Posted on 06/19/2005 7:23:27 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The Ku Klux Klan is the central paradox of Robert C. Byrd's life — "an extraordinarily foolish mistake" that has haunted him for 40 years but the very thing that launched one of the longest careers in the U.S. Senate.
"It has emerged throughout my life to haunt and embarrass me, and has taught me in a very graphic way what one major mistake can do to one's life, career and reputation," the West Virginia Democrat says in an autobiography being released Monday. "I displayed very bad judgment, due to immaturity and a lack of seasoned reasoning."
It's a mistake he has paid for time and again, the only significant scandal ever attached to a man who next June stands to become the longest-serving senator in U.S. history.
Even now, with the 2006 election more than 18 months away, Republicans are using it in their campaign to oust him. Byrd has not declared whether he will run again, and his book gives no hints.
"Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields" chronicles his 87 years, from boyhood to his re-election in 2000. But at 770 pages, the $35 paperback from West Virginia University Press is more weighty tome than light reading.
It portrays a man who is religious, socially conservative, respectful and respected — a man for whom a promise is an unbreakable bond. But it is more the chronology of a career than the story of a man, dispassionately detailing virtually every federal dollar brought to West Virginia.
According to Citizens Against Government Waste, he's helped secure $1.6 billion for the state just since 1999. But any reader expecting an apology will be disappointed. Byrd is proud of supporting a state that suffered more than most through economic recessions — long exploited for its natural resources and slower than most to attain prosperity.
"The Washington critics of 'pork' had a full-time job in trying to keep up with me," he writes.
Byrd says the book is intended to tell the story of the place he holds dear, the state he says grew up alongside him as the money trickled in.
More than his own, "it's a West Virginia story," he told The Associated Press. "And it's still unfolding. There are still chapters ahead.
"I want to try to get our young people to understand that if I can do it, they can do it, too. Poverty doesn't need to hold anyone back," he said.
The book reflects Byrd's legendary encyclopedic knowledge and his appreciation for political history, but the private man remains private, revealing little of his heart.
One exception lies in his explanation of the folly with the Klan.
As a boy, he watched a parade of white hoods in Matoaka, learning years later his father had been among them. Back then "many of the 'best' people were members," he says, and Byrd was vulnerable to the anti-Communism rhetoric.
He recruited 150 members, and when Grand Dragon Joel L. Baskin of Arlington,Va., came to a meeting in Crab Orchard, Byrd was unanimously elected Exalted Cyclops.
"You have a talent for leadership, Bob," Baskin told him. "The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation."
"Suddenly lights flashed in my mind!" Byrd writes. "Someone important had recognized my abilities. I was only 23 or 24, and the thought of a political career had never struck me. But strike me that night, it did.
"It was the appealing challenge I had been looking for. Wolf Creek Hollow seemed very near and Washington very far away, with the road in between all uphill," he says. "But I was suddenly eager to climb the mountain."
He belonged to the Klan for a year, then moved in 1943 to Baltimore to help build ships.
Byrd says he never resented blacks, Catholics or Jews, but he failed to "examine the full meaning and impact of the ugly prejudice behind the positive, pro-American veneer."
"My only explanation for the entire episode is that I was sorely afflicted with tunnel vision — a jejune and immature outlook — seeing only what I wanted to see because I thought the Klan could provide an outlet for my talents and ambitions."
Byrd's last book, published in 2004, was a best seller. "Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency" focused on his concerns with the Bush administration's domestic and foreign policies, including its handling of the war in Iraq.
His previous works include a four-volume history of the U.S. Senate and a history of the Roman Senate. The autobiography is equally huge, but Byrd has more to say.
"I could write another volume equally large," he said. "And I may."
Byrd was born in Wilkesboro, N.C., but moved to the town of Sophia a year later, when his mother died. He was raised by an aunt and uncle.
He's been married 68 years to high school sweetheart Erma Ora James, who pushed her congressman husband to earn a law degree with 10 years of night school.
Erma is battling Alzheimer's disease, but Byrd said she retains her sense of humor on the good days.
"I said, 'I love you, Erma. Do you still love me?' She said, 'Let me think about it."
She has backed Byrd through many careers, from butcher, salesman and welder to his first foray into public life. Byrd won a seat in the House of Delegates in 1946 and has not lost since. In 1952, he was elected to the U.S. House, and he went to the Senate in 1958.
The book suggests he deals with his family as he does the world, with reverence and commitment.
In 1958, 15-year-old daughter Margie drafted her first "constituent to senator" letter, complaining Byrd had not delivered a dog she had been promised. She gave him a week to make good, threatening to report his failure to the newspapers.
That day, she got her dog.
"My only explanation for the entire episode is that I was sorely afflicted with tunnel vision — a jejune and immature outlook — seeing only what I wanted to see because I thought the Klan could provide an outlet for my talents and ambitions."
they never mention his use of the "N" word on the Senate floor recently.
Of course, when a Rat apologizes that's good enough for the MSM. But a Republican can apologize (ala Trent Lott) till the cows come home, and it won't make a difference.
What's the old Patsy Cline song? "Satin Sheets to Cry On"
Anyone who has spent more than 15 minutes covering the Senate knows that Byrd is an alcoholic racist.
I wonder if he laments the lynchings and crossburnings.
The Klan is not about racism ... it's about a proud old way of life that ended with the South's defeat.
Trent Lott made one unwise comment and dimRATs demanded he resign.
The Lib hypocrites mocked H Hyde for his "youthful indescretion" in his early 30's.
Byrd was in his 40's! for pete's sake.
"Fling?"
Wasn't he a leader of some caliber?
I believe that was Loretta Lynn.
Does he expect us to believe that someone as intelligent as he is reported to be did not know what the Klan was about?
An apology wrapped in a lie is not worth much.
He was a "Kleagle" .
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=383
Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, Ex-Klansman
by Michelle Malkin (March 8, 2001)
--
This ex-Klansman wasn't just a passive member of the nation's most notorious hate group. According to news accounts and biographical information, Sen. Byrd was a "Kleagle" -- an official recruiter who signed up members for $10 a head. He said he joined because it "offered excitement" and because the Klan was an "effective force" in "promoting traditional American values." Nothing like the thrill of gathering 'round a midnight bonfire, roasting s'mores, tying nooses, and promoting white supremacy with a bunch of your hooded friends.
If Byrd were a republican the dems would call him a racist.
He is ashamed of his early flirtation with racism, but he wasn't ashamed enough to abandon the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party was the Jim Crow party, and we should never let them forget it.
The Democrats who abandoned the party are often reminded of their racist past, but the fact remains that they abandoned that party, and turned their backs on it.
The Dems like to remind Repubs that some of the old Dixiecrats joined the Republicans, which of course is true. Its also true that the majority remained in the Democratic Party.
Slavery, Jim Crow, racial repression, extra-legal lynchings, church-bombings and firehoses, all of this is Democrat history. We should never make the mistake of trying to explain it or defend it. Let Democrats defend Democrat history.
"Satin Sheets to Cry On"
In KKK Byrd's case it's, "Satan's Sheets to Lie On."
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