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Obituary: Great one-time Indiana Democratic senator Birch Bayh, who helped draft the ERA and Title IX, but somehow was defeated by the infamous Dan Quayle back in 1980, has died. He was 91 years old.
He didn't do so hot in his contribution to the gene pool, as his son Evan isn't near the statesman his dad was.
Bayh died of pneumonia.
The ERA is not necessarily "failed." The time limit had no business being attached to it and was not really a part of it to begin with. There is an attempt to lobby Congress to revise the date to the present.
He also came up with the 25th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, an amendment that has been bandied about for use on the current president.
His first successful amendment, the 25th, emerged after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and Johnson, then the vice president, succeeded him to the White House. The transition left no sitting vice president, and the next two in line of succession were the speaker of the House, John W. McCormack, who was 71, and the Senate president pro tempore, Carl Hayden, who was 86.
In 1964, the Senate passed an amendment put forth by Mr. Bayh permitting a president to nominate a new vice president if that office became vacant (as happened with Johnson’s succession). But the House, led by Mr. McCormack, would not consider the measure while he remained next in line.
Then, in 1965, after Johnson had been elected and Hubert H. Humphrey had become vice president, both chambers passed the amendment.
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