CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

January 23, 1967

Page 1217

TRIBUTE TO SENATOR MUSKIE

Mrs. SMITH. Mr. President, in the January 22, 1967 issue of the Portland, Maine, Sunday Telegram there is a very incisive and revealing report by Donald R. Larrabee, who has proved himself a very worthy successor to the beloved May Craig as the Washington correspondent of the Guy Gannett papers and who is sustaining the tradition set by his predecessor.

The report is a documentary tribute to the great stature, position, and influence of my colleague, the junior Senator from Maine, in the Senate, and especially among the Democratic Members of the Senate. I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Larrabee's article on the junior Senator from Maine be placed in the RECORD at this point.

There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

MUSKIE COULD HAVE MADE THIRD LEADERSHIP POSITION

(By Donald R. Larrabee)

WASHINGTON. -- Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, D-Maine, could have been elected Jan. 10 to the third leadership position in the U.S. Senate's Democratic hierarchy.

The necessary votes were offered to him on the night before Congress convened. But Muskie refused to let his name be placed in nomination as secretary to the Democratic Conference.

He had given his word and pledged his support to a candidate who desperately wanted the post but who really never had a chance to win.

From various reliable Senate sources, it is now possible to piece together the tense struggle for the job that finally went to Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, a conservative, by a reported vote of 35 to 28, even though President Johnson and Senate Leader Mike Mansfield would have preferred Muskie.

The Maine senator lost the skirmish but friends, who know the story, say he may have enhanced his long-range chances to become Democratic leader in the Senate if Mansfield should step aside for any reason. Muskie appears to have achieved added respect among his colleagues by sticking with a commitment even when he knew he was on the losing side.

Here is the story of Muskie's ordeal in the days prior to the opening of the new Congress:

The jockeying began last November when Sen. George Smathers of Florida announced he planned to resign as Conference secretary. Reporters began speculating on a successor and Muskie was a leading contender on everyone's list because he appeals to both liberals and conservatives and had shown leadership qualities in managing some of the most controversial Great Society bills on the Senate floor during the past two years.

Other names were bandied about: Phil Hart of Michigan, Fred Harris of Oklahoma, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, principally. Muskie returned from Maine and sought to find out the extent of their interest.

He went to Mike Mansfield to see if the Montanan, a warm friend, knew of some reason he shouldn't go after the job. Muskie did not ask Mansfield for his endorsement.

During their talk, the Senate leader assumed his usual neutrality in such matters, told Muskie the position was wide open and the caucus would make its choice. Nothing Mansfield said persuaded Muskie to dismiss the idea and the Maine senator decided to talk it over with some of his closest friends.

Meantime, Sen. Fred Harris of Oklahoma was off and running. He sent word that he was a candidate and began soliciting support. At about the same time, Sen. Robert C. Byrd was quietly lining up his Southern colleagues. And before Muskie could explore his own position fully, he found out from Hart that Joseph S. Clark of Pennsylvania, frequent critic of the Senate leadership "establishment", wanted the job in the worst way and felt he could get the votes.

Muskie and Hart had a long private session with Clark who asserted his seniority and pleaded that he could use the position to advantage in a tough re-election campaign next year in his home state. Clark, self-styled leader of a vocal but usually impotent ultra-liberal bloc in the Senate, insisted he could get all the support he needed to win.

At this juncture, Muskie had not gone far enough to see how much support might be his in any contest and both Muskie and Hart gave in to Clark's appeals although they had seen him miscount before and had strong private doubts that he could win a personality contest.

Muskie then stated publicly that he did not intend to campaign for the job. He noted the candidates of Clark, Harris and Byrd and said he was supporting Clark. Muskie no longer sought advice and made no effort to get pledges.

As the opening of Congress drew near, Harris withdrew his name from consideration. The word reached Muskie through friends that Clark, indeed, could not win and the Maine senator was under strong pressure to become a compromise choice at the eleventh hour.

On the eve of the new Congress, four senators told Muskie they would support him in a contest with Byrd. He could have beaten Byrd 32-31 if they would let his name be placed in nomination. Muskie couldn't bring himself to go back on his word to Clark although he kicked himself for making the early commitment against his better judgment.

And so Muskie blamed himself when the results were tallied. He isn't fussing about Mansfield's neutrality or anything anyone else did. He knows that Mansfield, privately, was disappointed -- and so was the man in the White House.

But Muskie doesn't seem to have lost any ground in the process. He remains, with Hart, Inouye and Brewster of Maryland, one of the top floor assistants to Mansfield. These are the men the Senate leader calls on to take over when he can't be there. Not the Conference secretary, Byrd, or the assistant floor leader, Russell Long of Louisiana.

In the Senate cloakrooms, there is rarely any discussion of a successor to Mansfield which does not rate Muskie high on the list. The Montana senator is not up for re-election until 1970 and no one now knows whether he will run again. He could, of course, step down in the meantime, possibly in favor of the Foreign Relations Committee chairmanship, if that became available. He is next in line to Sen. Fulbright of Arkansas.

Of course, Sens. Long and Byrd may regard themselves as heirs to the throne and there are other ambitious men in the chamber. But Muskie has strong personal supporters who were ready to go once -- and probably will be the next time.