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Robert Byrd Dead at 92, Senate's Longest Serving Senator, Reformed Member of KKK - ABC News
West Virginia Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate, died early this morning. He was 92.
Byrd was admitted to a Washington area hospital a week ago, suffering from what was believed to be heat exhaustion and severe dehydration as a result of the extreme temperatures in the nation's capital. By Sunday afternoon other conditions developed, and Byrd's health took a turn for the worse.
Born Nov. 20, 1917, in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, Byrd was orphaned as a 1-year-old when his mother died. He was raised by his aunt and uncle in a rural community near the coalfields of West Virginia.
The life lessons he learned while growing up in a coal-mining family helped him shape his political career; he ultimately achieved the distinction of being a three-term congressman and a nine-term senator.
"I served with him for 36 years. We sat in the same row," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, said on "Good Morning America" today. "He was a senator's senator. He was a keeper of our traditions, a keeper of the rules and the kind of senator who always kept his word. ... I will miss Bob Byrd."
Famed for his informed, often lengthy speeches on the floor of the Senate, Byrd's admirers praised his mastery of governmental procedure, historical knowledge and candor -- often referring to him as the "conscience of the Senate."
Byrd will be remembered "as that guardian of the Senate, as an institution. He insisted on the dignity of the Senate and tried to make people put aside their partisanship, and really look at the Senate as a deliberative body," ABC News contributor Cokie Roberts said on "GMA." "He always carried a copy of the Constitution in his pocket, reminding everyone that the Congress is the first branch of government, not the executive."
In his 51 years in the Senate, the Democratic senator cast more than 18,600 votes -- more than any other senator to date.
Despite his successful political track record, the Senate's senior Democrat was no stranger to controversy and was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Byrd said he joined the white supremacist group in 1942 because it "offered excitement." He claimed the Klan was an "effective force" in "promoting traditional American values" and "was strongly opposed to communism."
Byrd allegedly ended his ties with the group in 1943, telling the Washington Post in June 1993 that his stint in the KKK was the mistake in his life that he most regretted.
"Just as a lot of young people these days join organizations they regret joining, I joined as a youth and regretted it later," he said. "I made a mistake."
But West Virginia Republicans discovered a letter Byrd had written to the imperial wizard of the KKK three years after he said he abandoned the group. In the letter, he wrote: "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the Union."
In 1964, Byrd filibustered the landmark Civil Rights Act for more than 14 hours. Decades later, he opposed the nominations of the Supreme Court's two black justices -- liberal Thurgood Marshall and conservative Clarence Thomas.
In March 2001, Byrd made headlines again after he stunned a national television audience when he used the term "white niggers" when asked about the state of race relations.
"They are much, much better than they've ever been in my lifetime," Byrd said on the cable talk show. "I think we talk about race too much. There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time -- I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."
Byrd later apologized.
"The phrase dates back to my boyhood and has no place in today's society," he said.
By 2005, facing a potentially tough re-election campaign, Byrd received support from an unlikely source -- freshman Sen. Barack Obama, the only black member of the Senate, who sent out a fundraising letter on Byrd's behalf that raised nearly $825,000 in just a few days.
Byrd endorsed Obama after the West Virginia primary, despite Obama's loss to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in that contest.
Asked about the endorsement despite his personal history on the issue of race, Byrd replied, "Those days are gone. Gone."
Despite his controversial involvement in the KKK, Byrd repeatedly apologized for it in the latter part of his career, calling it the biggest mistake of his life.
West Virginia Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate, died early this morning. He was 92.
Byrd was admitted to a Washington area hospital a week ago, suffering from what was believed to be heat exhaustion and severe dehydration as a result of the extreme temperatures in the nation's capital. By Sunday afternoon other conditions developed, and Byrd's health took a turn for the worse.
Born Nov. 20, 1917, in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, Byrd was orphaned as a 1-year-old when his mother died. He was raised by his aunt and uncle in a rural community near the coalfields of West Virginia.
The life lessons he learned while growing up in a coal-mining family helped him shape his political career; he ultimately achieved the distinction of being a three-term congressman and a nine-term senator.
"I served with him for 36 years. We sat in the same row," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, said on "Good Morning America" today. "He was a senator's senator. He was a keeper of our traditions, a keeper of the rules and the kind of senator who always kept his word. ... I will miss Bob Byrd."
Famed for his informed, often lengthy speeches on the floor of the Senate, Byrd's admirers praised his mastery of governmental procedure, historical knowledge and candor -- often referring to him as the "conscience of the Senate."
Byrd will be remembered "as that guardian of the Senate, as an institution. He insisted on the dignity of the Senate and tried to make people put aside their partisanship, and really look at the Senate as a deliberative body," ABC News contributor Cokie Roberts said on "GMA." "He always carried a copy of the Constitution in his pocket, reminding everyone that the Congress is the first branch of government, not the executive."
In his 51 years in the Senate, the Democratic senator cast more than 18,600 votes -- more than any other senator to date.
Despite his successful political track record, the Senate's senior Democrat was no stranger to controversy and was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Byrd said he joined the white supremacist group in 1942 because it "offered excitement." He claimed the Klan was an "effective force" in "promoting traditional American values" and "was strongly opposed to communism."
Byrd allegedly ended his ties with the group in 1943, telling the Washington Post in June 1993 that his stint in the KKK was the mistake in his life that he most regretted.
"Just as a lot of young people these days join organizations they regret joining, I joined as a youth and regretted it later," he said. "I made a mistake."
But West Virginia Republicans discovered a letter Byrd had written to the imperial wizard of the KKK three years after he said he abandoned the group. In the letter, he wrote: "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the Union."
In 1964, Byrd filibustered the landmark Civil Rights Act for more than 14 hours. Decades later, he opposed the nominations of the Supreme Court's two black justices -- liberal Thurgood Marshall and conservative Clarence Thomas.
In March 2001, Byrd made headlines again after he stunned a national television audience when he used the term "white niggers" when asked about the state of race relations.
"They are much, much better than they've ever been in my lifetime," Byrd said on the cable talk show. "I think we talk about race too much. There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time -- I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."
Byrd later apologized.
"The phrase dates back to my boyhood and has no place in today's society," he said.
By 2005, facing a potentially tough re-election campaign, Byrd received support from an unlikely source -- freshman Sen. Barack Obama, the only black member of the Senate, who sent out a fundraising letter on Byrd's behalf that raised nearly $825,000 in just a few days.
Byrd endorsed Obama after the West Virginia primary, despite Obama's loss to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in that contest.
Asked about the endorsement despite his personal history on the issue of race, Byrd replied, "Those days are gone. Gone."
Despite his controversial involvement in the KKK, Byrd repeatedly apologized for it in the latter part of his career, calling it the biggest mistake of his life.
