SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 865
WHEREAS, Senator Richard M. Webster, long considered one of the most powerful and eloquent men in Missouri politics, for over three decades helped forge legislation that made Missouri a better place to live, work, raise a family, and receive an education; and
WHEREAS, Richard M. Webster was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1948, serving briefly as House Speaker in the early 1950s, and was elected to the Missouri Senate in 1962, serving as Senate Minority Leader for several years, and remaining a vital member of the Missouri Senate until his untimely death on March 4, 1990; and
WHEREAS, Senator Webster was a spellbinding speaker who sprinkled his Senate speeches with quotations from Abraham Lincoln, the Bible, and references to Senate decisions in years gone by; and
WHEREAS, Senator Webster, who served in the U. S. Coast Guard in World War II and later became a lawyer, used his eloquence to sway juries as well as his fellow legislators; and
WHEREAS, while he was not widely known outside Jasper County and Jefferson City, Senator Webster built a reputation as one of the most influential legislators in the State of Missouri; and
WHEREAS, Senator Webster served for most of his years in the Senate as a member of the powerful Committee on Administration and was a driving force in that Committee's decision to enclose the areas adjacent to the Chamber, now known as the Pershing and Bingham Galleries:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that we, the members of the Missouri Senate, Ninety-first General Assembly, Second Regular Session, hereby designate the circular room on the west end of the Pershing Gallery adjoining the Senate Chamber on the third floor of the State Capitol as the "Richard M. Webster Room" in his honor; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Administration Committee cause the door to the room to be suitably inscribed.