Senator Birch Evans Bayh

Birch Evans Bayh Jr. was born on January 22, 1928, in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana, the son of Birch Evans Bayh Sr., a prominent American basketball and baseball coach, and Leah Hollingsworth Bayh. His father, often referred to as Coach Birch Bayh, was born in 1893 and became well known in Indiana athletic circles for his work developing school sports programs, a background that helped shape the younger Bayh’s early exposure to leadership and public life. Growing up in rural western Indiana, Bayh worked on the family farm and attended local schools, experiences that later informed his political identity as an advocate for agriculture and rural communities.

Bayh attended Indiana State Teachers College High School in Terre Haute and became active in student leadership, serving as president of his senior class. After high school he enlisted in the United States Army, serving from 1946 to 1948 in the immediate post–World War II period. Following his military service, he enrolled at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where he studied agriculture. While at Purdue he was elected president of the student body, further refining his interest in politics and public service. He married Marvella Hern in 1952; born in 1933, she would become widely known as Marvella Bayh, an active political spouse and advocate who supported his campaigns and public work until her death in 1979.

After completing his studies, Bayh returned to Indiana to farm and to enter public life. He became active in local Democratic Party politics and, at a relatively young age, was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives, taking office in 1954. In the state legislature he quickly rose through the ranks, and in 1959 he became Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives, one of the youngest individuals to hold that position in the state’s history. His legislative work in Indiana focused on education, modernization of state government, and issues affecting farmers and small communities, building a reputation that would support his later bid for federal office.

Bayh was elected to the United States Senate from Indiana in the 1962 election and took office on January 3, 1963. As a U.S. Senator, he served continuously until January 3, 1981. During his tenure he became one of the most influential constitutional legislators of the twentieth century. He was the principal Senate sponsor of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1967, which clarified presidential succession and procedures for dealing with presidential disability. He also played a leading role in drafting and securing passage of the Twenty-sixth Amendment, ratified in 1971, which lowered the voting age in federal, state, and local elections from 21 to 18. In addition to his constitutional work, Bayh was a key author of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibited sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and had a lasting impact on educational and athletic opportunities for women.

Within the Senate, Bayh served on and chaired important committees, including the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments, from which he advanced much of his constitutional reform agenda. He was also involved in efforts related to civil rights, consumer protection, and judicial nominations, and he became known for his advocacy of equal opportunity and educational reform. Bayh sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976, emphasizing his legislative record and reform credentials, though his campaign was short-lived. He was defeated for reelection to the Senate in 1980, concluding eighteen years of service in Congress.

Bayh’s family life was closely intertwined with his public career. His first wife, Marvella Bayh, was a visible presence in his Senate campaigns and a respected public figure in her own right, particularly noted for her advocacy and her openness about her battle with cancer before her death in 1979. Their son, Birch Evans Bayh III, known as Evan Bayh and born in 1955, would later follow his father into public office, serving as governor of Indiana and subsequently as a U.S. Senator from Indiana. Evan Bayh married Susan Breshears, born in 1959 and later known as Susan Bayh, who became a lawyer, business executive, and university trustee; she remained an active partner in his political and professional life until her death in 2021.

In his later years, after leaving the Senate, Birch Bayh Jr. practiced law, taught, and remained engaged in public policy debates, particularly on constitutional issues, education, and equal rights. He was frequently consulted as an authority on the amendments he had helped to draft and on the broader process of constitutional change. He also continued to be recognized for his family’s multigenerational contribution to public life, beginning with his father, Coach Birch Evans Bayh Sr. Birch Evans Bayh Jr. died on March 14, 2019, in Easton, Maryland, closing a career that linked Indiana’s political history with major developments in national constitutional and educational policy.