Byrd Chucks His Tux

Senate President Pro Tem Robert C. Byrd Jr. of West Virginia is widely known as a stickler for form. His knowledge of parliamentary procedure has long been acclaimed as the greatest in the Congress.

Not only is the 71-year-old Byrd correct congressionally, but he is the very image of the august Southern senator--a mane of white hair, suitable for shaking for emphasis; serious mien, impressive during oratory; dapper, well-pressed, carefully inspected every morning by Erma Byrd (who herself does all the family laundry) before he leaves his house.

That’s why the following announcement is likely to rock the Washington social world and have far-reaching repercussions internationally:

Byrd has renounced the tuxedo.

He’d been thinking about it for some time, he says. In December 1987, when Mikhail Gorbachev appeared in mufti at the White House state dinner in his honor “then I thought to myself, well, we agree on at least one thing.”

Says Byrd: “I call it the monkey suit. The person who invented it didn’t have much to do. The suit is uncomfortable. And wearing it makes me feel silly and stiff.”

Recently at the black-tie White House Correspondents dinner, Byrd appeared resplendent in a three-piece black suit, suitable for going to a marriage or funeral, applying for a loan and certainly eating in the midst of 2,500 reporters and guests, many of whom had hired their resplendence.

And his tie was, indeed, black--a plain, undecorated, pristine full-length tie-type tie.

His West Virginia constituents have not yet been told of his revolutionary action, but Byrd expects no repercussions and dismisses the possibility of voter backlash.

“I don’t think I’ve ever worn a tuxedo in West Virginia.”