To the Editor:

As a member of AHA I wish to take exception to the poorly disguised endorsement of U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd in the October 2006 issue of Perspectives. I do agree that Senator Byrd's future is in the hands of West Virginia voters. It should stay there rather than in the pages of Perspectives.

—Frederick E. Miller Jr.

R. Bruce Craig responds:

Rather than being a "poorly disguised endorsement" of Senator Robert C. Byrd the News Briefs in the October Perspectives titled "Robert C Byrd Now Longest Serving Senator in History" discussed a leading news story covered by virtually every daily in the Washington, D.C., region if not the nation. All statements in the article were factual. The sentence that probably gave offense to the reader was, "Should Byrd be defeated, history would lose its most vocal and most important spokesman and appropriator for American history programs." West Virginia voters opted to return Senator Byrd to office with over 64 percent of the popular vote. To that I will add, "History is in good hands with Byrd returning to Congress in the powerful position as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee"—not an endorsement, just a fact.

—BC