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Historical Almanac of the U.S. Senate
Contents:
The Senate Removes Its Sergeant at Arms
On February 7, 1933, the Senate voted 53 to 17 to fire its sergeant at arms, David S. Barry. Now, it was certainly rare for the Senate to dismiss one of its high-ranking, elected staff members and to call the individual to the Senate floor to answer charges. David Barry, at seventy-two years of age, had spent almost his entire life around the Senate, first as a page, as secretary to various senators, as a newspaper correspondent, and finally, for fourteen years as sergeant at arms. Why did the Senate fire him?
It appears that David Barry was a victim of bad timing and bad editing. The Republicans had lost control of the Senate in the 1932 election, and Barry knew he would not be reelected sergeant at arms when the next Congress met in March 1933. As a former journalist, he expected to write occasional pieces for publication during his retirement. He had already submitted an article entitled "Over the Hill to Demagoguery" to the New Outlook magazine. It was scheduled for publication in March.
Unfortunately for David Barry, the editor moved the article’s publication up to February and edited out an unexceptionable first paragraph. When the magazine appeared at the newsstands, it began with these words:
Contrary, perhaps, to the popular belief, there are not many crooks in Congress; that is out-and-out grafters, or those who are willing to be such. There are not many Senators or Representatives who sell their votes for money, and it is pretty well known who those few are; but there are many demagogues.
Although these were strong words, they probably would have received little attention if some reporter had written them For the Senate’s sergeant at arms, however, it was an entirely different matter, and the Senate voted him out of office, less than a month before his term would have ended.
Contents:
Chicago: Robert J. Dole, "The Senate Removes Its Sergeant at Arms," Historical Almanac of the U.S. Senate: A Series of Bicentennial Minutes Presented to the Senate During the One Hundredth Congress (Washington, D.C.: U.S Government Printing Office, 1989), in Original Sources, accessed December 11, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=96P17MNSXS4UR3G.
MLA: Dole, Robert J. "The Senate Removes Its Sergeant at Arms." Historical Almanac of the U.S. Senate: A Series of Bicentennial Minutes Presented to the Senate During the One Hundredth Congress, Washington, D.C., U.S Government Printing Office, 1989, in , Original Sources. 11 Dec. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=96P17MNSXS4UR3G.
Harvard: Dole, RJ 1989, 'The Senate Removes Its Sergeant at Arms' in Historical Almanac of the U.S. Senate: A Series of Bicentennial Minutes Presented to the Senate During the One Hundredth Congress, U.S Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.. cited in , . Original Sources, retrieved 11 December 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=96P17MNSXS4UR3G.
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