Changes

Byrd first joined the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in the 1940s and was unanimously elected to the rank of Exalted Cyclops for his inborn leadership skills.<ref>Pianin, Eric. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/18/AR2005061801105_pf.html A Senator's Shame: Byrd, in His New Book, Again Confronts Early Ties to KKK]. Washington Post, 2005-06-19, pp. A01</ref><ref>https://allthatsinteresting.com/famous-kkk-members</ref> He repeatedly expressed his desire for the Klan to expand to its previous size and power, once remarking in a letter that "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." <ref>King, Colbert I. [http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2003/commentary/works/king2.html Sen. Byrd: The view from Darrell's barbershop], Washington Post, March 2, 2002</ref>

Byrd first joined the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in the 1940s and was unanimously elected to the rank of Exalted Cyclops for his inborn leadership skills.<ref>Pianin, Eric. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/18/AR2005061801105_pf.html A Senator's Shame: Byrd, in His New Book, Again Confronts Early Ties to KKK]. Washington Post, 2005-06-19, pp. A01</ref><ref>https://allthatsinteresting.com/famous-kkk-members</ref> He repeatedly expressed his desire for the Klan to expand to its previous size and power, once remarking in a letter that "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." <ref>King, Colbert I. [http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2003/commentary/works/king2.html Sen. Byrd: The view from Darrell's barbershop], Washington Post, March 2, 2002</ref>

Byrd commented on the 1945 controversy raging over the idea of racially integrating the military. In his book When ''Jim Crow Met John Bull'',  Graham Smith referred to a letter written that year by Byrd, when he was 28 years old, to fellow Klansman Sen. [[Theodore Bilbo]] of [[Mississippi]], in which Byrd vowed never to fight: {{Cquote|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.}} He had earlier written Bilbo: {{Cquote|I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side}} Bilbo  told ''[[Meet the Press]]'' in an August 9th, 1946 interview: {{Cquote|No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux.<ref>[http://mdah.state.ms.us/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bilbo.pdf Robert L. Fleegler, "Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism, 1938–1947"],''The Journal of Mississippi History'', Spring 2006.  

Byrd commented on the 1945 controversy raging over the idea of racially integrating the military. In his book When ''Jim Crow Met John Bull'',  Graham Smith referred to a letter written that year by Byrd, when he was 28 years old, to fellow Klansman Sen. [[Theodore Bilbo]] of [[Mississippi]], in which Byrd vowed never to fight: {{Cquote|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.}} He had earlier written Bilbo: {{Cquote|I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side}} Bilbo  told ''[[Meet the Press]]'' in an August 9th, 1946 interview: {{Cquote|No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux.<ref>[http://mdah.state.ms.us/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bilbo.pdf Robert L. Fleegler, "Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism, 1938–1947"],''The Journal of Mississippi History'', Spring 2006.</ref>

In 2001 Byrd used a racial epithet in an interview on national television. <ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FIBJt-c2o0</ref>  

In 2001 Byrd used a racial epithet in an interview on national television. <ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FIBJt-c2o0</ref>  

Alex Knepper commented,  

Alex Knepper commented,  

{{Quotebox|The moral of the story is that you can always make up for being a racist SOB. But the real subtext of the story is: being a Democrat means that you can promote segregation, join the KKK, vote against both black [[Supreme Court]] nominees, and use the word “n****r” on national television — and still be remembered as a promoter of [[black]] interests.<ref>http://frumforum.com/remembering-robert-byrds-racism</ref>}} The next day after the Fox News Sunday interview, his office released a statement, including "As for my language, I had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone of another race." "... my attempt to articulate strongly held feelings, I may have offended people." It also called the term from his boyhood some 70 years earlier. This directly indicates that he was referring to people who which to appear caucasian instead of an alternative definition commonly used in areas overwhelmingly caucasian.  In his adolescent home of the 1930's, about 30% of Stotesbury, West Virginia were black miners and their families.  

{{Quotebox|The moral of the story is that you can always make up for being a racist SOB. But the real subtext of the story is: being a Democrat means that you can promote segregation, join the KKK, vote against both black [[Supreme Court]] nominees, and use the word “n****r” on national television — and still be remembered as a promoter of [[black]] interests.<ref>http://frumforum.com/remembering-robert-byrds-racism</ref>}} The next day after the Fox News Sunday interview, his office released a statement, including "As for my language, I had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone of another race." "... my attempt to articulate strongly held feelings, I may have offended people." It also called the term from his boyhood some 70 years earlier. This directly indicates that he was referring to people who which to appear caucasian instead of an alternative definition commonly used in areas overwhelmingly caucasian.  In his adolescent home of the 1930's, about 30% of Stotesbury, West Virginia were black miners and their families. <ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/03/05/sen-byrd-apologizes-for-racial-remarks/6dd86f94-c452-4548-815b-acf320b01c24/</ref>

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/03/05/sen-byrd-apologizes-for-racial-remarks/6dd86f94-c452-4548-815b-acf320b01c24/

==Congressional Service==

==Congressional Service==