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:''No relation to [[Robert Byrd]], former U.S. senator from [[West Virginia]]
'''Harry Flood Byrd, Sr.''' (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was a senator from the state of [[Virginia]] from 1933 to 1965. A staunch opponent of desegregation, he led the Byrd Organization, a [[Democrat]] political machine during the 20th century that dominated statewide politics in the [[Commonwealth of Virginia]]. A member of the [[Conservative Coalition]], Byrd was also remembered largely as a leader against [[New Deal]] initiatives.
'''Harry Flood Byrd, Sr.''' (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was a senator from the state of [[Virginia]] from 1933 to 1965. A staunch opponent of desegregation, he was a Southern [[Democrat]] who led the Byrd Organization, a political machine during the 20th century that dominated statewide politics in the [[Commonwealth of Virginia]]. Having been a member of the [[Conservative Coalition]], Byrd was also remembered as a leader against [[New Deal]] initiatives spearheaded by [[FDR]].
==Early life==
==Early life==
Harry Flood Byrd was born on June 10, 1887 to Richard Evelyn Byrd and Eleanor Bolling Flood in Martinsburg, [[West Virginia]]. Reared in Winchester along with his brothers, Byrd's lifelong prominence would root to the Southern culture he was raised with there. Quitting school at the age of fifteen, he managed to take over the family newspaper that had been failing, and transformed it into an enterprise that was profitable.
Harry Flood Byrd was born on June 10, 1887 to Richard Evelyn Byrd and Eleanor Bolling Flood in Martinsburg, [[West Virginia]]. Reared in Winchester along with his brothers, Byrd's lifelong prominence would root to the Southern culture he was raised with there. Quitting school at the age of fifteen, he managed to take over the family newspaper that had been failing, and transformed it into an enterprise that was profitable.
==Early political career==
At the age of 21, Byrd began his political career by serving an appointed term on the Winchester City Council. Losing election to a second term in the position, he would no longer take any elections for granted in the rest of his lifetime.
In 1915, Byrd was elected to the [[Virginia]] State Senate, and would serve for eight years from the 10th district and two years from the 26th district. Here, he known for favoring [[prohibition]], having an expertise on fiscal matters, in addition to being an opponent of [[women's suffrage]].
==Governor of Virginia==
===1925 election===
After having experience in running a Democrat political machine, Byrd garnered the experience that propelled him to successfully run in the 1925 Virginia gubernatorial election, defeating G. Walter Mapp in the primary and later [[Republican]] S. Harris Hoge in the general election held in November that year.
===Tenure===
A [[fiscal conservative]] who favored a business-like approach to running government, Gov. Byrd was known for having centralized executive powers, re-organized the state government overall, utilized an authorized survey to reduce the number of elected state officers from eight to three, abolished a number of state agencies, and altered the statewide tax system that left the income tax to the state while allowing precincts/localities to enact taxations on personal property and real estate. All this had generated a surplus of four million dollars for the treasury, and the policies leading up to such was met with overall approval from the Virginia legislature.
Following two lynchings in [[Virginia]] during Byrd's gubernatorial tenure, the latter pushed the state legislature to pass tough anti-lynching bills; while this was done, the assembly also passed a law without the signature of the governor segregating all public assemblies in [[Virginia]].
==Family==
In 1913, Byrd married Anne Douglas Beverley and had four children; of them, his son [[Harry F. Byrd, Jr.]] replaced him in the Senate upon his death.
==See also==
*[[Richard Russell, Jr.]]
==External links==
==External links==
[[Category:Virginia Governors]]
[[Category:Virginia Governors]]
[[Category:Former United States Senators]]
[[Category:Former United States Senators]]
[[Category:Fiscal Conservatives]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:State Senators]]