28 Years Ago in TIME

Robert Byrd, 88, became the longest-serving U.S. Senator ever last week, passing Strom Thurmond's mark of 17,326 days. The West Virginian has wielded huge influence in Washington for decades

This year much of what [President] Carter gets from Congress will be largely due to Byrd, a night-school lawyer who is a first-rate legislative technician. His job is to act as the Senate's traffic cop, controlling the flow of legislation and debate. A master of the Senate's rules and precedents, Byrd hustles through an endless round of meetings with committee chairmen, powerful Senate barons and rebellious mavericks, trying to head off trouble ... During last year's session, Byrd's first as majority leader, he ran the chamber with a firm and sure hand that had not been seen since the days when Lyndon Johnson was majority leader. Byrd has an intense devotion and dedication to the Senate, and for nearly 20 years he has worked tirelessly and uncomplainingly in its service. In many ways, he personifies its transformation and that of the entire Congress: its insistence on staying free from the Executive Branch's control, its new sense of self-importance and its anxiety about how it is regarded by the American public. TIME, Jan. 23, 1978