Cord Byrd: “with great pleasure, I belatedly wish the happiest of birthdays to the senior Senator from South Carolina. It was 99…”

“with great pleasure, I belatedly wish the happiest of birthdays to the senior Senator from South Carolina. It was 99 years ago yesterday that Strom Thrumond was born in Edgefield, SC. Ninety-nine years old, what a feat. that makes him old enough to be my big brother! When he was born, December 5, 1902, the Wright brothers had not yet made their historic flight at Kitty Hawk. He has lived to see men walking on the Moon and American space vessels exploring the far reaches of our galaxy. When he was born. Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States. Since then we have had 16 more Presidents. When he was born, the Kaiser still ruled in Germany. Since then, that country has seen the rise and fall of the Weimar Republic, the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, a divided Germany, and now a united Germany. When he was born, the Czar still ruled in Russia. Since then, that country has experienced the Russian Revolution, the Bolshevist government, the Communist government, the Soviet empire, and now Russia again. Almost as intriguing has been the extraordinary career of our remarkable colleague. During the same time period, he has been a teacher, an athletic coach, an educational administrator, a lawyer, a state legislator, and a circuit court judge. He won his first elective office, County Superintendent, the same year that Herbert Hoover won his first elective office, 1928. He was a soldier in World War II, where he took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy.”