June 16, 1976
A shrine restored
The heroes of this story include a Senate
subcommittee chairman and a former first lady. The villain
— from the Senate’s perspective —
was the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
The object of their attention: the historic room in
the Capitol that served as the Senate’s chamber
between 1810 and 1859.
After the Senate moved to its current
chamber in 1859, the Supreme Court took up residence
in the old chamber until 1935, when it moved to its
permanent building. The Senate and House then agreed
to restore the room to its 1850s elegance.
Despite that agreement, decades passed
with no action. In an increasingly crowded Capitol,
both houses wanted the room’s convenient space
for various meetings and functions. By 1960, countless
luncheons and cocktail parties had rendered the old
chamber grimy and threadbare. The odor of tobacco and
alcohol overwhelmed the aroma of history.
In 1960, construction of a major extension
to the East Front of the Capitol neared completion.
By providing several large meeting spaces, including
today’s Mike Mansfield and Sam Rayburn Rooms,
the extension would relieve demands on the Old Senate
Chamber.
The first hero of this story is Mississippi
Sen. John Stennis (D). As chairman of the Subcommittee
on Legislative Branch Appropriations, he secured $400,000
to restore this room and an earlier Supreme Court chamber
directly below it.
House appropriators failed to share the
Senate’s enthusiasm for the project.
Although Stennis gained the active support
of Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) and Senate
Appropriations Chairman Carl Hayden (D-Ariz.), Rep.
George Mahon (D-Texas), who would soon chair the House
Appropriations Committee, had a problem. He made it
clear that his problem might be solved if the Senate
dropped its opposition to a House-endorsed plan for
another Capitol extension project — this one on
the West Front. No extension; no restored Senate chamber.
This stalemate continued for 10 years.
Then, in 1972, Mahon received a phone
call from a fellow Texan to whom he could not say “no.”
Lady Bird Johnson’s gentle persuasion and Mansfield’s
promise to do what he could to ease Senate opposition
to the West Front project ended the House chairman’s
opposition.
The Old Senate Chamber restoration project
concluded with a festive dedication ceremony on June
16, 1976.
Today, this “noble chamber,”
as Henry Clay once called it, serves as a reminder of
the Senate’s rich history and, perhaps less obviously,
of its historic relations with the House of Representatives.
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