Charleston Gazette
Cleve Bailey Lauded By Political Figures
July 14, 1965
After former Rep. Cleveland M. Bailey's death Tuesday, several West Virginia political figures issued sympathy statements praising him as a "valiant fighter," a "cursader" and "education's true champion."
Gov. Smith told the press:
"Mr. Bailey's death is an irreparable loss to West Virginia and the nation, and to education in particular.
"He was one who devoted virtually all of his adult life to public service at the local, state and national levels, and worked continually and tirelessly for education. Our schools today are better because of his many accomplishments.
"Mr. Bailey's loss will be keenly felt in many ways, but nowhere is the loss greater than in education. He was education's trle [sic] champion, and justly deserved the title given him in the Halls of Congress - 'Mr. Education.'
"We all will miss his wise advice and counsel. But beyond that, I will also miss him as a friend who never passed up an opportunity to do a good deed."
In Washington, Sen. Jennings Randolph, D-W.Va., said: "Former Rep. Bailey was a valiant fighter and he was cast in the role of crusader many times during his long and useful career of public service at both the state administrative and the federal legislative level.
"As a friend and colleague in the Congress, I knew Cleve Bailey to be one of the most forthright, diligent and devoted members with whom I had the privilege of serving. His forthrightness was sometimes misunderstood, but his will to persist with an issue in which he had an interest and in which he felt there was a public concern was never doubted by his colleagues or by constituents who knew him well.
"His leadership in the fields of education and labor legislation was an established fact and his contributions were comprehensive and constructive. West Virginia has profited by the services performed by this courageous gentleman."
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W. Va., commented:
"I served in the House of Representatives with former congressman Bailey and believe that his efforts on behalf of the citizens of West Virginia resulted in benefits that will outlast him by decades. It was under his mentorship that I first began my service in the House of Representatives."
Rep. Ken Hechler, D-W. Va., said:
"Cleve Bailey used to love to tell the story about the time he got into a fist fight with Adam Clayton Powell. 'I gave him a white eye,' Cleve said. That was Cleve all the way - the battler for West Virginia, for better schools, for a higher minimum wage, for more job training and anything that would help ordinary people.
"He was one of the early fighters for the antipoverty program in advocating a revival of the old Civilian Conservation Corps Camps.
"He drove me to Atlantic City for the Democratic National Convention last summer, and the old fire was still in his eye. He was cut out of the same cloth as Matt Neely, and I doubt if we'll ever see his likes again on the West Virginia political scene."
Rep. Arch A. Moore Jr., Bailey's last political opponent, said Bailey "served West Virginia and the nation with great distinction."
"He was a fighter for those things that were in the best interest of the people of his state," Moore said. Moore, a Republican, defeated Bailey in the 1962 election.