Tight Security Alters Bush’s Capitol Audience

Security was so tight Thursday when President Bush addressed Congress on terrorism that Vice President Dick Cheney was not allowed to attend.

Shortly before Bush’s well-protected motorcade glided up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol, Cheney was escorted by a platoon of Secret Service agents to an undisclosed location, to ensure the continuity of America’s government under a worst-case scenario.

Usually, during a presidential address to Congress, just one Cabinet secretary fills that role--as Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson did Thursday night.

Cheney’s absence was only the most visible sign of the unprecedented security measures put in place by the Secret Service and the Capitol Police in the wake of last week’s terrorist attacks.

And it was only the third time in modern history that a vice president’s traditional chair was occupied by someone else during such an event--in this case the Senate’s president pro tem, Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.).

The heightened state of concern was evident all around. More than three hours before Bush’s 9 p.m. EDT address, parking spaces on the East Plaza driveway, normally used by reporters, were vacated so that fire trucks could park there.

At entrances to the Capitol and the adjacent congressional office buildings, IDs were given close scrutiny.

“The [Capitol] police are very concerned about phony credentials,” one senior House employee said Thursday evening.

For all but members of Congress and the most important guests, access into the Capitol was cut off around 6 p.m.

Still, even members of Congress were inconvenienced.

Usually after a presidential speech, they would exit the House chamber en masse and rush into the nearby Statuary Hall, where a crush of reporters would await their reactions.

But not Thursday night. Authorities shut down Statuary Hall for security reasons.

House members had to move to the Cannon Office Building across Independence Avenue to air their views. Senators had even farther to go--to the Russell Office Building on the other side of Constitution Avenue.

In other precautionary measures, police were using mirrors to check the bottoms of all vehicles entering the congressional parking lots and garages. Metal detectors were set at such a sensitive level that even chewing gum wrappers could set them off. The checking of IDs included even most House members, according to one senior House employee who works closely with Capitol Police but asked to remain anonymous.

Some such measures are a direct result of last week’s terrorist acts, but “things have been ratcheting up” because of Bush’s appearance on the Hill, he added.

The White House informed Byrd on Thursday morning that Cheney would not attend. The largely ceremonial title of Senate president pro tem traditionally is conferred by the Senate upon the senior member of the majority party--making Byrd in this case next in the line of presidential succession, after the vice president and the speaker of the House.

Beside Byrd on Thursday night was Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), the current speaker, in his traditional seat, also behind the president. Hastert took the unusual step of asking Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) to skip the speech and take refuge in a secure location.

Byrd, a Senate historian of note, “felt it was his duty” to sit in for the vice president, said a spokesman.

The last time someone other than the vice president occupied that chair during a presidential address was in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.

When Gerald R. Ford addressed Congress on Oct. 8, 1974, it was two months after Ford had succeeded Richard Nixon--and before Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as vice president. The spot was occupied by Senate President Pro Tem James O. Eastland (D-Miss.).

The last time a sitting vice president did not attend a presidential address to Congress was Jan. 12, 1966, when Lyndon B. Johnson spoke, according to Betty Koed, assistant Senate historian. At the time, Hubert H. Humphrey was attending a funeral in India. In his chair was Senate President Pro Tem Carl Hayden (D-Ariz.).