Had. Past tense. He joined in 1942 and was already publicly repudiating the Klan when he ran for the House in 1952.
Politics is full of people who did dumb stuff in their youth and became solid political citizens later in life. Former Nazis, communists, '60s student radicals, name it. In his 20s, Byrd went with the flow. Older, more confident, he saw the error of his ways.
I'm gonna guess that you're not a Southerner, because in the South we've pretty much gotten used to weighing that as a factor, but not a disqualifyong one. Different place and time. George Wallace was the most prominent face of segregation, but his last few elections in Alabama, he captured most of the black vote. Zell Miller's political career began when he was an aide to Lester Maddux.
Byrd's Klan past is good for chuckles, but don't confuse it with a substantive argument against the man he's been for at least the last half-century.
I somewhat agree with you. My problem with him has to do with his nonservice during World War II. Disgraceful.
The Democrats' Lott Want to purge racists? How about Robert Byrd?
"Senator Byrd quit the Klan in the 1940s and has renounced it since. On the other hand, his history is worth revisiting, since it's something Democrats have been willing to tolerate, despite Lott-like remarks that would have ended a Republican's career. Only last year Mr. Byrd told Fox News that "there are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time, if you want to use that word. But we all--we all--we just need to work together to make our country a better country and I--I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."
Mr. Byrd quickly apologized, but he wasn't denounced by Democrats, much less by the Clintons. Nor did the press corps use the opportunity to wallow in other Byrd racial lowlights, such as the 14 hours and 13 minutes he spent in an unsuccessful filibuster during the debate over the 1964 civil rights act, which he voted against along with 20 other Senate Democrats. The political press also didn't dredge up his votes against both Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, votes that made him the only Senator to have opposed the only two black Supreme Court nominees in U.S. history."
"At the time of his "white nigger" remarks last year, no national papers bothered to mention two letters that the Senator had distanced himself from, Clinton-style, by saying he didn't recall writing them, though he also didn't dispute them. The New York Times reported in 1971 on a letter Mr. Byrd wrote in 1946, after leaving the Klan. Writing to the Klan's Imperial Wizard, Mr. Byrd identified himself as a former Kleagle and recommended a person to serve as state Klan coordinator. He wrote, "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia. . . . It is necessary that the order be promoted immediately and in every state in the Union. Will you please inform me as to the possibilities of rebuilding the Klan realm of W. Va?"