In-House Links: Byrd, Coates & Goldberg, Epps & Kagan

1) The Atlantic has just scanned and digitized an excellent 1975 profile of Sen. Robert Byrd, who of course died early this morning. The article is here; it was by Sanford Ungar, my immediate predecessor as "Washington Editor" of the magazine. (In days of yore, the Atlantic was in Boston, and the head of the one-person DC operation -- Elizabeth Drew in the late Sixties, then Ungar in the mid Seventies, then me starting in 1979 -- was dignified as the Washington Editor. Now all our editors are Washington Editors!) There are a few small OCR errors still in the piece, which will be cleaned up soon; thanks to members of our staff for doing it right away.

The Ungar piece is fascinating as an illustration of how much has changed in 35 years -- Byrd at the time was the junior Senator from West Virginia, and enjoyed toying with the idea that he could be a presidential contender -- and how many of the dramatis personae are the same. Joe Biden appears, for instance, as a tyro first-term Senator. Josh Green on this article here.

2) For the record, as followup on the controversy over David Weigel's departure from the Washington Post, which I mentioned here, I should mention the back-and-forth between my colleagues T-N Coates and J Goldberg. TNC here and here; Goldberg here, and with an invitation in response to Glen Greenwald's critique of him, here. I am noting this rather than getting in the middle of it, on the principle that there are no longer any unexpressed thoughts on the topic.

3) Bonus in-house update: Garrett Epps, a distinguished historian and novelist, a longtime friend, and a wonderful addition to our Atlantic lineup, on what Elena Kagan really should say at her hearing, though she probably will not. Also, on the historical/legal background to the McChrystal case, here.