Lawrence Bradford is first Negro U.S. Senate Page in History

Apr. 13, 1965 - A 16-year-old honor student whose ambition is to run for Mayor of New York City began work today as the U.S. Senate’s first Negro page in history.

He is Lawrence Bradford Jr., a sophomore at the new Lincoln school and president of the Manhattan Youth Council of the New York branch of the NAACP.

Sen. Jacob Javits (R-N.Y.), an ardent foe of discrimination, appointed Bradford to the post with the blessing of Senate Republican leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois.

The youth said he considers himself a pioneer and expressed hope that other Negro boys would follow in his footsteps. He showed no apprehension about his new job and said: “I’ll try to do my best and to do my job well. I’m excited first of all about being a page.”

A special House committee complained last year that no Negroes have ever been appointed as pages in either the Senate or the House. The Supreme Court has both Negro and white pages.

Javits said Lawrence was one of a half dozen boys who reached the final screening phase for his first appointment of a Senate page. It’s a temporary assignment which expires June 30. 

As a page, Lawrence will attend school at the Library of Congress beginning at 6:30 a.m. and report for work at 9:30 to run errands for Senators on the floor and between their offices and the Senate and House chambers.

Pay scales for pages range between $4,800 and $5,000 yearly.

Lawrence, a soccer and basketball player at school, wants to study political science in college and run for public office later. “I’d eventually like to run for Mayor of New York City,” he added.

He worked last fall for Sen. Kenneth Keating (R-N.Y.), who was defeated in his bid for reelection by Robert F. Kennedy.

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