The late Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd rose from West Virginia poverty to become a master of pork barrel politics. Senate loses 'venerable institution'

Sen. Robert C. Byrd died in a Virginia hospital early Monday morning, ending an extraordinary Senate career that began two years before President Barack Obama was born.

Byrd was 92 — the longest-serving senator in U.S. history — and his career produced a kaleidoscope of images that reflect his unique place in American history.


He belonged to the Klan in the 1940s and filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but he went on to endorse the nation's first black president. An orphan child who rose from West Virginia poverty, he became a master of pork-barrel politics, and his name graces federal buildings throughout his home state.

Byrd was first elected to the House in 1952 — the same year Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was elected president. He arrived in the Senate in 1959; Hawaii and Alaska had just been admitted to the Union. Lyndon B. Johnson was the majority leader. And if LBJ was the master of the Senate, Byrd would become the keeper of its rules and traditions — a guardian of a realm that few understood.

It's not a stretch to say that he wrote the book on the Senate — he authored a four-volume history of the upper chamber — which is why so many of his younger, more energetic colleagues continued to defer to him when it came to Senate rules and procedures.

"We will remember him for his fighter's spirit, his abiding faith, and for the many times he recalled the Senate to its purposes," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday morning. "Generations of Americans will read the masterful history of the Senate he leaves behind, and they will also read about the remarkable life of Robert Carlyle Byrd."

Byrd's desk on the Senate floor was draped in black Monday morning — a final sign of respect for the man who made the chamber his home for more than a half century. White flowers, like those that adorned the late Kennedy's desk when he passed nearly a year ago, were expected to be delivered later Monday. Flags flew at half mast across the Capitol. As the Senate opened Monday afternoon, the tributes flowed from several senators.

The president’s statement Monday morning seemed to acknowledge Byrd’s evolution in his views on race.

“Senator Byrd’s story was uniquely American. He was born into wrenching poverty, but educated himself to become an authoritative scholar, respected leader, and unparalleled champion of our Constitution,” Obama said. “He scaled the summit of power, but his mind never strayed from the people of his beloved West Virginia. He had the courage to stand firm in his principles, but also the courage to change over time.”

“… The people of West Virginia have lost a true champion, the United States Senate has lost a venerable institution, and America has lost a voice of principle,” Obama said.

Byrd was hospitalized last week for dehydration, but his condition deteriorated quickly. Doctors said Sunday that he was seriously ill, and his office announced his death at about 5:15 a.m. Monday.

"I am saddened that the family of U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., tearfully announces the passing of the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history," Jesse Jacobs wrote in a message to reporters.

Byrd had been in the hospital frequently over the past two years, including an extended stay back in March. He was rarely seen in the Senate in recent months, but he made it to several key floor votes over the past year.

His death follows by nearly a year that of his friend, Sen. Ted Kennedy, to whom he delivered a tearful tribute on the floor.

Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) remembered his colleague Monday as a man who never forgot his roots.

"Sen. Byrd came from humble beginnings in the southern coal fields, was raised by hardworking West Virginians, and triumphantly rose to the heights of power in America," said Rockefeller. "But he never forgot where he came from nor who he represented, and he never abused that power for his own gain."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to capture Byrd’s place in American history: “Robert Byrd’s was one of the greatest minds the world has ever seen. From his graduation as valedictorian of his high school class at the age of 16 to his chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee until the age of 91, he mastered everything he touched with great thoughtfulness and skill.”

Byrd held virtually every major leadership post in the Senate, but he is perhaps best known for running the Appropriations Committee, which helped him build a reputation for funneling federal money to projects in his economically depressed home state. Anyone who has driven the scenic byways of West Virginia, visited the state's national parks or stopped by the federal courthouse in

Charleston, W.Va., has borne witness to his power — Byrd's name is everywhere.

Last January, Senate Democratic leaders gently nudged Byrd out of the Appropriations chairmanship, realizing he did not have the stamina to run the high energy, powerful committee.

Byrd's 50 years in the Senate broke the record previously held by another legend, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina.

Byrd had grown frail in recent years. But when he was able to muster the energy and keep his shaking hand at bay, he could still deliver the type of stemwinder speech that made him a hero to the impoverished coal country voters who first put him in office more than half-century ago.

While younger senators — meaning those in their 60s — relied on staff-written speeches and colorful pie charts on the Senate floor, Byrd could quote Thoreau, Madison and Paul's Letter to the Corinthians virtually by memory.

When he got going, it was not unusual to see staff, journalists and tourists in the gallery stop what they were doing and lean in to listen to his speeches, realizing that his voice represented a soon-to-be-lost era in American politics.

In the previous administration, he would criticize President George W. Bush's war policies, bellowing "Shame! Shame!" in a way that recalled the Roman Senate.

Byrd always carried a pocket edition of the U.S. Constitution in his suit pocket and liberally quoted the Bible.

In an increasingly technology-driven political world, Byrd was seen by some as an anachronism. He often apologized for his early views on race and, in recent years, became one of the most reliably liberal votes in the Senate. He was one of the sharpest critics of the war in Iraq, and in 2003 warned his colleagues that the anger over the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was being misdirected into an unnecessary war.

Byrd was born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr. in 1917 in North Wilkesboro, N.C. When his mother died, his father handed over custody to his aunt and uncle, Vlurma and Titus Byrd, who adopted him and raised Robert Byrd in Southern West Virginia.

Byrd graduated first in his class in high school in 1935 and later married his high school sweetheart, Erma, according to Congressional Quarterly's "Politics in America." They remained married for 68 years until her death in 2006 — and Byrd often boasted that he'd married a real-life "coal miner's daughter."

As a widower, Byrd remained in mourning for some time, visiting his wife's grave nearly daily. He openly wept for her on the Senate floor last year.

And even though Byrd was a master of the Senate, the people of West Virginia never turned against him as a Washington insider. He never lost an election — he first ran for the West Virginia statehouse in 1946, and in his first campaign he lured voters to his speeches by playing bluegrass tunes on his fiddle. In nine Senate elections, he never received less than 64 percent of the vote.

"There are four things people believe in in West Virginia," Byrd once said. "God Almighty, Sears Roebuck, Carter's Little Liver Pills and Robert C. Byrd."

Meredith Shiner contributed to this story.