Patrick Leahy leaves the Senate after nearly 50 years

WASHINGTON — Patrick Leahy was thrust into the Senate nearly half a century ago following the Watergate scandal and the resignation and pardon of President Richard Nixon.

After a landmark career, the Vermont Democrat — the last of the so-called “Watergate babies” in that class of 1974 — is leaving Congress thinking about another constitutional crisis: President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. and the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“Here is a man who does not believe in the Constitution, has probably never read the Constitution. I’m talking about Trump, who announced just a week ago, “Well, we should set aside parts of the Constitution,” said Leahy, who rose from Chittenden County prosecutor to Acting President of the Senate, third in line. in the presidential succession.

“It’s something that becomes almost a cliché in some of these countries where a general or someone else takes over and kicks everybody out. We say, ‘Well, thank God that never happened in America.’ And here, [Trump’s] suggesting that it be done,” he continued. “It was very, very scary.”

In an interview in his Capitol office with a crackling fireplace and views of the Washington Monument, Leahy, 82, recalled how two prominent Republicans — Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott and Senator Barry Goldwater — passed on to him a brand new 34 year old. -old senator, how they told Nixon in the White House that he must resign or face impeachment and removal from Congress.

“They didn’t enjoy it, but they felt like senators, and in accordance with their duty, they had to explain to him,” Leahy said. “And I do remember Senator Goldwater telling me that Nixon said, ‘Well, how many Republicans will vote to impeach me? He said, ‘Most of us.’

The main difference today is that many Republicans are unwilling to confront the leader of their own party as he tramples the Constitution, said Leahy, who presided over Trump’s second impeachment trial, which ended focused on the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“Seeing what’s happening and not seeing all the Republicans and Democrats standing up and condemning it, that’s what worries me,” he said.

A unique vision of history

The Senate offices Leahy will be leaving have almost museum quality, the walls adorned with photographs of the history he has witnessed over his decades of service. Some of them were taken by award-winning photographers he’s known over the years, but many of them were taken by Leahy himself.

Leahy’s passion for photography became part of his personality on the Hill. He is often seen walking through the Capitol with a camera in hand, taking pictures of the media, his colleagues or newsworthy events.

“When I was 4, I loved watching my mom and dad photograph things. I started doing it then,” Leahy said. “I just did it forever. I love doing it.

Leahy has come a long way since the 1950s Hopalong Cassidy Brownie his parents bought him when he was a kid. He now shoots with a Leica point-and-shoot, one of many cameras in his arsenal.

Famous photographer Robert Capa said, “If your photos aren’t good enough, then you aren’t close enough. For Leahy, that’s never a problem. His position as a high-ranking senator constantly puts him in a position to capture unique moments, nothing more than a snapshot for which he became famous: the view over the shoulder of a president as he signs a bill in the White House.

“Nobody has a picture of them signing it,” Leahy said. “You have members of Congress behind him. They are all trying to fit into the picture. The press is in front of them. I’m the guy who usually stays behind.”

Leahy has served in the Senate for the terms of nine presidents. His bill signing photos hang in some of their presidential libraries.

Some of his pictures are picked up by news magazines and he donates the money he earns to the Children’s Library in Montpelier, Vermont, the same library that receives the money he earned in making cameos in five Batman movies.

“I got my first library card there when I was 4, and it was like a little room in the basement,” he said. “But a wonderful librarian pushed me, and by third grade I had read all of Dickens and all of those Mark Twains. But it was so small. Now that’s a nice wing.

January 6, 2021: “Hello, PPT”

On the morning of January 6, 2021, Marcelle Pomerleau, Leahy’s wife and life partner of over 60 years, woke him up with a greeting: “Hello, PPT.

With Rafael Warnock’s expected victory in Georgia, Democrats looked set to return to a majority, which meant Leahy – the longest-serving senator – would become Senate president pro tempore for a second time.

Having a driver was fine, Leahy told his wife that morning, but he didn’t need the big security details that came with the role. He thought back to the exchange that afternoon as heavily armed officers led him and his fellow senators to a secure room in the Senate compound. A violent mob of Trump supporters had stormed the Capitol, and they eventually took over the Senate floor in an attempt to stop the electoral vote count that would certify President Joe Biden’s victory. Watching the horror unfold on television, Leahy had flashbacks to how, as a 21-year-old law student in Georgetown, he walked to the Capitol, sat in the Senate gallery and listened. senators debate.

As the attack continued, members of “the world’s most deliberative body” began debating in the secure room. Nothing in the Constitution stated that senators had to certify the election of the chambers of the Senate and of the House; they could do it offsite at a military installation, or even from this Senate conference room.

Leahy had none of that.

“I am the dean who is about to become acting president. I am the oldest person here. I care about the Senate. I don’t want us hiding here,” Leahy recalled telling his co-workers. “The American public, no matter how we vote, they have a right to see us on the floor. Let’s wait for it to be clear. Get the explosive dogs in, however long it takes. We are paid annually. Let’s stay here and vote where we can be seen.

Leahy said he received a standing ovation in the room from his colleagues from both parties. Top congressional leaders, entrenched in Fort McNair, and then Vice President Mike Pence, sequestered in a nearby Senate parking lot, came to the same conclusion. Early the next morning, Congress returned to session and finished certifying the election.

“I love being a senator. I cherish this place,” Leahy said. “It can be, it should be, the conscience of the nation.”

Two Supreme Court hearings and a spending bill

Over the decades, Leahy cast over 17,000 votes and served with over 400 senators, including Mike Mansfield, Bob Dole, John Glenn, Walter Mondale and Hubert Humphrey. Two other colleagues – Barack Obama and Biden – would go on to win the White House. Leahy’s office features two photos of him and his wife aboard Air Force One with the 44th and 46th presidents.

Vermont’s other longtime senator, independent Bernie Sanders, is more famous, but Leahy has racked up more power on the Hill. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he presided over the nomination hearings of Obama’s two successful choices for the Supreme Court, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

This Congress, Leahy took on another powerful role on Capitol Hill, that of chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where, after weeks of negotiations, he struck a deal with his GOP counterpart, Richard Shelby of Alabama. , out of a massive $1.7 trillion at year-end. omnibus spending package to finance the government.

It’s a final legacy for Leahy and Shelby, who arrived in the Senate a decade later, in 1987.

“He’s a gentleman. He’s a good man. His word is good. He has integrity. Of course, he is much more liberal than me. I’m much more conservative and we have our differences, but we work together,” said Shelby, who is also retiring this year.

“Overall, we’re trying to fund the government, put America first, not shut down the government, not be against everything, but see how we can do our best to make it work. .”

In his farewell speech, which was attended by many of his colleagues, Leahy imagined what he would say to the younger version of himself “walking nervously for the first time on the floor of the Senate.”

“Don’t lose that feeling of admiration, kid. Stick to it. Cherish it. Don’t even forget for a minute what a privilege and what a responsibility it is to serve here.

“I never forgot,” he said.