RK ARCHIVE - The History Of Webb's Senate Seat

James Henry Webb Jr. on January 3rd, 2007 will be sworn in as the United States Senator Virginia (Class 1). It would only be appropriate and worth note to take a brief look at the history of the seat that Senator Webb will occupy.

Senator Webb will be the second Naval Secretary to occupy this seat first being in Claude A. Swanson who was FDR's for 6 years. Senator John Warner is also a former Naval Secretary however he is the Virginia Class 2 Senator.

One of the father's of this country, former Governor of Virginia, Secretary of State, and 5th U.S. President James Monroe was the 3rd occupant of this seat.

One more U.S. President, also a Governor of Virginia, the 10th President John Tyler.

More recently, this is a seat that was dominated for 50 years by the father son duo or Harry F. Byrd Jr. & Sr.(no relation to Senator Byrd of West Virginia who they both served alongside). From 1933 to 1983 both father and son occupied this seat.

Most recently, this seat was also occupied by former Governor Chuck Robb, who lost his re-election bid to former Governor George Allen. Robb is a member of the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group. Allen on the other hand is the outgoing incumbent having been defeated by Webb.

Finally along party lines this seat has elected (I say elected because Harry F. Byrd Jr. broke from the Democratic Party although he caucused with them) 3 Federalists, 9 Democratic-Republicans, 1 Whig, 2 Unionists, 9 Democrats, & 4 Republicans.

Many of Virginia's Class 1 Senators have also had military backgrounds, Webb will not be alone in that with his heroic service in the Marine Corps.

I am confident Senator Webb will make history in the U.S. Senate, history I am ready to see.

Comments

Speaking of history (Rebecca - 11/27/2006 12:52:34 PM)

Speaking of history. I hope Raising Kaine is archiving the posts here for posterity. This is valuable to history. This is the "people's history" at its best, not somebody's spin on the facts. The posts from Raising Kaine and other independent websites should be included in text for study in the future to show the changing tides of the times and how the grassroots has created a sea change in politics.

The Raising Kaine site is especially valuable because it is more that just people throwing around personal attacks (although there are some of those). What can be learned from the posts here is how politics works on the ground, what sways public opinion and how information is spread in the age of the internet. Come to think of it Raising Kaine could also be studied in a communications class as well.

Keep track. We are making history!

Catch the C-Span Special on the US Capitol (Catzmaw - 11/27/2006 12:55:44 PM)

if you get a chance. I watched a lot of it over the weekend and thought it was great. Included were discussions of the artwork, the symbolism behind the artwork, the chronology of the Capitol's construction, the history behind various parts of the Capitol, the history of the Senate and House chambers, the origins of the desks and certain traditions within the House and Senate, and so on. A really terrific little special. I didn't catch the whole thing, but hope they will rerun it frequently so I can fill in the blanks.

And some folks think Webb will follow history even further-- (Leaves on the Current - 11/27/2006 5:56:15 PM)

Thanks for this interesting post.

Just to make everybody sit up and blink, and speaking of some of the previous occupants of Webb's new seat, I will note that in Shailagh Murray's online Washington Post live chat today, someone had this to say:

Pittsburgh, Pa.: The [presidential] nominees for '08 will be Jim Webb and John McCain.
Shailagh Murray: Wow! Good one!

I don't think so. But it's interesting that this idea won't quite die.

P.S. Not that this isn't a good idea-- (Leaves on the Current - 11/27/2006 6:32:30 PM)

(Just to be clear: when I said "I don't think so," I didn't mean that this wouldn't be a good idea--just that I think the chances of it happening are pretty remote. Jim for Veep would be more likely, I think, though still not very.)

No, no, no! (LAS - 11/27/2006 10:33:54 PM)

Webb hasn't even been sworn in yet!

Jeez, we helped get rid of Allen--haven't we done enough for America? We need Jim Webb right here in Virginia!