Thurmond served three times as President pro tempore of the United States Senate, and chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1981 to 1987 and the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1995 to 1999. He retired in 2003 as the only member of either chamber of Congress to reach the age of 100 while still in office and the oldest-serving senator. His 48 years as a senator, a record at the time, is the third-longest in U.S. history behind Robert Byrd and Daniel Inouye. Thurmond holds the record as the longest-serving member of Congress to solely serve in the Senate. At 14 years, he was also the longest-serving Dean of the United States Senate in political history.