate’s] traditions, customs and unwrit- and staff is customarily likened to a family. ten rules. . . . He seemed somehow the Special deference is accorded to the elders of intimate friend of every man in the Senate, this unique family. Preeminent among these on both sides. Every one of his colleagues elders are chairs and ranking poured out his heart to him. It seemed that members, and the Senate president pro tem- no eulogy or funeral was complete unless pore. Formally and in countless casual ways, the president pro tempore emerged during the as the Senate’s guiding father-figure. The constitutionally mandated official who presides over the Senate in the absence of the vice president, the president pro tempore since 1947 has been third in line of presidential succession behind the vice president and of the House. As the Chamber’s presiding officer, the presi- dent pro tempore is authorized to perform certain duties including signing legislation before it is sent to the president, ruling on points of order, and enforcing decorum in the Senate Chamber. The natural develop- ment of a Senate “father” follows an - American tradition rooted in the practices of Senator Henry Anthony, R–RI the ’s . That chamber confers the formal of “” upon its most senior member, who presides at the election of a Speaker and on occasions “where historical perspective may be required.”

In previous generations of senators, mem- bers have recognized as Senate “fathers” those who became fervent defenders of the body’s constitutional prerogatives and were well versed in the institution’s history and customs. These paternal figures tended to emerge naturally from one era to the next. Two prominent Senator George Hoar, R–MA

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 5 Anthony had taken part in it, because he in all Senate dining areas. The origins of this was reckoned [as a protecting] friend of venerable tradition are not entirely certain, the man who was dead. but Senator first provided Senate chefs his favorite bean soup In the mid-20th century, Senators Robert recipe in 1903. That recipe includes navy Taft of Ohio and Richard Russell of Geor- beans, hot water, smoked ham hocks, brazed gia wore this mantle. onion, butter, salt, and pepper. In the 1970s, a popular Washington restaurant created Seniority. The concept of a revered Senate its own “U.S. ,” available “father” developed through the institution’s in food stores in 15-ounce cans under the first half century in tandem with the seniority “Dominique’s” label. principle. In its earliest decades, the Sen- ate struggled to find an equitable means for distributing special status among members. Who would serve as president pro tempore in the absence of the vice president? Who would chair the important ? Who would obtain desirable office space? Initially, the Sen- ate conducted numerous and time-consuming roll-call votes to determine committee assign- ments. By the , a time of rapid member- ship turnover and short tenures in office, the Senate began recognizing seniority of service Senate Bean Soup being made in arranging committee rosters. In 1858, ______however, the Senate briefly ignored seniority when its Democratic removed Stephen On the Senate Floor Douglas as chairman of the significant Com- Senate officers. Senator Barry Goldwater’s mittee on because he did not reflect 1953 reference to the orientation assistance that party’s views on . This departure he received from Secretary of the Senate J. from tradition—along with the 1871 removal Mark Trice foreshadowed the full range of of as chairman of the Foreign services offered to members— and Relations Committee for opposing an annexa- new—by the Senate’s five elected officers. tion favored by the president—created Those officers are the secretary of the Sen- hard feelings within the Chamber and banner ate, the sergeant at arms, the two party headlines in papers across the nation. In later secretaries, and the Senate chaplain. Today, years, the Senate occasionally adjusted its incoming senators meet all five early in committee seniority rules—most notably in their formal orientation sessions. 1997 when the Senate Republican Conference placed six-year term limits on its party’s com- In April 1789, shortly after achieving its mittee chairmen and ranking members. first , the Senate elected Samuel A. Otis as its secretary. A former speaker of Senate Bean Soup. No introduction to the Massachusetts house of representatives Senate traditions can be considered complete and member of the , without sampling a steaming bowl of Sen- Otis helped in countless ways the First ate Bean Soup. For more than a century, this Senate’s 26 members—all newly elected. He appealing concoction has been available daily kept records of floor proceedings, disbursed

6 THE UNITED STATES SENATE payrolls, and purchased supplies. Today’s Senate desks. Incoming senators typically secretary continues to provide the legisla- ask two questions related to their seat- tive, financial, and administrative support ing assignments in the Senate Chamber: essential for the Senate to exercise its con- “Which one of the 100 desks will I occu- stitutional responsibilities and for senators py?” and “Where will my desk be located?” to carry out their daily Chamber activities. In the Senate’s earliest years, neither party nor seniority influenced members’ seat- The sergeant at arms and doorkeeper, ing locations. Available evidence suggests whose tenure also dates back to 1789, that senators chose to sit with friends or serves as the protocol and chief en- other members from their region. Tend- forcement officer of the Senate. This officer ing to cluster by party affiliation from the is responsible for escorting the president of 1840s, senators made the center aisle a the United States and other official guests clear boundary in 1877 when they began of the Senate in the Capitol, and for main- the practice of having desks shifted across taining security for members and facilities that aisle following each election so that all in the Capitol and Senate office buildings. members of a party could sit together. The sergeant at arms is also responsible for all Senate computers and technology sup- By the late 19th century, Senate party lead- port services, recording and photographic ers had come to rely on seniority to settle services, printing and graphics services, and new members’ questions about desk loca- telecommunications services. tion. For decades after the Senate moved

Senate in session, 1877

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 7 to its current Chamber in 1859, members relative who may have preceded them in the complained about that large, box-like Senate, or other illustrious former mem- room’s poor acoustics. Its glass-paneled bers. By special Senate , desks of ceiling muffled most sounds, except those legendary members , Henry of pouring and beating hail. Deter- Clay, and are assigned, mined to keep abreast of floor proceedings, respectively, to the senior senators from many took the first opportunity, as desks (Webster was born in New became available, to move to better hear- Hampshire, but represented Massachusetts ing locations toward the front and center in the Senate), , and . of the Chamber. Only in 1971, following For senators interested in occupying a desk installation of the Senate’s first effective once assigned to an iconic figure within the voice amplification system, did acoustics Democratic party, there is a strong chance no longer principally determine members’ of obtaining a desk once used by choices of desk locations. Fifteen years Senator Harry S. . The future presi- later, in 1986, the inauguration of gavel-to- dent consecutively occupied 10 desks during gavel television coverage further influenced his service from 1935 to 1945. members’ decisions about their preferred seating assignments. Today, some members The task of compiling a roster of previ- continue to follow the historical pattern of ous occupants has been made easier by the moving toward the front and center as they Senate tradition of inscribing the member’s gain seniority, while others settle on agree- name in his or her desk drawers. Some have able locations elsewhere in the Chamber. signed with pen and ink, while others have sought a more permanent medium, carving While new members are limited in their their names deeply into the supple wood. choice of seat location, they may be able to Sheets of Mylar now shield this unique negotiate for the assignment of a specific historical record from potentially damaging desk. Along with the original Senate gavel, contents within the drawers. the Chamber desks are the institution’s most venerable relics. A cabinet- maker had fashioned 48 of them by 1819 to replace desks destroyed when invading British troops burned the Capitol in 1814. As new states entered the Union, the Senate commissioned additional desks. Today, re- flecting early 19th-century senatorial needs, each desk includes an inkwell and a shaker that originally held finely ground fish bones, ideal for blotting ink newly applied to parchment and paper.

The Senate curator maintains a record of Drawer of Senate Chamber desk 43 desk assignments—available on the Senate’s Web site—with information dating from the Maiden speeches. When they are com- earliest years of the 20th century. New sena- fortable with their newly assigned desks, tors often seek a desk previously associated and have learned the protocol for casting with a respected home-state predecessor, a recorded votes, new members consider the

8 THE UNITED STATES SENATE question, “When should I give my first floor Observing from the gallery, La Follette’s speech?” In the mid-, a disappointed wife interpreted this walkout veteran offered this advice to newcomers: as “a polite form of hazing.” “There are two kinds of congressmen— show horses and work horses. If you want In the 1950s, a freshmen senator com- to get your name in the papers, be a show plained about this tradition: “Like children, horse. If you want to gain the of we should be seen and not heard.” When a your colleagues, keep quiet and be a work newly arrived senator of that day politely horse.” From the Senate’s earliest days, new joined veteran members in lavish floor members have observed a ritual of remain- speeches honoring a senior member’s birth- ing silent during floor debates for a period day, the senior member privately criticized of time—depending on the era and the sen- the upstart’s temerity. ator. That period once ranged from several months to several years. Some reasoned A decade later, freshman Senator Bob Dole that by deferring their so-called “maiden considered three months of silence long speech,” their more senior colleagues would enough. He chose April 14, 1969, for his respect them for their evident willingness to first address. In that instance, he selected a serve an apprenticeship. personally important date—the 24th anni- versary of the day he was wounded in In 1906, Senator Robert La Fol- during World War II—to discuss challenges lette had no of playing that role. confronting disabled . Following He believed he had been elected to present another ritual related to this first speech, he a message for political reform that none made a point every year, on or about April of his more seasoned colleagues seemed 14, of addressing that theme. inclined to deliver. Accordingly, the for- mer governor, who was no stranger to the For most of the Senate’s existence, the public spotlight, waited just three months tradition of waiting several years before before launching his first speech. That delivering a maiden speech has been much titanic oration consumed eight hours over discussed but rarely observed. As one Sen- three days and filled 148 closely printed ate insider explained, in this modern era of pages of the Congressional Record. As La continuous and immediate news coverage, Follette began to speak, senators pointedly “the electorate wouldn’t stand for it.” None- rose from their desks and left the Chamber. theless, the tradition of paying attention to “maiden speeches,” regardless of when they are delivered, remains important to senators, constituents, and home-state journalists.

Senate pages. New senators quickly learn to value the many helpful services of the Senate’s pages. These services begin prior to the convening of each day’s session. Pages place on each member’s desk a copy of the Congressional Record, Executive Calendar, Calendar of Business, the day’s pending legislation (both the bills and committee Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr. , R–WI reports), legislative notices or bulletins,

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 9 and—replacing the once traditional quill Senate career path, Grafton Hanson held a pens—two sharpened pencils. During the series of increasingly responsible Chamber day, senators call on pages to send legisla- jobs over the next 10 years. Isaac Bassett, tion to the presiding officer’s desk, bring who is well known to students of the in- a glass of water, and carry out countless stitution’s 19th-century folklore, remained other errands. Today’s pages are broadly in the Senate’s employ for the rest of his representative of the nations’s population long life. In 1861, he became assistant of high school juniors from which they are doorkeeper—a post in which he earned the selected. This was not always the case. legendary distinction of being the official who stopped a Massachusetts soldier from On , 1965, less than a year after bayoneting the Senate desk previously passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, New occupied by Mississippi Senator Jefferson York Senator made history by Davis, who had just become president of appointing the first African American Sen- the Confederacy. Late 19th-century pho- ate page, Lawrence Bradford, Jr. Six years tographs show Bassett, by then an elderly later, on May 14, 1971, Senator Javits and man in a long white beard, exercising an- Senator Charles Percy appointed the other tradition—one that has not survived first two female pages, Paulette Desell and to modern times. As the Senate hurried to Ellen McConnell. wrap up end-of-session legislation, Bassett employed a long pole to move the Chamber clock’s minute hand backwards from the twelve o’clock time to gain a few precious minutes.

Senators Charles Percy and Jacob Javits with first female Senate pages Doorkeeper Isaac Bassett adjusts Senate Chamber clock

Senator Daniel Webster had selected the By the , the Senate required pages first Senate page in 1829. Proving that to be at least 12 years old, but no older personal connections counted in those days, than 16, although it occasionally ignored he chose nine-year-old Grafton Hanson, those limits. Until the early 1900s, pages grandson of the Senate sergeant at arms. were responsible for arranging their formal Two years later, the Senate added a second schooling during Senate recesses. In vari- page, Isaac Bassett, the 12-year-old son of a ous page memoirs, there runs a common Senate messenger. theme that no classroom could have offered an educational experience comparable to Beginning a tradition in which service as a what they enjoyed on the floor of the Sen- page sometimes became the first step on a ate. At Vice President Thomas Marshall’s

10 THE UNITED STATES SENATE 1919 Christmas dinner for pages, 17-year- the Chamber and surrounding rooms. In old Mark Trice explained, “a Senate page 1963, the Senate waived this rule for the studying history and shorthand has a better National Geographic Society so that it opportunity than a schoolboy of learning could create the first formal portrait of the the same subjects, because we are constant- body in session for use in an illustrated ly in touch with both. We boys have an guidebook on Congress. The Society’s opportunity to watch the official reporters photographers next captured the Senate write shorthand and they will always an- in 1971 and again in 1975. These three swer questions that we do not understand, photos, taken from the rear of the Cham- thereby making a teacher almost useless.” ber, document an interesting evolution. By May 1971, long after the Senate had The 1963 image shows senators sitting established a professionally staffed page stiffly at their desks facing the presiding school, with the arrival of Pages Desell and officer. In the 1971 picture, some mem- McConnell, “we boys,” had finally become, bers are slyly observing the photographer. “we boys and girls.” By 1975, the entire Senate, perhaps more media savvy, is turned to fully embrace the Official photograph. In their first term, camera. The Senate now poses once during new senators join their colleagues for a each Congress for this traditional photo. group photograph, seated at their desks in It is the one regular occasion during any the Senate Chamber. A Senate rule forbids session in which all members are seated at “the taking of pictures of any kind” in their desks—and smiling.

First official Senate photograph, 1963

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 11 Senate of the 109th Congress, 2006

Candy desk. In traveling from a Senate new location, he invited other senators to office building to the Capitol, most sena- help themselves and soon his desk became tors enter the Senate Chamber through its known to all as the “candy desk.” After eastern door, adjacent to elevators leading Murphy left the Senate in 1971, other sena- from the Senate subway. Just inside this door, to the right, along the aisle at the rear row on the Republican side, sits the “candy desk.” This conveniently located fixture serves as a gathering spot for senators wishing to satisfy a late-afternoon energy deficit. Senator began this tradition more than 40 years ago. Soon after he entered the Senate in 1965, the former Hollywood actor and film executive began stocking his Chamber desk with candy to gratify his sweet tooth. In 1968, he moved to an aisle desk on the last row near the elevator entrance. Given the member traffic that regularly passed by his Candy desk

12 THE UNITED STATES SENATE tors who occupied the desk at that location Orleans clothier made summer wear more carried on the tradition of keeping it well comfortable by designing a light-weight stocked with assorted mints, hard candies, suit in pale blue and white striped rumpled and chocolates. Some senators asked for cotton fabric. He named that fabric “seer- specific brands of candies and contributed sucker,” from Persian words meaning “milk funds for their replenishment. Various and sugar.” Seersucker suits became widely home-state candy companies have been popular because they retained their fashion- happy to donate supplies. Given the candy able good looks despite the frequent wash- desk’s last-row location, its custodians have ing that humid summers made necessary. typically been members in their freshman term, including John McCain, Slade Gor- Senatorial garb, from men’s Victorian swal- ton, Robert Bennett, and . lowtail coats to women’s modern-era pant- suits, has regularly attracted media attention. Seersucker Thursday. In the years before Well into the 20th century, on the first warm air conditioning made summertime Washing- days of spring, journalists routinely filed sto- ton bearable, senators from the South had ries on the seasonal transformation evident much to teach their colleagues from other re- in the poorly ventilated Senate Chamber. By gions about proper attire. As spring merged the 1950s, however, modern air-conditioning into summer, southern senators shed their had finally reached the city’s interior heavy-wool black frock coats for lighter spaces, making for year-round comfort—and linen and cotton garments. In 1907, a New year-round congressional sessions.

Seersucker Thursday, 2006

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 13 In the late , Mississippi Senator Trent Today, senators voluntarily make this an- Lott decided the time had come to revive nual fashion statement in a spirit of good- a long-forgotten Senate sartorial tradition. humored harmony to remind their col- He selected a “nice and warm” day in the leagues of what earlier considered second or third week of June to be desig- mandatory summer attire. nated Seersucker Thursday. His goal was ______to show that “the Senate isn’t just a bunch of dour folks wearing dark suits and—in Senate Floor Proceedings the case of men—red or blue ties.” On the Chaplain’s prayer. One of the Senate’s day before each year’s event, senators are most enduring traditions is the chaplain’s alerted to the impending “wearing of the daily prayer. Soon after the Senate first seersucker.” In 2004, California Senator convened in in April 1789, decided to encourage it selected the local Episcopal bishop participation by the growing cadre of the as its chaplain. Moving to Senate’s women members. “I would watch the following year, senators again chose the men preening in the Senate,” she said, that city’s Episcopal bishop. Arriving in “and I figured we should give them a little Washington, D.C., in 1800, the Senate bit of a horse race.” The following year, continued selecting clergymen from main- 11 of the 14 women senators appeared on line Protestant denominations—usually Seersucker Thursday in outfits received as Episcopalians or Presbyterians—to deliver gifts from Senator Feinstein. opening prayers and to preside at funer-

Senate chaplain delivers opening prayer, 1939

14 THE UNITED STATES SENATE als and memorial services for departed Congress formally recognized the Pledge members. These chaplains typically served of Allegiance—first written in 1892—on for less than a year and conducted their , 1945. In 1999, a New Senate duties along with their responsibili- Hampshire resident contacted the office of ties as full-time leaders of nearby parishes. Senator Robert Smith to inquire why the In 1914, the Senate began including the Senate did not follow the House, which had full text of its chaplain’s prayer in the incorporated the Pledge into its proceedings Congressional Record. 11 years earlier. Spurred by this inquiry, the Senate amended its standing rules on Since the mid-20th century, the Senate has , 1999, providing for the presiding continued to draw its chaplains from the officer to lead the body in the Pledge at the leading Protestant denominations, but the start of each daily session. President pro post has become a full-time assignment, tempore inaugurated this with its incumbents tending to serve for a tradition on the following day. decade or more. Sensitive to the increasing religious diversity of the nation, the Sen- Senate gavels. The Senate lacks a spe- ate invites representatives of other faiths as cific symbol of its institutional authority guest chaplains. comparable to the large ceremonial mace employed by the House of Representatives. The chaplain reinforces the notion of the In its place, a small ivory gavel conveys a Senate—its members and staff—as an sense of continuity and the importance of extended “family.” When a Senate “family order in Senate proceedings. member” suffers the death of a loved one, or rejoices in the birth of a child, the chap- At the start of each daily session, a Sen- lain may add an appropriate reference to ate page carries a mahogany box with a the daily prayer. The chaplain also provides hinged glass top into the Chamber and full-time pastoral care to members of the places it on the presiding officer’s desk. Senate community. The box, which remains on that desk whenever the Senate is in session, contains Pledge of Allegiance. Following the chaplain’s prayer, the presiding officer leads the Senate in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The American flag had become a stan- dard fixture in the Senate Chamber by the 1930s, placed directly behind the presiding officer. A half century later, as the Senate began televised coverage of its floor pro- ceedings, the flag was moved to the presid- ing officer’s right side so as not to appear to be bisecting that official’s head on television screens. To balance the American flag, the Senate created a flag of its own—displaying the Senate seal on a field of dark blue—and placed it to the presiding officer’s left. Senate gavels, old and new

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 15 two hour-glass-shaped solid ivory gavels, each two-and-one-half-inches high. The older gavel had been in use at least since the 1830s, but had begun to deteriorate by the 1940s. In 1954, during a heated, late-night debate, Vice President pounded the weakened gavel so vigorously that it splintered. Later that year, the government of presented the Senate with a replacement, duplicating the original object with the addition of a floral band carved around its center.

When the Chamber becomes noisy, any member may request the presiding officer President pro tempore , R–VT to suspend proceedings and restore order with a muscular pounding of this “ivory turies of contentiousness in legislative as- hammer.” In 1866, Senator Charles Sumner semblies, Jefferson’s Manual warned: “No praised former President pro tempore Solo- one is to disturb another in his speech by mon Foot for his skill as presiding officer. hissing, coughing, spitting, speaking or whispering to another, nor to stand up His presence [at the desk] was felt in- or interrupt him, nor to pass between the stantly. It filled this Chamber from floor Speaker and the speaking member, nor to to gallery. It attached itself to everything go across the house, or walk up and down that was done. Order was enforced with it, or take books or papers from the table, no timorous authority. If disturbance or write there.” Earlier, Jefferson had came from the gallery, how promptly he drafted the rules of the Continental Con- launched his fulmination. If it came from gress, which the Senate followed closely in the floor, you have often seen him throw shaping its own rules in 1789. At least half himself back, and then with voice of of those 20 rules addressed issues of order lordship, as if all the Senate was in him, and decorum. insist that debate should be suspended until order was restored. “The Senate Traditions of proper decorum developed must come to order,” he exclaimed; and naturally in the early Senate, which first meanwhile, like the god Thor, he beat his got down to business with only 12 mem- ivory hammer, in unison with his voice, bers present. Even into its mid-19th-cen- until the reverberations rattled like thun- tury “Golden Age,” with allowances for der in the mountains. frequent absences, seldom were there more than several dozen members on the floor Decorum. In his insistence on proper of the intimate, theater-like Old Senate decorum, President pro tempore Foot Chamber. This contrasted with the noise followed the generations of Senate presid- and chaos of the cavernous House Cham- ing officers who relied on Vice President ber where more than 200 spirited mem- ’s 1801 Manual of bers competed to hear and be heard. To Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the ensure its ability to conduct proceedings Senate of the United States. Reflecting cen- without distractions or interruptions, the

16 THE UNITED STATES SENATE Senate enhanced its sergeant at arms’ au- themselves.) When floral arrangements thority to carry out the presiding officer’s became so ostentatious that they blocked commands for decorum on the floor and the aisles and obscured senators from in the galleries. public view, the Senate banned them from the Chamber—except in tribute follow- Early in the 20th century, the Senate added ing the death of an incumbent senator. In an important decorum-related rule. During another move, owing to concerns about 1902 floor proceedings, a senator openly the respiratory problems of an elderly questioned a colleague’s integrity. When member, the Senate also banned smoking. that colleague stormed into the Chamber (The dipping of snuff, however, contin- to brand the assertion “a willful, malicious, ued for another half century. Two small and deliberate lie,” the accusing senator lacquered boxes affixed to marble ledges jumped from behind his desk and punched adjacent to the presiding officer’s desk his challenger in the face. Efforts to sepa- offered a continuously replenished supply rate the combatants sparked a brawl. After of that commonly used tobacco product, the galleries were cleared and order re- with several dozen spittoons conveniently stored, the Senate temporarily suspended placed throughout the Chamber. Today, both members from serving, censured them, these Senate relics are no longer in service, and adopted stricter decorum guidelines but they remain on view under protective for floor debate. Today’s Rule XIX includes boxes as a reminder of a once-famed Sen- those 1902 guidelines: “No Senator in ate tradition.) debate shall directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator More than two centuries ago, Vice Presi- or to other Senators any conduct or motive dent memorably extolled the unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.” Senate Chamber as a sacred place for deliberation. In his 1805 farewell address Several years later, in 1914, the Senate to the Senate, he described the room—and ended two of its longstanding traditions in the institution—as “a sanctuary; a citadel the interest of promoting decorum within of law, of order, and of .” In keep- the Chamber. It had been customary on ing with the tradition of its meeting place the first day of a new session for senators as a sanctuary, the Senate has turned aside to receive flowers at their desks from vari- requests to allow cell phones and laptop ous admirers. (Some less popular members computers into the Chamber on grounds were suspected of sending bouquets to that they would interfere with its decorum.

“Golden Gavel” Award. Senior mem- bers typically advise new senators that the best way to learn about Senate floor procedure and decorum is to spend a significant amount of time in the Senate Chamber. For majority-party freshmen, this means taking a turn as temporary presiding officer. Until the 1950s, there was little opportunity for such on-the-job training because vice presidents of the Senate snuff box United States regularly presided over the

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 17 Senate—the only duty that the Constitu- United States in grati- tion assigns to that office. This changed in tude for the time he spent presiding over 1953. When Richard Nixon became vice that proceeding. president, he shifted his day-to-day focus to activities within the executive branch. Since then, vice presidents have appeared in the Senate Chamber principally when their vote is needed to break an anticipat- ed tie, or for ceremonial functions. Over the past half century, the presiding officer’s duties have fallen to the president pro tempore. As a senior senator of the major- ity party, presidents pro tempore chair a major committee and have other pressing duties that limit the amount of time avail- Senate President pro tempore (center left) able for presiding over the Senate. In the presents Golden Gavel Award to Senator (right). absence of that senior official, especially (left) and Republican Leader (center right) share in the festivities, 1973 during long periods of routine proceed- ings when speech-making takes priority Floor leaders’ right of priority over -passing, the two party secretaries recognition. In the midst of heated legisla- maintain a roster of junior members will- tive proceedings, freshmen members, seek- ing to preside in one-hour shifts. In 1977, ing to catch the eye of the presiding officer the majority party determined that only so that they might be allowed to address majority party members would preside. (In the Senate, have reason to envy a privilege 2001, when the Senate was evenly divided accorded only to the Senate’s two floor for several months, both parties briefly leaders. At the opening of the 75th Con- returned to the practice of furnishing pre- gress, on , 1937, Senate Repub- siding officers.) lican Leader Charles McNary anticipated a difficult session. The 1936 congressional In the late , to encourage freshmen elections had produced a Senate with the senators to preside and learn Senate rules lopsided party ratio of 76 Democrats to and procedures, the Senate majority leader 16 Republicans. On that first day, Mc- created the Golden Gavel Award to ac- Nary counted only one advantage—minor knowledge those who take the chair for a though it may have seemed at the time. combined total of 100 hours during any He had become the first Republican floor year. The award now consists of a heavy leader to occupy a front-row, center-aisle brass, -plated gavel displayed in an seat in the Senate Chamber. attractive leather-covered box featuring an engraved plaque and the Senate seal. Some Until the early 20th century, the Senate freshmen senators have so enjoyed this operated without majority and minority early mark of distinction that they sit for leaders. In 1885, political scientist Wood- additional 100-hour periods, taking home row Wilson wrote, “No one is the Senator. multiple gavels. On , 1999, at No one may speak for his party as well as the conclusion of a five-week impeachment for himself; no one exercises the special , the Senate presented an honorary trust of acknowledged leadership.” In the Golden Gavel Award to Chief Justice of the Senate’s earliest decades, chairmen of major

18 THE UNITED STATES SENATE committees set the Chamber’s agenda. The Honoring distinguished visitors. The modern system of Senate - highest tribute the Senate can accord to ship emerged slowly in the years from the a distinguished visitor is to announce the to the . During that period, presence of that guest in open session and both parties organized formal and then briefly its formal floor proceed- selected conference chairmen who began ings so that senators may extend personal to assume many of the roles of the modern greetings. This honor is generally conferred . upon foreign heads of state and parliamen- tary leaders. A variation on this procedure Struggles with increasingly powerful is for the Senate to proceed as a body to presidents, the crisis of , and the Hall of the House of Representatives the battle over U.S. entry to the League to attend a joint meeting of Congress to of Nations spurred the further evolu- hear remarks by heads of state and prime tion of Senate floor leadership. While ministers of nations whose good will is party caucuses began to formally desig- particularly important to the United States. nate their floor leaders, they gave little Congress also convenes joint meetings to thought to their placement in the Senate honor national heroes and to celebrate Chamber. If the leaders had desired to special anniversaries. Joint meetings of claim the front-row, center-aisle desks Congress are purely ceremonial in scope that have become the modern symbol and are distinguished from joint sessions, of their special status, the presence of which are sanctioned by the Constitution senior members comfortably lodged in for delivery of the president’s annual State those places dashed their hopes. of the Union address and for the quadren- nial counting of presidential and vice Finally, in 1927, the senior member who presidential electoral votes. had occupied the prime desk on the Demo- cratic side retired and party leader Joseph Robinson quickly took possession. Repub- lican leaders had to wait another decade, however, before retirement opened up the corresponding seat on their side.

Later in 1937, Vice President John Nance Garner, a former Speaker of the House who valued leadership prerogatives, an- nounced a new policy. Under the Senate rule requiring the presiding officer to “rec- ognize the Senator who shall first address him,” Garner established the precedent of giving priority recognition to the major- ity leader and then to the before all other senators seeking to speak. These two 1937 developments—priority recognition and front-row seating—con- tributed greatly to the evolution of mod- British Prime Minister addresses a joint meeting ern Senate floor leadership. of Congress in the Senate Chamber, December 26, 1941

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 19 The first Senate reception for a distin- dress from British Prime Minister Winston guished foreign visitor took place on Churchill. With many members away for the , 1824, to honor the Marquis Christmas holidays, congressional officials de Lafayette for his services to the cause chose the smaller Senate Chamber to ensure of the American . Several days their guest would be honored with a full earlier, a joint Senate-House committee audience. Since then, improved air trans- on arrangements had failed to agree on a portation and the need for closer personal common program for this occasion and communication among the world’s leaders decided to leave it up to each body to plan and lawmakers have significantly increased its own activities. The Marquis entered the frequency of joint meetings. the Senate Chamber to the announcement, “We introduce Lafayette to the Presentation of messages. The Senate Senate of the United States.” He was seat- regularly receives messages from the presi- ed at the dais next to the presiding officer, dent of the United States and the House of who then adjourned the Senate so that Representatives. When a messenger enters members could pay their respects. Accord- the Chamber at the rear of the center aisle ing to the record of that day’s proceedings, facing the presiding officer, that officer the Marquis “cordially and feelingly recip- suspends the proceedings to recognize the rocated” those expressions. On the follow- emissary, who hands the message to a Sen- ing day, the House received the Frenchman ate aide, and departs. in its Chamber. That body’s Speaker belat- edly invited the Senate, which could not When the Senate first convened in 1789, formally respond because it had adjourned it spent considerable emotional energy on for the weekend. Despite this, a number protocol issues. Driving the Senate’s concern of senators attended and sat in specially was a desire to ensure its equal—if not per- reserved chairs, making this, in effect, the haps superior—status relative to the House. first joint meeting of Congress. This was evident in the Senate’s plan for delivering messages and legislation between Many parliamentary bodies include formal the two chambers. The Senate considered processions among their highest rituals. The its secretary a suitable envoy to the House. only such procession of the Senate takes For House-passed legislation, however, the place when it proceeds to the House for con- Senate desired that two members of that stitutional joint sessions and informal joint lower chamber serve as messengers. The meetings. In this traditional rite, the secre- House laughed at the Senate’s proposal and tary of the Senate and the sergeant at arms instituted the tradition—parallel to that of lead the way for the Senate president, or the Senate—of sending all items under the president pro tempore, followed by a double supervision of an elected officer. column of senators as they move from their ______Chamber through the Capitol Rotunda and Statuary Hall to the House Chamber. There Senate Legacies they are conducted to reserved seats. In an Naming of buildings and rooms. On re- exception to the southward direction of this ceiving their office assignments, new senators procession, House members marched north publicize their postal and e-mail addresses to to the Senate Chamber on December 26, encourage communication with constituents. 1941, less than three weeks after the U.S. Long before e-mail guaranteed citizens in- entered World War II, to receive an ad- stantaneous access to their representatives in

20 THE UNITED STATES SENATE Senator Richard Russell, D–GA Senator , R–IL Senator , D–MI

Washington, Senator Harry Truman jokingly senators had to specify in their addresses informed his Missouri constituents that they whether they resided in the “Old S.O.B.” could easily reach him at the following simple or “New S.O.B.” Fourteen years later, in address: “Truman, S.O.B., Washington.” Even October 1972, the Senate provided for as an obscure first-year senator in 1935, Tru- a third structure. This would eventually man knew the post office would direct any require each building to have a distinc- envelope marked S.O.B. to a member of the tive name. The old and new buildings, United States Senate. designated to honor two recently de- ceased Senate leaders, became the Richard That abbreviation for “Senate Office Russell and the Everett Dirksen Build- Building” served nicely until 1958, when ings, respectively. In 1976, shortly after a second facility opened. After that, ground-breaking for the third building, the Senate named it for ’s then terminally ill senior senator, the widely admired Philip Hart.

The practice of honoring particularly distinguished members on the Senate side of Capitol Hill had begun two decades earlier, in 1955, with the naming of a new bell tower for the late Republican Major- ity Leader Robert Taft. That same year, the Senate set up a committee, chaired by Massachusetts Senator John F. , to select five outstanding former members, whose portraits would be permanently displayed in the Senate Reception Room. In 1964, the Senate provided for the place- ment of plaques in adjacent Capitol rooms assigned to the two senators who formed the 1960 Democratic presidential ticket— Harry S. Truman, D–MO, in his Senate office John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 21 Since then, other Capitol spaces have ac- 1886, to commission marble portrait busts quired designations associated with former to note their service as presidents of the Senate leaders. They include Arthur Van- Senate. The career of Massachusetts Re- denberg, , Hugh Scott, Mike publican inspired this plan. Mansfield, Robert C. Byrd, Strom Thur- A popular senator and vice president, Wil- mond, , and Bob Dole. In son had died 11 years earlier in the Vice 1998, plaques were installed in the original President’s Room, near the Senate Cham- “S.O.B.” to mark rooms once assigned to ber. To honor Wilson’s memory, the Senate senators who subsequently became presi- in 1885 engaged noted American sculptor dents of the United States: Warren Harding, Daniel Chester French, also of Massachu- Harry S. Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon setts, to capture his image in marble. The Johnson, and Richard Nixon. Wilson bust is on permanent display in the Vice President’s Room. Vice-presidential busts. Day and night, throughout the year, 20 grim-faced men Daniel French subsequently assisted the keep watch over the Senate Chamber. Senate in establishing guidelines for the Stationed in the gallery, they never speak. A larger collection and agreed to prepare its gallery visitor might ask who they are and initial entry—a likeness of his home-state how they got there. hero and the nation’s first vice president— . French accepted the Adams These memorialize indi- commission despite his misgivings about viduals who held the office of vice presi- the paltry $800 fee the Senate had set for dent of the United States between 1789 each work. “I consider it an honor and and 1885. They got to their gallery niches worth a great deal to have a bust of mine because the Senate agreed on May 13, in so important a position,” he said. “I do not know how many sculptors you will find who will look at it in the same way.”

The Senate unveiled the portrait busts of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson on its 100th anniversary in 1889. By 1898, with all 20 of the gallery’s niches occu- pied, additional busts took up positions in adjacent hallways. Today, each former vice president, from the late to modern times, occupies a place in this special pantheon. Inside the Chamber, ’s will for- ever share a corner with Kentucky’s John Breckinridge, whom he supported in 1860 for the presidency, denounced in 1863 for his attacks on Tennessee, and pardoned in 1868 for his service as Con- federate secretary of war. Outside, two of the Senate’s best storytellers—John Nance Vice President Henry Wilson Garner and Alben Barkley—flank the

22 THE UNITED STATES SENATE Chamber’s south entrance. Several paces to recently written a book about courageous the right, Lyndon Johnson looks directly senators. Published in January 1956 under at Richard Nixon, the political adversary the title , that book who followed him to the . earned Senator John F. Kennedy the 1957 Pulitzer Prize in biography. Senate Reception Room’s “Famous Nine.” In 1955, Senate Majority Leader The Kennedy Committee struggled to define Lyndon Johnson decided that all senators, “senatorial greatness.” Should its members including freshmen members, needed a “his- apply a test of “legislative accomplishment”? tory lesson” to inspire pride in the contribu- Perhaps, in addition to positive achievement, tions of their predecessors. At the request there should be recognition of—as they put of Johnson and Republican Leader William it—“courageous negation.” What about Knowland, the Senate formed a special com- those senators who consistently failed to se- mittee to identify five outstanding former cure major legislation, but in failing, opened members, no longer living, whose likenesses the road to success for a later generation? would be placed in vacant portrait spaces in Personal integrity? That might exclude the Reception Room, adjacent to the Senate the chronically indebted Daniel Webster. Chamber. Leading the five-member com- National leadership? That would knock out mittee was a 38-year-old freshman who had great regional leaders like John C. Calhoun.

Reception Room unveiling, 1959

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 23 The unanimous respect of one’s colleagues? Ellsworth subsequently became distin- That would doom the antislavery leader guished late 18th-century senators. What Charles Sumner. is the traditional definition of senatorial effectiveness? Each of these nine senators The committee’s established criteria nicely offers a worthy guide. evaded these questions. It agreed to candidates “for acts of statesmanship tran- Old Senate Chamber. New senators scending party and State lines” and to define first visit the elegantly restored Old Senate “statesmanship” to include “leadership in Chamber as part of their post-election ori- national thought and constitutional interpre- entation program. They return weeks later, tation as well as legislation.” The committee following their formal swearing-in ceremo- further agreed that it would not recommend ny, for a reenactment to satisfy home-state a candidate unless the vote was unanimous. media “photo opportunity” requests. Over the course of a six-year term, members will An advisory panel of 160 scholars of- likely revisit that place for events such as fered 65 candidates. Sixty-five names for the unveiling of former Senate leaders’ por- five spaces! Senator Kennedy quipped traits, and for special programs associated that sports writers choosing entrants to with Senate history and culture. the Hall of Fame had it easy by comparison. As its top choice, the scholars’ This “noble room,” as called committee named ’s Progressive it, housed the Senate from 1819 to 1859, Republican George Norris, a senator from as the body’s membership grew from 42 to 1913 to 1943. Senate panel member Styles 64. Those four decades produced changes Bridges, who had served with Norris from in the Senate’s operations more profound the late 1930s, harbored ill feelings from than at any other comparable period in that association and consequently vetoed its history. In its so-called “Golden Age of his consideration. Oratory,” the upper chamber became the principal forum for national debates over On May 1, 1957, the Kennedy Committee westward expansion, economic develop- reported to the Senate its choices: Henry ment, and the abolition of slavery. The Sen- Clay of Kentucky, John C. Calhoun of ate emerged from the shadow of the House , Daniel Webster of Massa- of Representatives to become a dynamic chusetts, Robert Taft of Ohio, and Robert La Follette, Sr., of Wisconsin. In 2004, the Senate added two more outstanding former members, both of whom had flourished in the 1930s and 1940s. Republicans chose of Michigan and Democrats selected Robert Wagner of New York. In 2006, Senate leaders unveiled a portrait honoring and , both of , for their role in framing the compromise at the 1787 Constitutional that established the basis of representation for the two houses of Congress. Sherman and United States Senate, A.D. 1850

24 THE UNITED STATES SENATE legislative body. In this Chamber, it shaped of Philadelphia petitioned Congress to a tradition of unlimited debate, attracted celebrate the forthcoming 130th anniver- orators and statesmen, and reenforced sary of Washington’s birth by reading his senatorial prerogatives in battles with suc- classic address in one of its chambers. On cessive presidents over the direction of the nation’s economy.

The Senate’s outstanding orators and statesmen, many recruited from the House of Representatives, included three who articulated the growing nation’s regional tensions. The legendary orator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts spoke for an in- dustrializing New in the context of a strong national union. The “Great Compromiser,” Kentucky’s Henry Clay, represented the western frontier and called for government funding of roads, canals, and other internal improvements. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina defended states’ rights and slavery to the point of insisting that states could nullify federal . Alternately feuding and cooper- ating, these men forged the legislative compromises that preserved the Union in Washington’s Farewell Address inscription book the decades before the Civil War. Today, members occasionally return to the Old Chamber to reflect on what it means to be a senator of the United States.

George Washington’s Farewell Address. Each February, the Senate performs its old- est non-legislative ritual. This 45-minute event consists of one senator reading Presi- dent ’s 1796 Farewell Address in open session. In these remarks, Washington warned that the forces of geo- graphical sectionalism, political factional- ism, and interference by foreign powers in the nation’s domestic affairs threatened the stability of the Republic. He urged Ameri- cans to put aside sectional jealousies to pursue common national interests.

In January 1862, with the Constitution endangered by the Civil War, citizens Inscription page of Senator , D–WV

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 25 , 1862, both bodies gathered cramped rooms in a nearby boardinghouse in the House Chamber to hear Secretary often proved difficult. One example in the of the Senate John Forney perform that House of Representatives was Abraham duty. Since 1896, the Senate has observed Lincoln, whose wife Mary and their three Washington’s Birthday each year with a small children moved with him to Washing- senator delivering the Farewell Address. ton in 1847. Crowded conditions, however, Members and gallery visitors receive a soon convinced Lincoln to send his family booklet containing a historical account of to Mary’s parents’ home in Kentucky for the address and its text. At the conclusion the balance of his single term in Congress. of each reading, the appointed senator in- In the 20th century, improved transporta- scribes his or her name and brief comments tion and year-round congressional sessions in a black, leather-bound book, first used inspired many members—contrary to Lin- on February 22, 1900. That member also coln’s experience—to move their families to receives a framed certificate of appointment second homes in the Washington area. signed by the vice president and authenti- cated with Senate seal and ribbon. In 1917, as the United States entered World War I, several among the growing number Senate spouses’ organization. In the 18th of resident spouses established the “Ladies and 19th centuries, members often traveled of the Senate” to provide a sociable orga- to the nation’s capital without their wives nization devoted to community service. and families. Trying to live and work out of Known informally as the “Wives’ Club,”

Senate wives’ Red Cross chapter meeting, 1959

26 THE UNITED STATES SENATE Senate spouses met in a basement room of longer much need for the elaborate system the Russell Senate Office Building to knit, of Senate funeral rituals that had developed sew, and roll bandages for the Red Cross. during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, renamed the “Senate Spouses,” they still operate as a Red Cross chapter. Sena- In those earlier times, several incumbent tor Elizabeth Dole, a former Senate spouse, senators died each year. For senators who once headed the . succumbed while Congress was in session, the Senate adjourned the following day’s Modern-era Senate spouses, actively en- proceedings in that member’s memory, gaged in their own careers, enjoy organiz- conducted funerals or memorial services ing an annual luncheon to honor the First in its Chamber—with a large floral tribute Lady. This tradition dates from 1942 when resting on the deceased member’s vacant Eleanor Roosevelt dropped by desk and black crepe covering the chair— for lunch with the “Ladies of the Senate”— sent delegations of senators to accompany bringing her own sandwich in a bag. Today, the remains back home, and authorized the organization, whose members include members to wear black armbands for 30 a former president of the United States and days. For those senators who died during former Senate majority leader, provides a an extended adjournment period, the Sen- gala luncheon for all attendees. ate, upon reconvening, conducted a collec- tive memorial service in its Chamber with End-of-session valedictories and appropriate prayers and musical tributes. eulogies. A well-established ritual occurs near the end of each biennial session of Today’s Senate funeral and memorial Congress. Members deliver floor speeches to traditions for incumbent senators reflect honor colleagues who will not be returning that earlier experience. The Senate still for the next Congress. For senior members, adjourns the day’s session in memory of those remarks extend through many pages the deceased member, sends delegations of the Congressional Record and in some in- to the funeral—with members departing stances are subsequently published as Senate from and returning to the Capitol on the documents. In the session’s final moments, same day thanks to modern high-speed the two party floor leaders commend one transportation—and sets aside a portion another, thank floor and committee staffs for of a day’s schedule for memorial tributes. their long hours and tireless effort, and then Such tributes appear as part of the official telephone the president to inquire whether record of floor proceedings. Many are he has any more business for Congress be- fore it adjourns for the year. In recent times, the Senate has sponsored a “retirement din- ner” to honor departing members.

Funerals and memorial services. As a relatively small and traditionally collegial body, the Senate actively mourns the death of an incumbent member. Today, thanks to improved health care, fewer senators die in office than was the case prior to the mid-1960s. Consequently, there is no Funeral of Majority Leader Joseph Robinson, 1937

TRADITIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE 27 subsequently collected along with news The varied and extraordinary functions obituaries and other pertinent documents and powers of the Senate make it, ac- to be issued as an official Senate publica- cording to one’s point of view, a hy- tion. The American flag is flown at half- dra-headed monster or the citadel of staff on the day of the incumbent’s death constitutional and democratic liberties. and the following day. Like democracy itself, the Senate is in- ______efficient, unwieldy, inconsistent; it has its foibles, its vanities, its members who are great, the near great, and those who think they are great. But like democracy also, it is strong, it is sound at the core, it has survived many changes, it has saved the many catastrophes, it is a safeguard against any form of tyr- anny, good or bad, which consciously or unconsciously might tend to remove the course of government from persistent public scrutiny. In the last analysis, it is probably the price we in America have to pay for liberty.

Senator , D–FL, later in his 53-year congressional career

“Citadel of Constitutional and Democratic Liberties” Elected to the Senate in 1936, ’s Claude Pepper emerged as one of the stars of his freshman class. In 1939, the editors of the considered this thoughtful member, and graduate, to be the ideal person to review an important new book on the Senate. The Senate of the United States, by Professor George Haynes, is today con- sidered the first comprehensive scholarly history of the Senate and its procedures. Senator Pepper gladly completed his as- signed review. In a key paragraph, he of- fered a statement that memorably captures his initial impressions as a new member of the United States Senate.

28 THE UNITED STATES SENATE For further information Image Credits Cover illustrations: The Senator from Web site: www.senate.gov Interrupts, William A. Rogers, Harper’s Weekly, (“Art and History”) April 10, 1897 Mark Trice: U.S. Senate Historical Office U.S. Congress. Senate. The Senate, Oath Book, January 3, 1953: U.S. Senate Historical Office 1789–1989, by Senator Robert C. Byrd. First Congress: Senators of the United States, S. Doc. 100–20, 100th Congress, 1st sess., 1789–2000: A Chronological List of Senators 4 volumes, 1988–1994. from the First Congress to the 106th Congress, U.S. Senate Historical Office. ______. Senate Historical Almanac, by Henry Anthony: Senator Bob Dole. S. Doc. 100–35, 100th George Hoar: U.S. Senate Historical Office Congress, 2d sess., 1989. Senate Bean Soup: U.S. Senate Historical Office ______. United States Senate Senate in session, 1877: New York Daily Graphic, , 1877, U.S. Senate Historical Office Catalogue of Fine Art, by William Kloss Drawer of Senate Chamber desk: U.S. Senate Collection and Diane Skvarla. S. Doc. 107–11, 107th Congress, 2d sess., 2002. Robert M. La Follette, Sr.: Library of Congress First female Senate pages: U.S. Senate Historical Office ______. United States Senate Isaac Bassett: U.S. Senate Historical Office Catalogue of Graphic Art, essays by 1963 official photograph: National Geographic and Diane K. Skvarla and Donald A. Ritchie. U.S. Capitol Historical Society S. Doc. 109–2, 109th Congress, 1st sess., 2006 official photograph: Senate Photo Studio 2005. Candy desk: Senate Photo Studio, U.S. Senate Collection Seersucker Thursday: Senate Photo Studio ______. 200 Notable Days: Senate Stories, 1787 to 2002, by Richard A. Baker. Opening prayer: U.S. Senate Historical Office S. Pub 109–22, 109th Congress, Gavels: U.S. Senate Collection 2d sess., 2006. Solomon Foot: Library of Congress Snuff box: U.S. Senate Collection Golden Gavel Award: Churchill addressing the Senate: U.S. Senate Historical Office Russell, Dirksen, and Hart: U.S. Senate Historical Office Harry Truman: U.S. Senate Historical Office Henry Wilson: by Daniel Chester French, U.S. Senate Collection Reception Room unveiling: Dirksen Congressional Center United States Senate, A.D. 1850: by Robert Whitechurch, U.S. Senate Collection Washington’s Farewell Address inscription book: U.S. Senate Historical Office Jennings Randolph’s inscription: Senate Library Senate wives’ Red Cross chapter meeting: U.S. Senate Historical Office, courtesy Ellen Proxmire Funeral of Joseph Robinson: U.S. Senate Historical Office Claude Pepper: U.S. Senate Historical Office S. Pub. 110–11