Jan. 4, 1965 - Robert F. Kennedy took his seat in the Senate today — in the very back row.
In fact, a special new row of two seats, in a corner behind the four semicircular ranks of Senator’s desks, was set up for the New York Democrat and Joseph Tydings of Maryland, who is even a notch lower in seniority.
President Kennedy, the Senator’s brother, was also a backbencher throughout his Senate career, sitting one desk off the center aisle in the fourth row. Last November’s election, however, produced 68 Democratic Senators, and four rows would not hold them, so the New Yorker wound up in the corner.
Despite the relative obscurity of his seat, however, Kennedy’s arrival in the Senate was something of an event.
It was the first time, Congressional historians reported, that two brothers had taken the oath of office as Senators together. The Senator from New York was sworn with Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts at his side on the rostrum.
Brothers have served in the Senate before. They were Senators Theodore Foster and Dwight Foster of Massachusetts, whose terms overlapped from 1800 to early 1803. They did not take the oath together.
It was Edward M. Kennedy’s first appearance in the Capitol since he broke his back in an airplane crash last June. He seemed to favor his right side as he walked through the chamber, chatting with his colleagues, but his face did not betray any pain from the injuries that immobilized him for months.
The 36 new and reelected Senators were sworn in groups of four. Taking the oath with the Kennedys were Mike Mansfield of Montana and Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota.
Asked later how he liked his seat in the back corner of the chamber, the New York Senator replied with a grin, “Well, at least I got inside the building.”
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