Robert C. Byrd for President 1976 Campaign Brochure

‘RESTORE AMERICA’S GREATNESS’

RESTORE AMERICA’S GREATNESS

Today, more than at any time in recent memory, the American people are looking for strong, competent, and decisive Presidential leadership. There is an uneasy feeling that successive administrations in Washington have developed a habit of substituting public relations for the truth and merely the appearance of activity for performance in office.

The American people are searching for a leader who can restore America's greatness. Robert C. Byrd, U. S. Senator from West Virginia and highly respected Senate Majority Whip, can do the job. Tough but compassionate, candid and competent, Robert C. Byrd is an uncommon leader with a common sense approach to issues and problems.

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE

The American dream is no better exemplified than in the life of Robert Carlyle Byrd, who came up the hard way.

Born in North Wilkesboro, N.C., in 1917, and left an orphan at the age of one year, he was raised by an aunt and uncle who adopted him and brought him to West Virginia when he was three years old. His foster father worked as a coal miner and, for a time, eked out a living on a small hillside farm. As a boy and young man, Robert C. Byrd knew firsthand the hardships and poverty of life in the southern West Virginia coal fields during the depression years of the 1930's.

Instilled with a sense of frugality and dogged personal effort, he was able to overcome the crushing obstacle of poverty.

His formal education began in two room schoolhouses and continued in night classes long after his election to the U.S. Congress. It culminated in one of Robert C. Byrd's proudest accomplishments -- receiving a law degree cum laude from The American University's Washington College of Law in 1963 at the age of 45.

At the time, the late President John F. Kennedy publicly congratulated Senator Byrd's accomplishment as the only known example of a person enrolling in, and graduating from, law school while serving in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate in Washington.

Many Americans today see much of themselves in Robert C. Byrd. Long hours of hard work and perseverence have been a key to his success. Among all who have observed him in Washington, D.C. it is widely acknowledged that no Senator works harder. Nor would any President!

A PUBLIC SERVANT WHO SERVES

Robert C. Byrd entered public life in 1946 with the idea that government is the servant of the people, not their master. After 30 years of continuous service to his state and nation, he still maintains that belief and demonstrates it through his actions.

Rejecting political labels, he has always viewed the issues on their merits not by some dogmatic standard.

It politics is defined as the art of the possible, Senator Robert C. Byrd can perhaps best be described as one of this country's foremost realists. First as a state legislator and now as the Number Two Democrat in the U.S. Senate, he has a solid record of competence, effectiveness, and dedication to duty.

A LIFETIME OF PUBLIC SERVICE

Robert C. Byrd was first elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1946. He was elected to the West Virginia Senate in 1950. He served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, beginning in 1952, and began his U.S. Senate career in 1958. During this political career of 30 years, he has never been defeated. In his last race for the United States Senate in 1970, Senator Byrd received 88.9% of the vote in the Democratic Primary and 77.6% of the total vote in the general election and carried all 55 of West Virginia's counties all of which stand as State records.

His legislative ability was acknowledged by his Senate colleagues in 1967 when they elected him Secretary of the Democratic Conference, the Number Three spot in Party leadership in the Senate. He was unanimously re-elected to that post in 1969.

He was elected Senate Majority Whip (Assistant Majority Leader) in 1971, and has subsequently been unanimously reelected to that post in 1973 and 1975. Majority Leader Mike Mansfield calls Senator Byrd "the best Whip the Senate has ever had."

In this important and difficult job, Senator Byrd bears a major responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the U.S. Senate. A recent Atlantic Monthly cover story on him (September 1975), "The Man Who Runs the Senate", noted that Senator Byrd is probably as powerful as anyone in the legislative branch but wields that power "fairly."

The effectiveness of any legislator is determined in great part by the committees on which he serves. Senator Byrd holds membership on the Committees on Appropriations, Judiciary, Rules and Administration, and has previously served on the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Banking and Currency. In the U.S. House of Representatives, he was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Senator Robert C. Byrd now actively seeks the Presidency of the United States. A man of broad legislative experience and a record of solid legislative achievement, he is uniquely qualified for the highest office in the land. His background of humble beginnings has given him a close identification with people in all walks of life who struggle to make ends meet. Hard work and dedication to public service have made Robert C. Byrd a man who, as leader of this country, would restore America's greatness.