Cord Byrd: “I was sitting at my desk poring over my mail, watching for grammatical errors, errors in sentence construction, and, lo…”

“I was sitting at my desk poring over my mail, watching for grammatical errors, errors in sentence construction, and, lo and behold, I heard this voice coming to me. I heard the voice saying this was a maiden speech, so I just stopped everything, and I said to the other staff people in the office: That man says this is his maiden speech. I am going to go up and listen to him. This is a reminder to me of the old days when Senators gathered around close to hear a new Senator's maiden speech. The word would go out, and we came. We did not have the public address system. We gathered close by so that we could clearly understand the words that were being spoken, and we looked the speaker eye in the eye and he looked us eye in the eye. This reminds me of those days when Senators gathered together to listen to a new Senator. This Senator has greatly impressed me. He serves on the Budget Committee with me. We are both newcomers on that committee. I have had the chance to talk on very few occasions with Senator Nelson. I have been impressed by his straightforwardness, his high sense of purpose in service. He comes to us from Florida.”