Birch Bayh
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| Birch Evans Bayh II | |
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| In office January 3, 1963–January 3, 1981 |
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| Preceded by | Homer Earl Capehart |
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| Succeeded by | J. Danforth Quayle |
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| Born | January 22, 1928 Terre Haute, Indiana |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | (1) Marvella Hearn (died) (2) Katherine Halpin |
Birch Evans Bayh II (born January 22, 1928) was a U.S. Senator from Indiana between 1963 and 1981. He was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in the 1976 election but lost to Jimmy Carter. He is the father of former Indiana governor and current U.S. Senator Evan Bayh.
Bayh was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Leah Ward Hollingsworth and Birch Evans Bayh, Sr.[1] After serving in the United States Army, he attended the Purdue University School of Agriculture, where he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega, and graduated in 1951. Among his Purdue classmates was Wayne Townsend, who served in both houses of the Indiana legislature and was the Democratic choice for governor in 1984. Bayh later attended Indiana State University and Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington.
He served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1954 to 1962. In the House, he rose to the position of Speaker and, in 1961, was admitted to the Indiana bar. He won the 1962 US Senate race in Indiana.
On June 19, 1964, Bayh, his wife, Senator Ted Kennedy and legislative aide Edward Moss were on board a small plane that crashed in heavy fog near Springfield, Massachusetts. Senator Bayh pulled a badly injured Senator Kennedy from the wreckage. Senator and Mrs. Bayh were relatively unhurt, while the pilot and Moss were both killed in the crash.
Bayh was influential in the passing of Title IX, the clause that gave women equal opportunities in sports and activities in public education.
As Chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments, Bayh was the principal architect of two constitutional amendments:
- The 25th Amendment, which established the rules for presidential succession and disability.
- The 26th Amendment, which lowered the minimum voting age to 18.
Bayh was also the principal architect of the Equal Rights Amendment, which was not adopted. But the proposed constitutional change with which he was most closely associated in his final years in the Senate was his attempt to eliminate the Electoral College (the method of electing the President of the United States and replace it with a popular vote in the 1960s and 70s. One of Bayh's proposals passed the House easily but was filibustered in the Senate. In 1977 he introduced reform legislation into the Senate [1], but it never achieved the required two-thirds vote in either house of Congress. In 2006, he joined the National Popular Vote Inc. coalition, which aims to effect Electoral College reform through an interstate compact, and wrote a foreword to the book Every Vote Equal.
He was a co-sponsor of the Bayh-Dole Act which allowed US universities, small businesses, and non-profit organizations to retain intellectual property rights of inventions developed from federal government-funded research.
Additionally, he served for many years on the Senate judiciary committee and was involved in two nominations in which the nominee was declined.
Bayh intended to run for the 1972 Democratic nomination for president, but his wife was diagnosed with cancer and he put his plans on hold. Before her death in 1979, Marvella Bayh became a leading cancer activist. In October 1975 Bayh announced his candidacy for the 1976 Democratic nomination. Bayh was considered a leading choice out of 12 candidates, and he was popular with organized labor and other liberal groups. However, his late start put him at a fundraising and organizational disadvantage. In January/February, Bayh finished third in Iowa behind Uncommitted delegates and Jimmy Carter and third in New Hampshire behind Carter and Morris K. Udall. A week later, Bayh finished a weak seventh place in the Massachusetts primary and ended his candidacy.
He ran for reelection for a fourth term in the 1980 election. Bayh and his opponent, Congressman and future vice president Dan Quayle, engaged in seven debates. In those debates, Quayle attacked Bayh's liberal voting record, which hurt Bayh, and he was defeated for reelection in the Republican landslide year, 46% to Quayle's 54%. Bayh has since resumed his law practice.
He is currently resides in Easton, MD, is a fellow at Washington College in Chestertown, MD, and is a partner at the Washington, DC, law firm Venable LLP. [2]
| Preceded by Homer E. Capehart |
United States Senator (Class 3) from Indiana 1963–1981 Served alongside: Vance Hartke, Richard Lugar |
Succeeded by Dan Quayle |
| Preceded by Daniel Inouye Hawaii |
Chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee 1979–1981 |
Succeeded by Barry Goldwater Arizona |
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