Published July 1991 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd The Senate, 1789-1989, Volume II In early 1989, the first volume of my comprehensive history of the United States Senate, The Senate, 1789-1989, was published. Just recently, the second volume of this work was published. When I was sworn in as a new Senator in January 1959, I gradually became aware that the Senate is more than just four walls of brick and marble, handsome mahogany desks, luxurious draperies and carpets, an ornate chamber in which elevated rhetoric is rendered and laws are made. It became something far more majestic; something that had a life of its own, larger than the totality of all its members. There was something about the Senate that was far nobler than these mundane and tangible things; something imperishable. It had a soul! Therefore, composing these volumes of history has been a labor of love. Volume I of my Senate history was received positively by the public as a work of both popular history and serious scholarship. I appreciate that reception, and have been touched by such a response. Volume II takes a closer look at the Senate as an institution than does Volume I. From my standpoint, the primary purpose of this new volume is to instill into current and future members of the Senate a greater sense of institutional memory. Similarly, I hope that general readers of my latest volume will gain a greater insight into the unique role that the Senate fulfills in our constitutional system of government. Volume II will be available to the public after mid-July through the Government Printing Office. I receive no royalties, or any other income, from the sale of this book or the previous volume. July 10, 1991