After the 1964 elections, the US Senate was experiencing some of the most intense battles in legislative history.
The Liberal Wing:
Ed Bartlett, AK
Birch Bayh, IN
Joe Clark, PA
Paul Douglas, IL
Ernest Gruening, AK
Phil Hart, MI
Vance Hartke, IN
Ted Kennedy, MA
Mike Mansfield, MT
Gene McCarthy, MN
George McGovern, SD
Pat McNamara, MI
Lee Metcalf, MT
Walter Mondale, MN
Wayne Morse, OR
Gaylord Nelson, WI
Maurine Neuberger (whom I believe I'm related to, possibly), OR
William Proxmire, WI
Ralph Yarborough, TX
IN, MI, OR, AK, WI, and MT had the most liberal delegations. All these states either border Canada or are one state away.
The Conservative Wing:
Wallace Bennett, UT (Bob's father)
Norris Cotton, NH
Carl Curtis, NE
Peter Dominick, CO
Paul Fannin, AZ
Bourke Hickenlooper, IA
Roman Hruska, NE
Milward Simpson, WY
Strom Thurmond, SC
John Tower, TX
John Williams, DE
NE was the only state with two senators in this wing. The conservative wing of the Republican party was, of course, much smaller then. The Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains had the bulk of these senators.
Here are the two groups who have since gone missing (except for Ben Nelson) from the scene
Liberal Republicans:
Clifford Case, NJ
Jacob Javits, NY
Conservative Democrats:
Harry Byrd, VA
James Eastland, MS
Allen Ellender, LA
Sam Ervin, NC
Spessard Holland, FL
Everett Jordan, NC
John McClellan, AR
Willis Robertson, VA
Richard Russell, GA
John Stennis, MS
Herman Talmadge, GA
All of these were segregationalists and based in the South, except Lausche. I don't know what his deal was, although according to Wikipedia, Eisenhower considered him as a running mate (would've been better than Nixon).
Now for the other groups:
Moderate Republicans:
This group was larger then than now, although Snowe, Collins, and Murkowski (along with Brown, arguably) still qualify today.
George Aiken, VT
Leverett Saltonstall, MA
Milton Young, ND
Margaret Chase Smith, ME
Frank Carlson, KS
Thomas Kuchel, CA
John Cooper, KY
Thurston Morton, KY
Hugh Scott, PA
Winston Prouty, VT
Ken Keating, NY
Hiram Fong, HI
Caleb Boggs, DE
James Pearson, KS
Other than KS and KY (i'm shocked at KY, honestly, are there even two moderate republicans outside of Jefferson County today?) these are the states one would expect moderate republicans to be from, as it's still their "base" today. The Northeast, HI and CA (still many moderates in suburbs). ND is included due to its' strong progressive republican heritage.
The Establishment Republicans:
The Orrin Hatch/John McCain/Saxby Chambliss's of the 1960s
Karl Mundt, SD
Everett Dirksen, IL
Gordon Allott, CO
Jack Miller, IA
Leonard Jordan, ID
George Murphy, CA
This was a very small group; most Republicans were moderate or more conservative
The Blue Dogs:
People like Claire McCaskill and Bill Nelson: definitely belonged in the party, but not at JFK/LBJ levels of liberalness. There are still some segregationalists in this group, but I guess they were more economically liberal ones.
Carl Hayden, AZ
Lister Hill, AL
John Sparkman, AL
Olin Johnston, SC
Russell Long, LA
Clinton Anderson, NM
George Smathers, FL
Alan Bible, NV
Jennings Randolph, WV
Thomas Dodd, CT
Gale McGee, WY
Dan Brewster, MD
The Establishment Dems:
The Steny Hoyer group. DK might not love them, but they're firmly in Team Blue's camp.
Robert Byrd, WV
Warren Magnuson, WA
William Fulbright, AR
John Pastore, RI
Mike Monroney, OK
Al Gore, TN
Scoop Jackson, WA
Stu Symington, MO
Frank Church, ID
Stephen Young, OH
Harrison Williams, NJ
Ed Muskie, ME
Frank Moss, UT
Howard Cannon, NV
Quentin Burdick, ND
Ed Long, MO
Claiborne Pell, RI
Abe Ribicoff, CT
Tom McIntyre, NH
Dan Inouye, HI
Joe Montoya, NM
Fred Harris, OK
Joe Tydings, MD
Here, I was most surprised OK had two establishment Dems. ID and UT having them is strange as well.
So everything you've seen so far could be gotten from DW-Nominate in five minutes. Here's where it gets interesting. Despite all these conservaDems, this is THE MOST LIBERAL SENATE FROM 1964 ONWARD. Not 2008, not 1992, not 1976. The one with twelve conservadems. Surprised? Think of it this way. There are only 17 non-moderate Republicans. That's fewer than the former Confederacy plus Kentucky contribute to our Senate today.
AL-2
GA-2
MS-2
FL-1
SC-2
NC-1
KY-2
TN-2
LA-1
TX-2
AR-1
In further posts, I will seek to find the most conservative Senate and analyze which retirements/re-election losses created the most change in terms of ideology.