Varus wrote:
He was a piece of sh*t and I'm glad he's gone
Wikipedia wrote:
Byrd joined with other Southern and border state Democrats to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964,[21] personally filibustering the bill for 14 hours, a move he had since said he regretted. Despite an 83-day filibuster in the Senate, both parties in Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Act, and President Johnson signed the bill into law. He also opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968. In 2005, Byrd told The Washington Post that his membership in the Baptist church led to a change in his views. In the opinion of one reviewer, Byrd, along with other Southern and border state Democrats, came to realize that he would have to temper "his blatantly segregationist views" and move to the Democratic Party mainstream if he wanted to play a role nationally.
Because of his opposition to desegregation, Byrd was a member of this Democratic Party wing that opposed desegregation and civil rights imposed by the Federal Government. However, despite his early career in the KKK, Byrd was linked to such Senators as John C. Stennis, J. William Fulbright or George Smathers, who based their segregationist positions on their conception of states' rights in contrast to, for example, James Eastland, who held a reputation as a committed racist.
Strange, seems like your kind of guy.
Seriously though, from my quick skimming of the Wikipedia article about him, he seems to have helped bring money to West Virginia when it was one of the poorest states, started a scholarship fund, helped to bring tv cameras into the senate, and he knew everything about how the senate works.
Doesn't seem like a piece of sh*t to me...except for the KKK/segregation thing...
Edited, Jun 28th 2010 10:40am by Driftwood