WHO BELONGS TO THE SENATE'S INNER CLUB?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700130007-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 22, 2004
• Sequence Number: 7
• Content Type: NSPR

V
Approved For Release 2005/01/04 CIA-RDP75-001 670 1 07-7
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THE 24 IUATE' . HEMME L% CLUB?
The first list ever published of the
Wren who really run the Upper
House-how they are chosen, what
they do, and how they hold on to
their power.
Nearly all Washingtonians as well as
many citizens elsewhere know about
The Club (that sovereign Inner Club
of the U. S. Senate), but nobody
knows who belongs to it. This column
is intended to correct that strange
and long-enduring oversight.
There is a growing tendency to re-
fer to the Club as the Establishment,
for the latter perhaps describes more
precisely the increasingly tenuous na-
ture of the group. But by either name
it remains a unique force, difficult to
define, and even more difficult to
identify in terms of individual Sen-
ators. It is not always seen; it often is
not heard--but the Capital knows it
is there; and, without much fuss, it
functions when it counts.
Yet after all these years it remains
as mysterious as ever. It is a Club
without a clubhouse; there are no
directors and no membership lists.
There are no meetings and no min-
utes. It casts blackballs, but even
Senators themselves can't explain
how, when, or where. There is only
one feature on which all agree: the
"President" of the Club is Senator
Richard Russell (Democrat, Geor-
gia)," chairman of the powerful
Armed Services Committee, which
presides over the vast Defense De-
*See "Russell of Georgia: The Old
Guard at Its Shrewdest," by Douglas
Kiker (llurper's, September 19GG),
partment, also an establishment but Everett Dirksen
of another kind. Allen Ellender
Some Senators think the Club col- Stun J. Ervin, Jr.
lectively can be described in a sen- Carl Hayden
tence. One said to me, "Get out the Lister Congressional Directory and look up; Listrk er rd Holland
the chairmen of the standing commit- Rowan L. Hruska
tees. That's the Club." Another said, Henry M. Jackson
"Go look up the Appropriations Com- ' B. Everett Jordan
mittee. They're all there." Still an- Russell Long
other said, "The simplest way to go Warren Magnuson
about this is just to get up a list of Mike Mansfield
those who support the oil-depletion John L. McClellan
allowance." There is much to be said
for all. these characterizations, but
they still don't provide a satisfactory
definition.
roadly, the Senate may be divided
into four groups: (1) members of
the Inner Club; (2) potential or
would-be members; (3) non-mem-
bers; and (4) anti-members. In try-
ing to determine which Senators fit
into each category, I sought the views
of a cross section of Senators and
their wives, as well as the opinions of
Senate staff workers, lobbyists, news-
paper correspondents who cover the
Hill, and Administration people. It
turned out to be possible to draw up
a list on which there was general
agreement, although, of course, with
shadings and reservations.
First come the relatively small
number of full-fledged members. In
alphabetical order (with Republicans
in italics) they are:
Clinton Anderson
Alan Bible
Robert C. Byrd
Howard Cannon
ciU
New Mexico
Nevada
West Virginia
Nevada
Thruston Morton
Karl E. IVlundt
Edmund Muskie
John Pastore
Richard B. Russell
George Smathers
John Sparkman
John Stennis
Stuart Symington
Illinois
Louisiana
North Carolina 'lb
Arizona
Iowa
Alabama
Florida
Nebraska
Washington
North Carolina
Louisiana
Washington
Montana
Arkansas
Kentucky
South Dakota
Maine
Rhode Island
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Missouri
This list includes the Minority
Leader (Dirksen), the Majority
Leader (Mansfield), the Assistant
Majority Leader (Long), and-a new-
comer-Robert Byrd, who has been
promoted to the No. 3 slot in the
Democratic hierarchy. Some of those
polled had reservations on Symington
and Sparkman because both once had
outside ambitions: one was a candi-
date for the Democratic Presidential
nomination and the other was Steven-
son's running mate in 1952. Also they
are often more independent than
some of their colleagues, but the con-
sensus was that they should be in-
Mr. Fritchell was formerly special
assistant to Ambassador Stevenson at
the U. N. and to President Truman in
the White House. He writes a syndi-
cated column for "Newsday."
Harper's Magazine, 14pphfi>'ived For Release 2005/01/04: CIA-RDP75-00149R000700130007-7