Jan. 4, 1963 - President Kennedy, Vice President Johnson, and a number of Congressional leaders came to Oklahoma City today to attend a funeral service for Senator Robert S. Kerr, the Democrat whose death altered the power balance of the Senate and struck a blow at the Administration’s legislative hopes. In the First Baptist Church of which Senator Kerr was a member, they heard him eulogized as “a great man who lived wonderfully.” The President sat in a front pew, with Mr. and Mrs. Johnson beside him. Also in their pew were Gov. and Mrs. J. Howard Edmondson of Oklahoma and John B. Connally Jr., Governor-elect of Texas. Governor Edmondson is considered the man most likely to succeed Senator Kerr. The President and Vice President’s attendance was a tribute to the great power that had been held by Senator Kerr. He was chairman of the Space Committee and the River and Harbors Appropriation subcommittee, and he was the second-ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee.
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