Robert Byrd

Robert Byrd
Official portrait, 2003
United States Senator
from West Virginia
In office
January 3, 1959 – June 28, 2010
Preceded byChapman Revercomb
Succeeded byCarte Goodwin
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office
January 3, 2007 – June 28, 2010
Preceded byTed Stevens
Succeeded byDaniel Inouye
In office
June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Preceded byStrom Thurmond
Succeeded byTed Stevens
In office
January 3, 2001 – January 20, 2001
Preceded byStrom Thurmond
Succeeded byStrom Thurmond
In office
January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1995
Preceded byJohn C. Stennis
Succeeded byStrom Thurmond
President pro tempore emeritus of the United States Senate
In office
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007
Preceded byStrom Thurmond
Succeeded byTed Stevens
Senate Majority Leader
In office
January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1989
WhipAlan Cranston
Preceded byBob Dole
Succeeded byGeorge Mitchell
In office
January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1981
WhipAlan Cranston
Preceded byMike Mansfield
Succeeded byHoward Baker
Senate Minority Leader
In office
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1987
WhipAlan Cranston
Preceded byHoward Baker
Succeeded byBob Dole
Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus
In office
January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1989
Preceded byMike Mansfield
Succeeded byGeorge Mitchell
Senate Majority Whip
In office
January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1977
LeaderMike Mansfield
Preceded byTed Kennedy
Succeeded byAlan Cranston
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from West Virginia's 6th district
In office
January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1959
Preceded byErland Hedrick
Succeeded byJohn Slack
Member of the West Virginia Senate
from the 9th district
In office
December 1, 1950 – December 23, 1952
Preceded byEugene Scott
Succeeded byJack Nuckols
Member of the
West Virginia House of Delegates
from Raleigh County
In office
January 1947 – December 1950
Preceded byMulti-member district
Succeeded byMulti-member district
Personal details
Born
Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.

(1917-11-20)November 20, 1917
North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedJune 28, 2010(2010-06-28) (aged 92)
Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.
Resting placeColumbia Gardens Cemetery
Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Erma James
(m. 1936; died 2006)
Children2
EducationMarshall University (BA)
American University (JD)
Signature

Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democrat, Byrd also served as a U.S. representative for six years, from 1953 until 1959. He remains the longest-serving U.S. Senator in history; he was the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress[1][2][3][4] until surpassed by Representative John Dingell of Michigan.[5] Byrd is the only West Virginian to have served in both chambers of the state legislature and in both chambers of Congress.[6]

Byrd's political career spanned more than sixty years. He first entered the political arena by organizing and leading a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s, an action he later described as "the greatest mistake I ever made."[7] He then served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1947 to 1950, and the West Virginia State Senate from 1950 to 1952. Initially elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1952, Byrd served there for six years before being elected to the Senate in 1958. He rose to become one of the Senate's most powerful members, serving as secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus from 1967 to 1971 and—after defeating his longtime colleague Ted Kennedy for the job—as Senate Majority Whip from 1971 to 1977. Over the next 12 years, Byrd led the Democratic caucus as Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader. In 1989 he stepped down, following the pressure to make way for new party leadership.[8] As the longest serving Democratic senator, Byrd held the position of President pro tempore four times when his party was in the majority. This placed him third in the line of presidential succession, after the vice president and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Serving three different tenures as chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations enabled Byrd to steer a great deal of federal money toward projects in West Virginia.[9] Critics derided his efforts as pork barrel spending,[10] while Byrd argued that the many federal projects he worked to bring to West Virginia represented progress for the people of his state. Notably, Byrd strongly opposed Clinton's 1993 efforts to allow homosexuals to serve in the military and supported efforts to limit same-sex marriage.[11] Although he filibustered against the 1964 Civil Rights Act and supported the Vietnam War earlier in his career, Byrd's views changed considerably over the course of his life; by the early 2000s, he had completely renounced racism and segregation. Byrd was outspoken in his opposition to the Iraq War. Renowned for his knowledge of Senate precedent and parliamentary procedure, Byrd wrote a four-volume history of the Senate in later life. Near the end of his life, Byrd was in declining health and was hospitalized several times. He died in office on June 28, 2010, at the age of 92, and was buried at Columbia Gardens Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference TheHill_longevity was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Kellman, Laurie (November 18, 2009). "Senator Robert C. Byrd is Longest-Serving Lawmaker in Congress". News.aol.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference 111809_CNN_Byrd was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Holley, Joe (June 28, 2010). "The Washington Post – Sen. Robert Byrd dead at 92; West Virginia lawmaker was the longest serving member of Congress in history". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 26, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
  5. ^ "U.S. Rep. Dingell is longest-serving member of Congress in history". UPI. June 7, 2013. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
  6. ^ Memorial Addresses and Other Tributes Held in Honor of Robert C. Byrd, Late a Senator from West Virginia. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. 2012. p. 46. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference slatebyrd was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Fuerbringer, Jonathan (April 13, 1988). "Byrd to Step Down at Year's End As Leader of Senate's Democrats". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  9. ^ Woodward, Calvin (June 28, 2010). "The Associated Press: Byrd's passions: Poetry, power and home-state pork". The Register-Herald. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  10. ^ "Pork or progress? Either way, Byrd changed WVa". Yahoo! News. August 6, 2009. Archived from the original on July 2, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).