Birch Bayh
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Birch Evans Bayh II (born January 22, 1928) was a U.S. Senator from Indiana between 1963 and 1981. He contested the Democratic nomination for president in 1976 but lost to Jimmy Carter.
On June 19, 1964 Bayh, his wife, Senator Ted Kennedy and legislative aide Edward Moss were on board a small plane that crashed in heavy fog near Springfield, Massachusetts. Senator Bayh pulled a badly injured Senator Kennedy from the wreckage. Senator and Mrs. Bayh were relatively unhurt, while the pilot and Moss were both killed in the crash.
Bayh was influential in the passing of Title IX, the clause that gave women equal opportunities in sports and activities in public education.
As Chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments, Bayh was the principal architect of two constitutional amendments:
- The 25th Amendment, which established the rules for presidential succession and disability.
- The 26th Amendment, which gave 18 year olds the right to vote.
Bayh was also the principal architect of the Equal Rights Amendment, which was not adopted. He was defeated for re-election in 1980 by future vice president J. Danforth Quayle III. Bayh is the father of former Indiana governor and current U.S. Senator Evan Bayh.