Sen. Robert Byrd, 92, of West Virginia became the Congress’ longest-serving member Wednesday. Surpassing the Arizonan Carl Hayden in the record books, Byrd has logged 56 years and 10 months in the Congress — most of it in the Senate. During his long congressional career, Byrd served 11 presidents and cast 18,582 roll-call votes to date.

“I’ve loved every precious moment,” he told his colleagues assembled on the Senate floor.

A Senate institution onto himself, Byrd once led the Senate as majority leader and chairman of the highly influential Senate Appropriations Committee. He learned the ropes from the likes of Lyndon Johnson and Mike Mansfield. Seasoned as a strong-willed political fighter, Byrd battled the Reagan administration agenda on Capitol Hill.

Byrd’s high-profile leadership positions gave him the opportunity to steer billions of federal dollars to West Virginia infrastructure projects. Many observers question whether the quantity and expense of federal public works projects in West Virginia exceeds lackluster demonstrated needs. Regardless, the Senate rewards seniority and Byrd’s high rank currently entitles him to large federal appropriations.

Unlike Alaska’s notorious “Bridge to Nowhere,” West Virginia does not capture national attention for specific pork-barrel spending programs. Even so, Byrd demonstrates bad taste when he boasts about his key role in appropriating vast sums of federal dollars: “They call me ‘The Pork King;’ they don’t know how much I enjoy it.”

Besides traditional Senate business, Byrd continues to deliver quirky Senate speeches on the arcane techniques of parliamentary procedure and annual orations about the coming of spring, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Thanksgiving. Before Ted Kennedy’s death, Byrd wished his friend and longtime colleague a happy birthday through a Senate floor speech every February.

Frequently speaking to an empty Senate chamber in the late afternoon, Byrd can orate at great length about classical history and war battlefields that long fell silent. He particularly relishes displaying his pocket-size copy of the Constitution which he keeps in the breast pocket of his three-piece suit. The Washington Post called Byrd’s fiery “Barbaric” floor speech — against dog fighting — a harangue delivered in a tone “usually reserved for war speeches or Supreme Court confirmation battles.”

In a collaborative body of 99 other busy, high-profile colleagues, Byrd reminds other senators about the simplicity and joy of living a public life for the public good. Perhaps even universities should encourage students to recite William Wordsworth poetry outside the library, offering stressed and anxious students respite and relaxation. Public officials like Byrd offer the Congress — and all others engaged in public life — a rare personality. How many of Byrd’s colleagues can legitimately claim, as Byrd does, to not particularly relish interviews on the cable talk show circuit? But Byrd deeply engages with the institutional body, and cherishes its unique traditions.

Few senators will serve nearly six decades in the Congress, but the living legacy of Robert Byrd should inspire all his colleagues to leave a mark during their service. A two-term senator can champion a particular piece of legislation important to the constituents back home or attain a leadership position within their caucus. And, yes, any senator can speak about the joy of family on Thanksgiving.

Byrd’s résumé contains blemishes including former membership in the Ku Klux Klan and vehement opposition to civil rights — and he has rightly renounced shameful racist views that once proliferated in his inter-war generation. Byrd went on to receive a 100 percent approval rating from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 2005.

Ultimately, Byrd offers generations of institutional wisdom to a deliberative body flush with new members. Nearly 30 new senators have joined the Senate since 2006 due in part to a rapid string of veteran Republican retirements and strong Democratic election victories. Figures like Byrd facilitate continuity in a time of transition where many members still struggle to learn the rules and decorum of the Senate.

Likewise, Byrd introduced the American electorate to the nuances of the Senate when he strongly backed C-SPAN’s televised broadcasts of Senate floor activity in 1986. The unprecedented access to Senate speeches, roll call votes and committee hearings changed politics forever.

The 21st century may not yield a legislator who can break Byrd’s service record. The era of a big man from a small state creating a personal fiefdom may be over, but the memory of Byrd’s service will linger in the halls of Congress for ages.

In typical wit, Byrd quashed rumors that his age impaired his ability to serve in the Senate. “Show me another 87-year-old man who’s got the energy that I’ve got, and I’ll eat your hat,” he told an audience in West Virginia.

Stanton Abramson is a College senior from Raleigh, N.C. He is president of the Young Democrats of Emory.