​Thank you for supporting the Byrd Center this year. In many ways, this year has been an important milestone in the story of the Byrd Center. We began the year by unveiling a new name, logo, and mission statement. The center welcomed hundreds of visitors to film screenings, our annual Constitution Day lecture, and tours of our archives. We opened new sections of the Robert C. Byrd Congressional Papers Collection in the archives. In April, we opened the new traveling exhibit Robert C. Byrd: Senator, Statesman, West Virginian and initiated a two-year tour which will culminate in November 2017 at the state capitol in Charleston. Our inaugural Teacher Institute welcomed 18 educators who attended a seminar given by Charlie Flanagan, an education specialist from the Center for Legislative Archives at NARA on teaching students about the United States Constitution. In September, we took the traveling exhibit to Washington DC for a reception in the Russell Senate Office Building.

By Jody Brumage

Ken Hechler, a veteran of World War II, staff assistant to President Harry Truman, member of the United States House of Representatives, and West Virginia Secretary of State died this past Saturday, December 10, 2016. As people across the state reflect on the life of Congressman Hechler, we are reflecting on his role in West Virginia’s congressional delegation and his leadership in over thirty years of public service.

Born in 1914 in New York, Hechler attended Swarthmore College and Columbia University, receiving a PhD from the latter in history and government. During World War II, Hechler served as the combat historian for the European Theater of Operations, chronicling the lib-

​By Ray Smock
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​In this excerpt from the journal I kept during the years I was Historian of the House, I describe what it was like to be an eyewitness to the counting of the of the ballots of the Electoral College, the final step, other than the inauguration which followed two weeks later, in the process of transferring power from one administration to the next. In the election of 1992, Bill Clinton and Al Gore won 370 Electoral votes to 168 for George H.W. Bush and Dan Quayle. That year third party candidate, billionaire Ross Perot, won almost 20 million votes, but did not carry a single state. I have added some additional identifying information in brackets.