Vol III, No. 2 │ August 2016
The
Byrd Call
In This Issue:
Timeless Advice for Effective Government Byrd Center Hosts Inaugural Teacher Training Institute Film Series, Constitution Day, and Exhibit Openings this Fall
Troubled Waters The Fight against Flooding in West Virginia
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The Byrd Call │August 2016
Table of Contents
Timeless Advice for Effective Government FEATURE: Troubled Waters: The Fight against Flooding in West Virginia Byrd Center Hosts Inaugural Teacher Training Institute Constitution Day 2016 Fall Film Series Begins in September The Traveling Exhibit Tour Rolls On In His Own Words: Senator Byrd's Speeches Series Opens
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Director's Message
Timeless Advice for Effective Government
Dr. Ray Smock is the Director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education and is the former Historian of the U.S. House of Representatives (1983-1995)
The Byrd Center’s mission is to help with citizen understanding of Congress and the United States Constitution. This was always Senator Byrd’s goal during his long and distinguished career as a U.S. Senator from the State of West Virginia. He knew how important it was for all of us to be informed about how government works and what it is doing at any specific time. For Senator Byrd, as with the rest of us, knowing, understanding, and appreciating our representative government is not a given it is something we have to learn and that learning never stops. Senator Byrd learned about government, the law, and the Constitution by going back to school after he was elected to the national legislature. He got a law degree and his B.A. degree while serving in Congress, the only member ever to do this. He became a student of Senate history and mastered its rules. He defended the Constitution at every opportunity. While all Americans can’t devote all their waking hours to staying informed on all issues before the nation, it is still necessary for us to be informed citizens if government is to work properly. Our votes determine who we will send to the White House, the Congress, and to state and local offices. Those we elect to all these important positions will become our representatives. They are the ones who must master the details, write the laws, execute the laws, and keep the rest of us informed. If we don’t approve of their efforts, the next election gives us the chance to make changes in who we want to represent us. The timeless advice on how to make government work came from the Founders themselves. They said it in many ways but it all boiled down to the single essential ingredient -- an informed citizenry. If this republic, where the power resides ultimately with the people, is to survive it would depend on the wisdom of the people to elect those who would work hard to make government work for the greater good. Men and women from both of our major political parties have had the qualities necessary to uphold the Constitution and be outstanding public servants. I like to call these people “institutional.” They believe in the institutions they serve, the Executive Branch, The Congress, the Supreme Court, the State Legislatures and all the other levels of government that affect our lives on a daily basis. Such elected officials believe in
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By Ray Smock
government. They are not cynical about it. To be “institutional” means not that you are conservative or liberal but that you want to make government work and that you have respect for our Constitutional institutions on the federal and state levels. I was reminded about the importance of believing in and working for our Constitutional institutions by two new books. One is co-authored by two former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Trent Lott (R-MS) who, despite being far apart on many key issues of the day were solid institutional players who knew that compromise was the art of politics and knowing also that to get things done required them to develop good chemistry with their fellow Senators so they could work together and think of the nation over party when major issues were before them. In their book Crisis Point, Daschle and Lott offer their collective wisdom on how to make our dysfunctional government work again. One of their chapters is titled “Courage and Memory in the United States Senate” and it is about two other great institutional leaders Senator Byrd and Senator John McCain. The second book on the value of believing in and understanding the workings of government is by Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-IN) Congress, Presidents, and American Politics. This is a compilation of Lee Hamilton’s reflections on government that are contained in his newsletters to his constituents , which range from the days of Lyndon Johnson’s presidency right up to the Obama administration. These “newsletters” were reports designed to keep his constituents informed, not about him but about government. He writes, “From my earliest days in Congress I believed strongly in the importance of an informed electorate and the regular dialogue between representative and represented.” Lee Hamilton was not only a great teacher to his constituents but to the nation and he continues to share his considerable wisdom since his retirement from Congress. I take comfort in knowing that there have been and still are so many men and women who abide by the timeless advice of the Founders that to make our government work we need people elected to serve who actually believe in the Great Experiment of representative democracy, and likewise that we need citizens who are informed and who understand and truly believe in our governmental institutions.
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By Jody Brumage
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Troubled Waters
The Fight against Flooding in West Virginia
By the very nature of its topography, its steep mountain ranges and deep river gorges, West Virginia is especially prone to devastating floods. As West Virginia recovers from the historic floods that ravaged the state this summer, we look to the past to see how West Virginians have waged the battle against flooding and rebuilt their communities.
Senator Robert C. Byrd played a significant role in the continuing battle against West Virginia’s volatile rivers and creeks during his nearly-60 years on Capitol Hill. His long-standing membership and chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee enabled him to secure major federal funding to support construction of dams, levees, reservoirs, and other flood control and warning systems in the state. Now as West Virginia recovers from this summer's devastating floods, looking to this precedent is essential to understand how the state has recovered from similar disasters in the past. Floods in West Virginia are abnormally devastating to area populations due to the settlement patterns of the state. Since the first Europeans arrived in the mid-18th century, settlement along the river banks became commonplace, often where the only flat land suitable for subsistence farming was available. As the area developed, towns and
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cities were situated at important junctions of creeks and rivers in the deep gorges and valleys of the Allegheny Mountain Range. When flood waters rise, citizens have little chance of escaping major damage and historically, recovery was difficult due to the isolated nature of the state and its lack of modern infrastructure. Corporate opposition to projects that negatively impact their timber and coal resources have often plagued any state or federal effort to construct much-needed flood control infrastructure. For Senator Byrd, these circumstances became evidently clear early in his career. Significant flooding occurred in 1962 on the Guyandotte River, a tributary of the Ohio River, raising awareness of the need for flood control in south-central West Virginia. The Army Corps of Engineers began a study on the Guyandotte and determined that a dam would help regulate the flow of the river and
Senator Byrd surveys damaged areas after the 1963 floods.
Citizens of Rita, a small town in Logan County along the Guyandotte River line up to receive supplies sent by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
lessen the impact of flooding. Subsequent floods in March 1963 increased the calls for the dam to be constructed, but first, the project had to overcome major opposition from the area's coal and railroad companies whose infrastructure would be affected by the proposed reservoir. While basic supplies and funds were making their way to damaged communities, Senator Byrd intensified his efforts to secure federal support for the dam and overcome the coal and railroad companies' opposition. Though construction began in June 1967, the Justice Lake (later renamed the R.D. Bailey Dam and Lake) took thirteen years to complete and $180 million in federal and state funds. Though most of West Virginia is prone to flooding, certain rivers and creeks are particularly dangerous and unpredictable, such as the Guyandotte in the south-western region of the state. Another volatile river, the Tug Fork on West Virginia’s southern border with Kentucky became the focus of flood control efforts after a major flood devastated the region in 1977.
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Damage to the Blackfork Railroad Bridge in Parsons, West Virginia following the 1985 floods. Photograph reproduced with permission of the West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University.
"Conditions were horrible.
Senator Byrd discusses funds to rebuild roads and bridges in West Virginia with Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole.
Senator Byrd faced a difficult task in winning approval of funding for the Tug Fork project. Three previous attempts to secure funding had passed the Senate but failed to pass in the House of Representatives and a fourth ended with a presidential veto. Finally, Senator Byrd proposed an amendment to bypass a regulation mandating a cost-benefit ratio for flood control projects that West Virginia could not meet. The amendment passed successfully, enabling much-needed federal funds to be released for building flood control infrastructure in the region. The responses to the floods of 1963 and 1977 established precedents that would be tested to their limits after the Election Day Floods of 1985. Heavy rainfall from the remnants of a tropical storm which stalled over the state caused record flooding on the Cheat, Greenbrier, Tygart Valley, Little Kanawha, and West Fork Rivers as well as the North and South Branches of the Potomac River. The floods directly impacted over half the state, destroying infrastructure, cutting off access to water, electricity, and supplies and resulted in 47 fatalities. Two days after the storm, Senator Byrd and officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) toured the state. Working closely with Elizabeth Dole, Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Senator Byrd expedited
Trees were uprooted, debris had been washed up onto rooftops, cars and trucks were overturned, bridges had been washed out, and in some cases, the channels of streams had moved away from the bridges as much as a quarter of a mile or more.” - Senator Byrd
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Sources: Robert C. Byrd Congressional Papers Collection. Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields. West Virginia University Press, Morgantown, 2005. Encyclopedia of West Virginia. West Virignia Humanities Council, Charleston.
as shock and hopelessness set in during those bleak November days. I could scarcely believe my eyes. At first glance, it seemed that the wretched waters took away everything: loved ones, homes, belongings. But that initial impression was wrong. The flood did not wash away love for one's neighbor or hope for tomorrow. Even while mourning the myriad of losses, the people of this area were sustained by strong ties to family and to the land." - Senator Byrd
federal funds to restore bridges and roads in West Virginia while laying the groundwork for larger flood control and warning systems in the impacted areas. Over the next decade, flood walls, dams, and levees were built throughout the state, including major projects in Grant and Hardy Counties which saw some of the worst damage from the floods. In his later years, Senator Byrd referenced the struggle to garner federal support for the recovery from the 1985 floods as “some of the most frustrating moments of my years in public office.” Yet, despite the tremendous difficulty in
getting fast and adequate response from Congress and the president, Senator Byrd secured more than $325 million in aid for the recovery from the 1985 floods. Today, West Virginians are again rebuilding their lives after historic flooding devastated the south-eastern regions of the state in June 2016. With federal, state, and private funds coming into the state, West Virginia continues its ongoing battle against the dangers of flooding. Senator Byrd reflected on the courage and tenacity of West Virginians in a 1997 speech:
"Thousands of lives were disrupted
On November 6, 1985, Senator Byrd toured the areas of West Virginia devastated by the floods two days earlier. During the tour, he visited with volunteers who had already arrived to help with clean up and with local business leaders to discuss their recovery in order to allow people to return to work.
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By Jay Wyatt
On August 4, the Byrd Center welcomed eighteen educators from across West Virginia for our inaugural Teacher Training Institute, titled “Teaching the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Representative Government.” Byrd Center Director, Ray Smock welcomed the teachers before turning the program over to Charlie Flanagan, Director of Outreach at the National Archives and Records Administration’s Center for Legislative Archives (CLA), who conducted the day-long workshop. Flanagan, a former school teacher with thirty years of classroom experience, designed this institute to meet the real needs of teachers. Teachers participating in the workshop gained experience with several highly-
Byrd Center Hosts Inaugural Teacher Training Institute
regarded lessons developed by the CLA intended to help strengthen students’ achievement in civics and government. These included “Teaching 6 Big Ideas in the Constitution,” “Teaching the Bill of Rights,” “Teaching the Compromise of 1850 and Reconstruction,” and “Teaching the Legislative Process: What Congress Does and Why it Matters.” These innovative lessons utilize primary source documents from the National Archives and CLA-produced digital platforms like the free interactive mobile app “Congress Creates the Bill of Rights” and the free e-book, REPRESENTING CONGRESS: Clifford K. Berryman’s Political Cartoons, to promote active learning and critical thinking in classrooms by engaging students in
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collaboration, debate, and finding common ground. The sessions at the Byrd Center, which Charlie has conducted in several other states including Texas and Florida, were met with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Attendees described the workshop as “excellent,” “absolutely wonderful,” “extremely beneficial,” and “fascinating in both educational materials and activities.” The Byrd Center has worked with our colleagues at the Center for Legislative Archives on several projects in the past, and we thank Charlie for leading our inaugural teacher training institute with such knowledge and enthusiasm. The Byrd Center is honored to partner with the National Archives to bring quality teaching tools to West Virginia teachers. We look forward to hosting additional institutes next summer. Stay posted on the details by joining our listserv or by following us on Facebook or Twitter.
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Charles Flanagan, our institute facilitator.
Constitution Day 2016
Policy Making and Mass Incarceration in America
On Tuesday evening September 20, Elizabeth Hinton, Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Harvard University will deliver the twelfth annual Tom E. Moses Memorial Lecture on the U.S. Constitution in the Byrd Center auditorium. The Byrd Center is proud to welcome Professor Hinton, whose talk will focus on the policy origins of America’s War on Crime and the roots of today’s mass incarceration crisis, which has left the United States with the world’s largest prison population. With one in every thirty-one adults in America currently under some form of penal control, including one in eleven African American men, the public concern over mass incarceration has been fueled by groundbreaking works like Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow as well as the Black Lives Matter movement and grown significantly in the past decade. But whereas the Reagan administration’s War on Drugs has frequently been identified as the source of the current crisis, Professor Hinton traces its roots farther back to the liberal social welfare programs of the Johnson era and the 1965 Law Enforcement Assistance Act that authorized the federal government to militarize local police forces across the country. Successive presidents later decreased funding for welfare programs and increased funding for anti-crime initiatives that established law enforcement measures in public schools and public housing, increased police surveillance in local neighborhoods, and incentivized the construction of new prisons. Professor Hinton’s talk will be based on her recently published book From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America.
Dr. Elizabeth Hinton Photo credited to Emily Schiffer
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"As the product of one of the most ambitious liberal welfare programs in American history, the rise of punitive federal policy over the last fifty years is a thoroughly bipartisan story...Indeed, crime control may be the domestic policy issue in the late twentieth century where conservatives and liberal interests most thoroughly intertwined." Elizabeth Hinton
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice for 2016, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime has been described as “superb, “outstanding,” “clear-eyed and timely,” and “a revelation.” Hinton has penned numerous essays, articles, and op-eds which have appeared in the L.A. Times, Washington Post, and New York Times and spoken widely on the subject of mass incarceration in its historical and present contexts. In covering this critically important subject, this year’s lecture will correspond closely with Shepherd University’s Common Reading selection, Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. A book signing coordinated by Shepherdstown’s Four Seasons Books and a reception sponsored by the Shepherd University Common Reading Program will follow the lecture. The Moses Memorial Lecture is named for the late Tom E. Moses, a longtime civil libertarian, activist, and founder of the Eastern Panhandle branch of the ACLU-WV. The Byrd Center thanks the Moses family for their continued support of this signature event. The lecture will begin at 7:00 P.M. on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 in the auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Center for
Congressional History and Education on the campus of Shepherd University. Doors will open at 6:30 P.M. The Byrd Center is located at 213 N. King St., Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, WV 25443. Admission is free and open to the public, but due to limited space advance reservations will be required. Persons interested in reserving seats should call Mr. Jody Brumage at (304) 876-5648 or email him at jbrumage@shepherd.edu. Reservations may also be made at the Byrd Center Office Monday thru Friday, 9am to 4pm. Remaining seats will be available at the door on a first-come-first-served basis on the night of the lecture.
Special thanks to our sponsoring organizations:
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Crashing the Party Wednesday, October 5 - 6:30 pm With the very survival of the Democratic Party on the line after the three worst presidential landslides in American history, a then-little-known Governor Bill Clinton and a band of insurgents at the Democratic Leadership Council started a revolution. Challenging the sacred cows of the Democratic establishment and facing the country's most popular Republican president, they fought to reshape their party and retake the White House in 1992.
We the People: The Market Basket Effect Wednesday, September 7 - 6:30 pm "We the People: The Market Basket Effect" traces the events that led 25,000 employees and 2 million customers across New England to stand behind embattled CEO Arthur T. Demoulas and wrest control of a multibillion dollar grocery empire from an activist board of directors led by Artie T.’s cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas. Can regular people band together to alter the balance of power in a major corporation, or is the case of Market Basket a fairytale victory?
In partnership with Shepherd University's Lifelong Learning Program
Join us this fall for four fantastic movie events sponsored by the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education and Shepherd University’s Lifelong Learning Program. Admission is free for everyone! All you need to do is reserve a seat in advance.
Fall Film Series Begins in September
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Dream On Tuesday, November 1 - 6:30 pm In an epic road trip, political comedian John Fugelsang retraces Alexis de Tocqueville’s famous journey across America, exploring whether the optimistic spirit of the American Dream remains after decades of rising income inequality and declining economic mobility.
Fall 2016 Film Series
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The Return Wednesday November 16- 6:30 pm In conjunction with this year’s Common Reading selection, The Return examines the impact of Proposition 36 in California, which amended the state’s harsh “3 Strikes” law, through the eyes of those on the front lines — prisoners suddenly freed, families turned upside down, reentry providers helping navigate complex transitions and attorneys and judges wrestling with an untested law. A post-film reception will be sponsored by the Shepherd University Common Reading Program.
Each event will be held from 6:30 – 8:30 PM in the Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education auditorium. For more information or to reserve seats, please contact Jody Brumage at 304-876-5648 or jbrumage@shepherd.edu.
The Traveling Exhibit Tour Rolls On
It’s August. The new academic year is underway. The end of summer is upon us. And it’s hard to believe that the Byrd Center’s traveling exhibit, Robert C. Byrd: Senator, Statesman, West Virginian has already been on the road four months. After a wonderful opening reception in the atrium of Erma Ora Byrd Hall at Shepherd University in late April, the exhibit began its road trip at the Parkersburg Art Center, where it resided alongside the West Virginia Allied Artist Exhibition for four weeks in May. In June, the exhibit moved to Tamarack in Beckley where it was seen by thousands of local residents and tourists in search of “the best of West Virginia.” In celebration of West Virginia Day, the West Virginia State Society of Washington, D.C. hosted the exhibit alongside several other vendors at reception in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in June. And in August, the exhibit made its first stop in southern West Virginia at Bluefield State College. The exhibit has met with an overwhelmingly positive response at each tour stop so far. Former Congressman Nick Joe Rahall and former Governor of West Virginia Gaston Caperton shared memories of Senator Byrd and spoke glowingly about the exhibit at the opening reception at Tamarack. Former Byrd staffers did much the same in Washington D.C. Watching visitors slowly move through the
The grand opening of the exhibit in the Erma Ora Byrd Hall at Shepherd University.
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Jay Wyatt speaks with visitors at the Parkersburg Arts Center.
Former WV Governor Gaston Caperton shares memories of Senator Byrd at Tamarack.
in Washington D.C. from September 19 -23. In Spring 2017, Marshall University will host the exhibit.
exhibit, pointing at the images, leaning in to read the captions, and reminiscing with friends has highlighted the esteem and fondness with which many West Virginians remember Senator Byrd. Numerous visitors have found the exhibit emotionally moving and have shared personal stories about Senator Byrd and the specific ways he helped them, their family, or their community. To capture some of these stories, the Byrd Center is launching a new web-based component to the Byrd Legacy project. Anyone interested in sharing a memory of or story about Senator Byrd will be able to do so soon through a new page on our website. The traveling exhibit will continue its travels across the state and Washington, D.C. through the centennial of Senator Byrd’s birth in November 2017. In the coming months the exhibit will be hosted by the Greenbrier County Convention and Visitors Bureau in September and Concord University in October. West Virginia University will host the exhibit in its Downtown Library in Morgantown in November and December. The exhibit will also be on display in the Russell Rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building
Click here to view up-to-date information about the exhibit.
The exhibit tour is made possible in part by a major grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council and from corporate and private sponsors.
This project is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations do not necessarily represent those of the West Virginia Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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In His Own Words
Senator Byrd's Speeches Series opens for research
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The Robert C. Byrd Speeches Series opened in July, becoming the latest part of the senator's congressional papers collection to become accessible for research in the center's archives. Spanning almost all of Senator Byrd's congressional career, the series offers an extensive collection of primary source documents. Handwritten notes and edited drafts can be found along with press clippings and correspondence. The speeches include statements given by the senator on the floor of the U.S. Senate, his statements made during congressional hearings, and public addresses following his many delegation trips abroad. However, the speeches also cover his local projects, statements made at groundbreakings and dedications at locations throughout West Virginia.
Click here to access the Finding Aid for the Robert C. Byrd Congressional Papers
Collection Stats
Housed in 41 boxes, the collection occupies over 20 linear feet of shelf space, comprising about 1% of the total Robert C. Byrd Congressional Papers Collection. Ranging in date from 1952- 2008, There are over 1,850 speeches in the series.
Processed by Byrd Center Archives Intern Kyle Staubs, the speeches are arranged chronologically and labeled by title. Researchers can search the finding aid for the collection by date or subject keyword. Select speeches have also been digitized and are available on the Byrd Center's website here. A second collection of speeches, currently being processed by Byrd Center Archives Intern Zachary Garver contains clippings from the Congressional Record. When completed, this collection will provide access to all of Senator Byrd's floor statements throughout his 51 years in the U.S. Senate (1959-2010).
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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. 213 North King Street • Shepherdstown, WV 25443 www.byrdcenter.org • (304) 876-5670 Connect with us:
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