Byrd grew with times
Liberal senator, dead at 92, was once in KKK
WASHINGTON – Sen. Robert Byrd was very much a man of his turbulent era and a man of West Virginia, able to dramatically influence and shape policy for more than half a century while bestowing billions on his beloved state.
Byrd died early Monday after a short hospitalization in Washington’s Virginia suburbs. He was 92.
On one level, the life of Byrd, who served longer than any U.S. senator in history, is a classic story of a successful American politician, raised in hardscrabble Appalachian coal country, a onetime butcher, gas station attendant and Ku Klux Klansman who rose to become one of Washington’s most powerful figures.
He was the most nimble of politicians, a man who once filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act for more than 14 hours, but later became a vocal, influential advocate for the underprivileged, renouncing his actions and calling his membership in the KKK “the worst mistake of my life.”
“He grew with the times, and made a fairly radical transformation,” said Jeremy Mayer, an associate professor of public policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
“I’d call him the Senate’s most dependable authority on the Constitution of the United States,” said former Sen. George McGovern, D-S.D., who served with Byrd from 1963 to 1981. “It’s almost as if he memorized the whole thing.” Byrd was known to carry a copy of the document in his shirt pocket.
Byrd held more leadership positions than any senator, serving at various times as Senate majority or minority leader, chairman of its Appropriations Committee, which makes key spending decisions, and finally president pro tempore, or third in line for the presidency. The post of president pro tem now goes to Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, a Democrat from Hawaii.
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III, a Democrat, will appoint someone to finish Byrd’s term, which ends in 2013.
In recent years, Byrd had taken on a senior statesman role, a conscience of sorts.
While Democratic Senate leaders backed giving President George W. Bush broad authority to invade Iraq in 2002, Byrd balked. He tried to launch a filibuster, fell short, and before the final vote, warned, “This is the Tonkin Gulf resolution all over again,” a reference to the authority given President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to wage war in Southeast Asia, a measure that Byrd had supported.
This time, he pleaded, “Let us stop, look and listen. Let us not give this president or any president unchecked power. Remember the Constitution.”
Three days after the invasion in 2003, Byrd was angry.
“I weep for my country,” he said. “No more is the image of America one of strong yet benevolent peacekeeper. The image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.”