Changes

{{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*****” 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>

{{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*****” 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>

==Congressional Service==

==Democratic leadership==

Byrd was elected as a member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] in 1952 for the 6th district of West Virginia, succeeding E.H. Hedrick, who had decided to step down to run for Governor of [[West Virginia]]. Byrd was reelected to the House twice. In 1958, he was elected to the [[United States Senate]], defeating the [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] incumbent W. Chapman Revercomb. He has been reelected eight times. For his first four terms, Byrd was West Virginia's junior senator. This was because his colleague from 1959 to 1985, Jennings Randolph, had been elected on the same day in a special election to fill the seat of the late Senator Matthew Neely.

Byrd was elected as a member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] in 1952 for the 6th district of West Virginia, succeeding E.H. Hedrick, who had decided to step down to run for Governor of [[West Virginia]]. Byrd was reelected to the House twice. In 1958, he was elected to the [[United States Senate]], defeating the [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] incumbent W. Chapman Revercomb. He has been reelected eight times. For his first four terms, Byrd was West Virginia's junior senator. This was because his colleague from 1959 to 1985, Jennings Randolph, had been elected on the same day in a special election to fill the seat of the late Senator Matthew Neely.