• Democratic Senator representing West Virginia since 1958
• Former member of the Ku Klux Klan
• Former segregationist
• Opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act
• Consistently opposed legislation seeking to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration

The oldest current member of the United States Congress, Robert Byrd has been a Democratic senator from West Virginia since January 1959. In November 2006 he was elected to his ninth consecutive six-year term, and in June of that year he became the longest-serving senator in American history. He has cast a record 18,000+ votes during the course of his Senate career.

Byrd was born Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr., in November 1917 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. A year after his birth, Byrd’s mother died of influenza and the child was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Vlurma and Titus Byrd, who renamed him Robert Carlyle Byrd and raised him in southern West Virginia.

Enamored of the Ku Klux Klan parades he witnessed in his youth, Byrd joined the KKK in 1942 and was eventually elected Exalted Cyclops of his local chapter. In his 2005 memoir, Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields, Byrd describes the Klan as a fraternal assembly of “upstanding people” who at no time engaged in, or preached violence against, blacks, Jews, or Catholics. He adds that it was a Klan official who first persuaded him to seriously consider a career in politics.

In 1945 Byrd penned a letter to Mississippi’s segregationist senator Theodore Bilbo, wherein he expressed anger over the Truman administration’s efforts to integrate the U.S. military. Wrote Byrd:

“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side ... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”

Byrd’s relationship with the KKK continued through the late 1940s. In 1947 he wrote a letter to a Grand Wizard, stating, “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 nation.”

In 1952, however, as he was running for the U.S. House of Representatives, Byrd severed his ties with the Klan. He has since expressed remorse about his participation in the organization. “I know now I was wrong,” he has said. “Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times ... and I don’t mind apologizing over and over again. I can’t erase what happened.”

In 1952 Byrd was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served for six years. In 1958 he was elected to his first term in the Senate.

Byrd maintained his pro-segregation stance into the mid-1960s. Most notably, he and other Democrats attempted to obstruct the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by means of a filibuster; Byrd personally filibustered the bill for more than 14 hours. As the floor manager for the segregationists, Byrd made the argument that the writers of the Declaration of Independence “did not intend that these words should be taken literally to be true” when they wrote that “all men are created equal.” “Men and races of men differ in appearance, ways, physical power, mental capacity, creativity, and vision,” Byrd added. “One man is born blind. Another is born lame. Geniuses are not made; they are born. Between two individuals, as between two races, there are broad differences.”

Also in his 1964 filibuster, Byrd introduced a “study” by Frank Boaz, whose book The Mind of Primitive Man stated that white people’s brains weighed a few grams more than black people’s brains, and that whites were thus more intelligent. At another point, Byrd cited biblical scripture to make his case for segregation: “In Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 19, we find the words: ‘Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow they field with mingled seed.’ God’s statutes, therefore, recognize the natural order of the separateness of things.”

According to Washington Post journalist Eric Pianin, Byrd, after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was enacted despite his efforts to derail it, “like other southern and border-state Democrats of his time … came to realize that he would have to temper his blatantly segregationist views and edge toward his party’s mainstream if he wanted to advance on the national stage.”

Byrd felt great antipathy for Martin Luther King, Jr. and his successful nonviolent civil rights tactics. Seeking to discredit King in any way possible, Byrd initiated contact with the FBI in early 1968 and suggested that he could give a speech condemning King on the floor of the Senate. He said it was time Dr. King “met his Waterloo.” The FBI, however, declined to avail itself of Byrd’s offer.

Controversy over racial issues would follow Byrd for decades thereafter. For instance, in a March 4, 2001 interview on Tony Snow's Fox News Sunday program, Byrd said the following about race relations in the United States:

"They're much, much better than they've ever been in my lifetime ... I think we talk about race too much. I think those problems are largely behind us ... I just think we talk so much about it that we help to create somewhat of an illusion. I think we try to have good will. My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody.' We practice that. 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."

Shortly after the interview, Byrd released a statement which said: "I apologize for the characterization I used on this program [Fox News Sunday]. The phrase dates back to my boyhood and has no place in today's society."

While some denounced Byrd’s comment (then-NAACP-President Kweisi Mfume called it "repulsive"), Byrd was largely given a pass by the media and members of his own party. Some African Americans observed that had a conservative leader made the same remarks, the criticism generated would have been far greater.

Byrd describes himself as a staunch supporter of the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which stated that the President could send troops into combat abroad only by authorization of Congress. Yet he voted in favor of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Byrd's political mentor, President Lyndon Johnson, authorization to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war by Congress. “I was the last one that ran out of Vietnam,” Byrd once stated. “I supported President Johnson to the end.”

By contrast, Byrd opposed most of President Reagan’s military initiatives in the 1980s. The senator voted against fighting the Communist insurgents in Central America, and against the development of a missile defense system to protect the U.S. from a nuclear attack.

Byrd's distaste for Republican-led military action continued during the administration of President George H.W. Bush (1989-1993), when, in 1990, he voted against authorizing the use of force against Iraq in what would become known as the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Yet during the presidency of fellow Democrat Bill Clinton, Byrd voted for the use of American military force in Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo.

In 2002 Byrd said, “We are confident that [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has ... embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons.” Nevertheless, after the November 2002 elections Byrd was a vocal opponent of the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, and he publicly accused the Bush administration of “playing hide-and-seek” with the real costs of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By 2003 Byrd was branding members of the Bush administration as liars. In remarks delivered on the Senate floor in June 2003, the senator stated: “Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction remain a mystery and a conundrum. What are they, where are they, how dangerous are they? Or were they a manufactured excuse by an administration eager to seize a country?”

Since that time, Byrd has remained one of the Senate’s most outspoken critics of the Iraq War. In 2004 he published a book on the subject, titled Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency.

Byrd has called the Iraq conflict “a war that should not have been fought, a war in the wrong place, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons.” He mocked President Bush for his “Mission Accomplished” speech of October 2003; he excoriated the Bush administration for its intelligence failures; and he accused the White House of having made America less safe than it had been prior to the invasion of Iraq. In 2007 Byrd voted “Yes” on two measures seeking the swift withdrawal of U.S. troops out of Iraq.

In March 2005, Illinois Senator Barack Obama joined MoveOn.org’s political-action committee in an effort to raise funds for Byrd’s 2006 reelection campaign. In 2008, Byrd would return the favor by endorsing Obama in the Democratic presidential primary.

Following is an overview of Byrd’s policy positions and his voting record on key pieces of legislation during his years in the Senate:

Abortion: Byrd has received a rating of 43% by NARAL, indicating a mixed voting record on abortion. In 1999 and 2003, the senator voted in favor of bills prohibiting the procedure commonly known as partial-birth abortion. In 2004 he voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which proposed to make it an added criminal offense for someone to injure or kill a fetus while carrying out a crime against a pregnant woman. In July 2006 he voted in favor of notifying the parents of minors who have gotten out-of-state abortions. In October 2007 he voted to allow the Department of Health and Human Services to make grants to organizations that perform abortions.

Marriage: In September 1996 and June 2006, Byrd voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage.

Welfare: Byrd voted in favor of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, which ultimately succeeded in moving large numbers of people off of public assistance and into jobs.

Education: Byrd has received a 100% rating from the National Education Association (NEA), indicating that all of his votes have been satisfactory to America’s largest labor union. Like the NEA, Byrd opposes a voucher system that would permit parents to redirect a portion of their tax dollars away from public schools and towards private-school tuition for their children. In 1997 he voted NO on a voucher proposal. In July 1996 he voted NO on allocating $75 million for abstinence education.

Affirmative Action and Set-Asides: In October 1997 Byrd voted NO on ending government programs to provide special funding earmarked for minority- and female-owned businesses. In March 1998 he voted YES on setting aside 10 percent of federal funds for highway-construction projects, for minority- and female-owned businesses.

Illegal Immigration: In May 2006 Byrd voted NO on allowing illegal aliens to get Social Security benefits. In May 2006 he voted NO on giving guest workers a path to citizenship. In September 2006 he Voted YES on building a fence along the Mexican border to stem the influx of illegal aliens. In June 2007 he voted NO on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would have created a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens in the United States.

Energy: Byrd has consistently opposed all bills seeking to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration.

Taxes: In July 1999 Byrd voted against a bill calling for $792 billion in tax cuts over a ten-year period. In July 2000 he voted against a bill to phase out estate and gift taxes by 2010. In May 2001 he voted against $1.35 trillion in federal tax cuts over an 11-year period. In May 2003 he voted against $350 billion in proposed tax reductions. In November 2005 he voted to raise the top individual income tax rate of 39.6 percent for millionaires, and to impose higher tax rates on capital gains and dividends as well. That same month, he voted against extending a number of tax cuts for five years. In February 2006 he voted NO on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains and dividends. In May 2006 he voted against $69.96 billion in tax credits and cuts through 2010.

Supreme Court: In September 2005 Byrd voted in favor of confirming President Bush's nominee, John Roberts, for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In January 2006 Byrd also voted in favor of confirming Samuel Alito, Jr., to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

Other Presidential Appointments: Byrd was the only senator to vote against the nominations of both Clarence Thomas and Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2005 Byrd tried to block President Bush’s nomination of Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State.

National Security/War on Terror: In 1999 Byrd voted in favor of deploying a National Missile Defense system. In October 2001 he voted in favor of the Patriot Act anti-terrorism legislation. In December 2005 he voted NO on extending the authority of the FBI to conduct "roving wiretaps" and to access business records. In March 2006 he voted against reauthorizing the Patriot Act. In September 2006 he voted YES on preserving habeas corpus for Guantanamo Bay detainees who had been captured by the U.S. in the war on terror. In August 2007 he voted NO on removing the need for a FISA warrant for wiretapping phone calls to and from suspected terrorists believed to be located outside the United States. In February 2008 he voted YES on requiring such warrants for phone calls of that nature.

Government Reform: In October 1997 Byrd voted in favor of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. In February 2002 he voted NO on requiring a photo ID for voter registration. In July 2007 he voted NO on requiring a photo ID to cast a ballot in federal elections.