Byron, Beverly B. (Beverly Barton), 1932-

<p>After winning the election to fill the seat of her late husband, Beverly Byron went on to have a 14-year career in the House of Representatives. She used the experience she acquired as an unpaid aide to her husband and her family background to assert herself as an influential member of the Armed Services Committee. As a staunch defender of both military and defense spending, Congresswoman Byron served as one of the more conservative Democrats in Congress.</p>

<p>Beverly Barton Butcher was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 27, 1932, to Harry C. and Ruth B. Butcher. She grew up in Washington, DC, where her father managed a radio station before becoming an aide to General Dwight D. Eisenhower for a short period of time during World War II. “My father was vice president of CBS early in the days of radio,” Butcher recalled. “So it wasn’t at all unusual for the house to be filled with people that were just friends but they happened to be working at the White House, or they happened to be in the center of government, or they happened to be in Congress.” She graduated from the National Cathedral School in Washington, DC, in 1950. She married Goodloe Edgar Byron in 1952.</p>

<p>Beverly Byron participated in her husband’s successful campaigns for the Maryland legislature, where he served in the house of delegates from 1963 to 1967 and the senate from 1967 to 1971. In 1970 she helped Goodloe Byron run a successful campaign for a U.S. House seat that encompassed western Maryland. During her husband’s tenure as a Representative, she worked closely with him, even debating his opponents on occasion when his official duties prevented district visits. “And then you come to the realization where you can do one thing or another,” Byron observed when reflecting upon her decision to help her husband’s political career. “You can be totally opposed to it, not involved, or you can get very much involved. Well, needless to say, I guess I got very much involved.”</p>

<p>Beverly Barton Butcher Byron (born July 27, 1932) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. Congresswoman representing the 6th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1979, to January 3, 1993.</p>

<p>Beverly Barton Butcher was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Ruth (née Barton) and Harry C. Butcher, a CBS radio broadcaster and naval aide to General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II. During her childhood, her family lived in the Wardman Park Hotel, and her father's connections in Washington, D.C. enabled her to meet and befriend powerful figures such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower. Her godfather was political operative George E. Allen.</p>

<p>Byron graduated from the National Cathedral School for Girls in Washington in 1950, and earned a two-year degree from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland in 1962. After graduation she became involved in several nonprofit groups and in fundraising for the Democratic Party. She was first elected to Congress in 1978, succeeding her husband, Goodloe Byron, who died of a heart attack a month before the election. She would be reelected to six additional terms, serving until 1992. She served on the House Armed Services Committee, the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, and the Select Committee on Aging.</p>