Cord Byrd: “I did not want to let this week go by without my saying just a few words about Senator Thurmond. It was 99 years ago…”

“I did not want to let this week go by without my saying just a few words about Senator Thurmond. It was 99 years ago that Strom Thurmond was born in Edgefield, SC. Ninety-nine years old. What a feat, 99. Abraham lived to be 175 years old. Isaac lived to be 180. Jacob lived to be 147, and Joseph lived to be 110. Moses lived to be 120. Joshua lived to be 110. And Strom Thurmond has lived now to be 99. What a feat. That makes him old enough to be my big brother. Well, when Strom Thurmond was born on 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. He has lived to see 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 Strom Thurmond was born, the Czar still ruled in Russia. Since then, that country has experienced the Russian Revolution of 1917--that was the year I was born--the Bolshevist government, the Communist government, the Soviet empire, and now Russia again.”