Harry F. Byrd
Encyclopedia
Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. of Berryville
in Clarke County, Virginia
, was an American
newspaper publisher, farmer
and politician
. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia
. His ancestors included William Byrd II
of Westover Plantation
, who established Richmond
, Robert "King" Carter
of Corotoman
, a colonial governor, and Pocahontas
, and he was the brother of famed aviator
Richard Evelyn Byrd
. He was the father of Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
, who succeeded him as U.S. Senator.
Byrd was a dominant figure in Virginia
who reorganized and modernized Virginia's government. His political machine dominated Virginia Democratic Party politics for much of the first half of the 20th century. He was elected the 50th Governor of Virginia
in 1925 and continued to lead a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization
as he represented Virginia
as a United States Senator
from 1933 until 1965.
Financial conditions in Virginia during his youth conditioned his thinking on fiscal matters throughout his life. He is best remembered for his austere pay-as-you-go financial policies, and his opposition to racial desegregation of the public schools, advocating a policy of massive resistance
that led to closure of some public school systems in Virginia between 1959 and 1964.
in 1887 and moved with his parents, Richard Evelyn Byrd, Sr.
and Eleanor Bolling Flood, to Winchester, Virginia
the same year. Byrd was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia
; his ancestors included William Byrd II
of Westover Plantation
, who established Richmond
, and Pocahontas
.
Harry Flood Byrd was the brother of famed aviator
Richard Evelyn Byrd. He was a nephew of Henry De La Warr Flood, who served in the House of Representatives
in the U.S. Congress from Appomattox County, Virginia
from 1901 to 1921 and Joel West Flood
, also of Appomattox County. Joel Flood served as Commonwealth Attorney of Appomattox County from 1919 to 1932, served in the U.S. Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry St. George Tucker in 1932. He became a long-time Federal Court Judge of the Fifth Judiciary Circuit (based in Richmond), serving from 1940 to 1964.
Young Harry Byrd's father was a wealthy apple grower in the Shenandoah Valley
and publisher of the Winchester Star newspaper. He attended the public schools and Shenandoah Valley Academy
in Winchester.
One of his biographers, Alden Hatch
, has noted that, having been born only twenty-two years after the end of the American Civil War
, he grew up in an era when "the Shenandoah Valley was still a place of genteel poverty ... Harry Byrd never lacked food, but he had no money for luxuries. No one had any money. If a man got into debt, there was small chance of getting out of it."
Even worse in Byrd's eyes was the dilemma of the state itself, which was also heavily in debt during Byrd's youth. Virginia beginning in 1816 had taken on debt to help finance many internal public improvements through the Virginia Board of Public Works
before the Civil War. Some of these improvements, which were primarily canals, turnpikes, and railroads, had been destroyed during the War, although the debt remained. Others had been made in the former portion of the state that separated to form the new State of West Virginia
. For several decades thereafter, Virginia and West Virginia disputed the new state's share of the Virginia government's debt, which had grown to $47 million by 1871 (immediately after the Reconstruction period).
The issue was finally settled in 1915, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia $12,393,929.50. (Commonwealth of Virginia v. State of West Virginia, 238 U.S. 202 (1915)). West Virginia paid the final installment of this sum in 1939. However, the issue of Virginia's public debt was far from resolved during Byrd's formative years.
at a family-owned orchard, and they moved there. The cabin was constructed from chestnut logs and remains one of the few examples of natural chestnut bark existing in the United States due to the chestnut blight
. The Byrds had three sons: Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
, Bradshaw Byrd, and Richard Byrd, and one daughter, Westwood Beverly Byrd. In 1926, Byrd purchased Rosemont, an estate outside Berryville, adjacent to the family apple orchards. The family moved in 1929, at the end of Byrd's term as Governor, after some renovations.
Byrd was the brother of famed aviator Richard Evelyn Byrd; he is not related to Robert Byrd
, a U.S. Senator from West Virginia.
, the Winchester Star. The newspaper had slipped into debt under his father's ownership. The paper owed $2,500.00 to its newsprint supplier, the Antietam Paper Company. The company refused to ship more newsprint on credit. Harry Byrd cut a deal to make daily cash payments in return for paper. As Byrd would later say, "when you have to hunt for them that way, you get to know how many cents there really are in a dollar." He eventually bought the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record and several other papers in the Shenandoah Valley; his family still owns these papers today.
This was the first appearance of Byrd's famous "pay-as-you-go" policy. The experience, combined with other experiences of his youth, gave him a lifelong aversion to borrowing money and to debt of any kind.
"I stand for strict economy in governmental affairs," Byrd proclaimed. "The State of Virginia is similar to a great business corporation ... and should be conducted with the same efficiency and economy as any private business." In a fifty-year political career, no statement of Byrd's ever more succinctly spelled out his view of government.
In 1908, at the age of 21, he became president of The Valley Turnpike Company
, overseeing the Valley Turnpike, a 93-mile toll road
between Winchester and Staunton
. Earning $33 a month, he was required to drive the entire route at least twice a month to inspect it and arrange for repairs. As automobile traffic increased, he saw to it that road conditions were maintained within the revenues available. He served in that capacity until he became elected to state office seven years later. He would maintain an interest in roads and tourism throughout his career, always tempered however, by his pay-as-you-go philosophy.
. That election was to begin his 50 years of service in various roles in the state and federal government.
At the Virginia State Capitol
in Richmond
, as a new State Senator, Byrd was initially a progressive with an early interest in road improvements. He was a member of the Senate Committee on Roads, the Finance Committee, the Steering Committee, the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and the Committee of Schools and Colleges. He advocated a tax on gasoline as a fair method of raising revenue for road construction.
However, he first came to prominence in 1922, when he led a fight against using bonded indebtedness as a method to pay for new roads. He feared the state would sacrifice future flexibility by committing too many resources to paying off construction debt. In 1923, Byrd was sued by the Virginia Highway Contractors Association because he said their activities "by combination and agreements may be very detrimental" to the State. The court dismissed the suit, stating the criticism was legal, imposing all costs upon the association. The publicity helped him to be elected Governor of Virginia
in November 1925.
As governor, serving a term from 1926 to 1930, Byrd pushed through constitutional amendments that streamlined the state government and allowed for more efficient use of tax dollars. He also made property taxes solely a county responsibility. When it was obvious that increased spending on road construction was not enough to "get Virginia out of the mud," he pushed through a secondary roads bill that gave the state responsibility for maintaining county roads. These measures made Byrd seem like a New South
progressive at first. However, many of his measures were more to the benefit of rural areas more interested in low taxes than better services. He instituted a "pay as you go" approach to spending, in which no state money was spent until enough taxes and fees came in to pay for it. Highways and tourism were his primary pursuits, says his biographer. "He advocated building roads to state shrines such as Jamestown
and Monticello
and called for historical markers along roadways, the first of which appeared in Fredericksburg
. He held regional meetings to bring about closer cooperation between state and county road officials, prophesying that the road system could be completed within ten years through such cooperation... A tour of the highway system convinced him of the progress being made in extending the arterial network. Indeed, over 2,000 miles would be added to the system during Byrd's governorship, 1,787 of these miles in 1928. Road building was one way to keep the voters happy and prove the efficacy of pay-as-you-go." (Heineman)
While he was governor, Byrd built up contacts with the "courthouse cliques" in most of Virginia's counties. He curried support from the five constitutional officers in those counties (sheriff, Commonwealth's attorney, clerk of the court, county treasurer, and commissioner of revenue). This formed the basis of the Byrd Organization
, which dominated Virginia politics well into the 1960s. They carefully vetted candidates for statewide office, and Byrd only made an endorsement, or "nod," after consulting with them. Without his "nod," no one could win statewide office in Virginia. While he was governor, he shortened the ballot so that only three officials ran statewide: the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. This limited opportunities to challenge the candidates that he wanted to run. His secondary roads bill in 1932, which became known as the Byrd Road Act
, did not apply to the state's independent cities
.
Education was not on his agenda, and state spending for public schools remained very low until the 1960s. Byrd became one of the most vocal proponents of maintaining policies of racial segregation
. Byrd authored and signed the "Southern Manifesto
" condemning the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education
. His call for "massive resistance
" against desegregation of public schools led to many Virginia schools closing rather than be forced to integrate.
He helped draft a series of laws, known as the Stanley plan
, to implement his "massive resistance" policy. led to closure of some public school systems in Virginia between 1959 and 1964, most notably a five-year gap in public education in Prince Edward County, Virginia
.2008}}
, he supported Al Smith
, the Democratic Governor of New York
, who would go on to lose to Republican Herbert Hoover
. Byrd himself was an early favorite for the 1932
presidential nomination but he opted to endorse Franklin D. Roosevelt
at the right moment and became an official in Roosevelt's successful campaign.
In 1933 Byrd was appointed to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate
; he won reelection as a Democrat in 1933, 1934, 1940, 1946, 1952, 1958, and 1964. Byrd and his colleague Carter Glass
invoked senatorial courtesy to stop Roosevelt's nomination of Floyd H. Roberts
to a federal judgeship in Virginia in 1939. Byrd broke with Roosevelt and became an opponent of the New Deal
, but he was an internationalist and strongly supported Roosevelt's foreign policy. As war loomed in 1941 Congress approved his proposal for a joint House-Senate committee to look into ways of eliminating nonessential expenditures. By late September, the Joint Committee on Reduction of Non-essential Federal Expenditures was in operation with Senator Byrd as Chairman; it built his national reputation as an economizer.
By the 1950s Byrd was one of the most influential senators, serving on the Armed Services Committee
, and later as chairman of the Finance Committee
. He often broke with the Democratic Party line, going so far as to refuse to endorse Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman
in 1948. He also refused to endorse Adlai Stevenson in 1952. He voted against public works
bills, including the Interstate Highway System
.
Although Byrd was never a candidate in a presidential election, he nevertheless received 116,248 votes in the 1956 election
. In the 1960 election
, he received 15 votes from unpledged elector
s: all eight from Mississippi, six of Alabama's 11 (the rest going to John F. Kennedy
), and 1 from Oklahoma (the rest going to Richard Nixon
).
Byrd retired from the Senate for health reasons in November 1965. His son, Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
, was appointed his successor.
Berryville, Virginia
Berryville is an incorporated town in and the county seat of Clarke County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,963 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
in Clarke County, Virginia
Clarke County, Virginia
Clarke County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 14,034. Its county seat is Berryville.-History:Clarke County was established in 1836 by Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron who built a home, Greenway Court, on part of his 5 million acre property,...
, was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
newspaper publisher, farmer
Farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, who raises living organisms for food or raw materials, generally including livestock husbandry and growing crops, such as produce and grain...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They originated with colonists from England who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and along the James River and other navigable waters...
. His ancestors included William Byrd II
William Byrd II
Colonel William Byrd II was a planter, slave-owner and author from Charles City County, Virginia. He is considered the founder of Richmond, Virginia.-Biography:...
of Westover Plantation
Westover Plantation
Westover Plantation is located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. It is located south of State Route 5, a scenic byway which runs between the independent cities of Richmond and Williamsburg...
, who established Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, Robert "King" Carter
Robert Carter I
Robert "King" Carter , of Lancaster County, was a colonist in Virginia and became one of the wealthiest men in the colonies....
of Corotoman
Corotoman
Corotoman was a 17th and 18th century plantation on the Rappahannock River in Lancaster County, Virginia, United States. Corotoman was the residence of Robert Carter I , a colonial Governor of Virginia and one of the wealthiest men in the British colonies in North America...
, a colonial governor, and Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
, and he was the brother of famed aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
Richard Evelyn Byrd
Richard Evelyn Byrd
Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., USN was a naval officer who specialized in feats of exploration. He was a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics...
. He was the father of Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. is a retired American politician. He represented Virginia in the United States Senate from 1965 to 1983. He is most notable for leaving the Democratic Party in 1970 and becoming an Independent, although he continued to caucus with the Democrats. He is the son of Harry F....
, who succeeded him as U.S. Senator.
Byrd was a dominant figure in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
who reorganized and modernized Virginia's government. His political machine dominated Virginia Democratic Party politics for much of the first half of the 20th century. He was elected the 50th Governor of Virginia
Governor of Virginia
The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
in 1925 and continued to lead a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization
Byrd Organization
The Byrd Organization was a political machine led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. that dominated Virginia politics for much of the middle portion of the 20th century...
as he represented Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
as a United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from 1933 until 1965.
Financial conditions in Virginia during his youth conditioned his thinking on fiscal matters throughout his life. He is best remembered for his austere pay-as-you-go financial policies, and his opposition to racial desegregation of the public schools, advocating a policy of massive resistance
Massive resistance
Massive resistance was a policy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. on February 24, 1956, to unite other white politicians and leaders in Virginia in a campaign of new state laws and policies to prevent public school desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision...
that led to closure of some public school systems in Virginia between 1959 and 1964.
Early life
Harry Flood Byrd was born in Martinsburg, West VirginiaMartinsburg, West Virginia
Martinsburg is a city in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia, United States. The city's population was 14,972 at the 2000 census; according to a 2009 Census Bureau estimate, Martinsburg's population was 17,117, making it the largest city in the Eastern Panhandle and the eighth largest...
in 1887 and moved with his parents, Richard Evelyn Byrd, Sr.
Richard Evelyn Byrd, Sr.
Richard Evelyn Byrd, Sr. was a Virginia politician. He represented Winchester in the Virginia House of Delegates, and served as that body's Speaker from 1908 until 1914. One of his sons, Richard, became famous as an aviator who led an expedition to the South Pole; another, Harry, would serve as...
and Eleanor Bolling Flood, to Winchester, Virginia
Winchester, Virginia
Winchester is an independent city located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 26,203 according to the 2010 Census...
the same year. Byrd was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They originated with colonists from England who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and along the James River and other navigable waters...
; his ancestors included William Byrd II
William Byrd II
Colonel William Byrd II was a planter, slave-owner and author from Charles City County, Virginia. He is considered the founder of Richmond, Virginia.-Biography:...
of Westover Plantation
Westover Plantation
Westover Plantation is located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. It is located south of State Route 5, a scenic byway which runs between the independent cities of Richmond and Williamsburg...
, who established Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, and Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
.
Harry Flood Byrd was the brother of famed aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
Richard Evelyn Byrd. He was a nephew of Henry De La Warr Flood, who served in the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in the U.S. Congress from Appomattox County, Virginia
Appomattox County, Virginia
Appomattox County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 14,973. Its county seat is Appomattox. For a long time, Appomattox was a prohibition or dry county...
from 1901 to 1921 and Joel West Flood
Joel West Flood
Joel West Flood , , a Representative from Virginia; born near Appomattox, Appomattox County, Virginia, August 2, 1894; attended the public schools, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va., the University of Virginia, and Oxford University; studied law; was admitted to the bar in...
, also of Appomattox County. Joel Flood served as Commonwealth Attorney of Appomattox County from 1919 to 1932, served in the U.S. Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry St. George Tucker in 1932. He became a long-time Federal Court Judge of the Fifth Judiciary Circuit (based in Richmond), serving from 1940 to 1964.
Young Harry Byrd's father was a wealthy apple grower in the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
and publisher of the Winchester Star newspaper. He attended the public schools and Shenandoah Valley Academy
Shenandoah Valley Military Academy
Shenandoah Valley Military Academy, also known as Shenandoah Valley Academy, was an independent boarding school for boys in Winchester, Virginia. It closed its doors in 1934.-See also:...
in Winchester.
One of his biographers, Alden Hatch
Alden R. Hatch
Alden R. Hatch was an American writer. He was the son of May D. Hatch and her husband Frederic H. Hatch, owner of a successful Wall Street stock brokerage firm he founded in 1888. Alden's brother, Eric S...
, has noted that, having been born only twenty-two years after the end of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, he grew up in an era when "the Shenandoah Valley was still a place of genteel poverty ... Harry Byrd never lacked food, but he had no money for luxuries. No one had any money. If a man got into debt, there was small chance of getting out of it."
Even worse in Byrd's eyes was the dilemma of the state itself, which was also heavily in debt during Byrd's youth. Virginia beginning in 1816 had taken on debt to help finance many internal public improvements through the Virginia Board of Public Works
Virginia Board of Public Works
The Virginia Board of Public Works was a governmental agency which oversaw and helped finance the development of Virginia's internal transportation improvements during the 19th century. In that era, it was customary to invest public funds in private companies, which were the forerunners of the...
before the Civil War. Some of these improvements, which were primarily canals, turnpikes, and railroads, had been destroyed during the War, although the debt remained. Others had been made in the former portion of the state that separated to form the new State of West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. For several decades thereafter, Virginia and West Virginia disputed the new state's share of the Virginia government's debt, which had grown to $47 million by 1871 (immediately after the Reconstruction period).
The issue was finally settled in 1915, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia $12,393,929.50. (Commonwealth of Virginia v. State of West Virginia, 238 U.S. 202 (1915)). West Virginia paid the final installment of this sum in 1939. However, the issue of Virginia's public debt was far from resolved during Byrd's formative years.
Family
Byrd married Anne Douglas Beverage, a childhood friend, on October 7, 1913. They lived with her parents in Winchester until 1916, when he built a log cabin, named Westwood, in BerryvilleBerryville, Virginia
Berryville is an incorporated town in and the county seat of Clarke County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,963 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
at a family-owned orchard, and they moved there. The cabin was constructed from chestnut logs and remains one of the few examples of natural chestnut bark existing in the United States due to the chestnut blight
Chestnut blight
The pathogenic fungus Cryphonectria parasitica is a member of the ascomycota category, and is the main cause of chestnut blight, a devastating disease of the American chestnut tree that caused a mass extinction in the early 1900s of this once plentiful tree from its historic range in the eastern...
. The Byrds had three sons: Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. is a retired American politician. He represented Virginia in the United States Senate from 1965 to 1983. He is most notable for leaving the Democratic Party in 1970 and becoming an Independent, although he continued to caucus with the Democrats. He is the son of Harry F....
, Bradshaw Byrd, and Richard Byrd, and one daughter, Westwood Beverly Byrd. In 1926, Byrd purchased Rosemont, an estate outside Berryville, adjacent to the family apple orchards. The family moved in 1929, at the end of Byrd's term as Governor, after some renovations.
Byrd was the brother of famed aviator Richard Evelyn Byrd; he is not related to Robert Byrd
Robert Byrd
Robert Carlyle Byrd was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959 and as a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010...
, a U.S. Senator from West Virginia.
Career, pay-as-you-go
In 1903, he took over his father's newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, the Winchester Star. The newspaper had slipped into debt under his father's ownership. The paper owed $2,500.00 to its newsprint supplier, the Antietam Paper Company. The company refused to ship more newsprint on credit. Harry Byrd cut a deal to make daily cash payments in return for paper. As Byrd would later say, "when you have to hunt for them that way, you get to know how many cents there really are in a dollar." He eventually bought the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record and several other papers in the Shenandoah Valley; his family still owns these papers today.
This was the first appearance of Byrd's famous "pay-as-you-go" policy. The experience, combined with other experiences of his youth, gave him a lifelong aversion to borrowing money and to debt of any kind.
"I stand for strict economy in governmental affairs," Byrd proclaimed. "The State of Virginia is similar to a great business corporation ... and should be conducted with the same efficiency and economy as any private business." In a fifty-year political career, no statement of Byrd's ever more succinctly spelled out his view of government.
In 1908, at the age of 21, he became president of The Valley Turnpike Company
Valley Pike
Valley Pike or Valley Turnpike is the traditional name given for the Indian trail and roadway which now is designated as U.S. Highway 11 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia....
, overseeing the Valley Turnpike, a 93-mile toll road
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
between Winchester and Staunton
Staunton, Virginia
Staunton is an independent city within the confines of Augusta County in the commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 23,746 as of 2010. It is the county seat of Augusta County....
. Earning $33 a month, he was required to drive the entire route at least twice a month to inspect it and arrange for repairs. As automobile traffic increased, he saw to it that road conditions were maintained within the revenues available. He served in that capacity until he became elected to state office seven years later. He would maintain an interest in roads and tourism throughout his career, always tempered however, by his pay-as-you-go philosophy.
Virginia politics
In 1915, while still heading the Valley Turnpike Company, at the age of 28, Byrd was elected to the Virginia SenateSenate of Virginia
The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 Senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia...
. That election was to begin his 50 years of service in various roles in the state and federal government.
At the Virginia State Capitol
Virginia State Capitol
The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government in the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the third capital of Virginia. It houses the oldest legislative body in the United States, the Virginia General Assembly...
in Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, as a new State Senator, Byrd was initially a progressive with an early interest in road improvements. He was a member of the Senate Committee on Roads, the Finance Committee, the Steering Committee, the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and the Committee of Schools and Colleges. He advocated a tax on gasoline as a fair method of raising revenue for road construction.
However, he first came to prominence in 1922, when he led a fight against using bonded indebtedness as a method to pay for new roads. He feared the state would sacrifice future flexibility by committing too many resources to paying off construction debt. In 1923, Byrd was sued by the Virginia Highway Contractors Association because he said their activities "by combination and agreements may be very detrimental" to the State. The court dismissed the suit, stating the criticism was legal, imposing all costs upon the association. The publicity helped him to be elected Governor of Virginia
Governor of Virginia
The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....
in November 1925.
As governor, serving a term from 1926 to 1930, Byrd pushed through constitutional amendments that streamlined the state government and allowed for more efficient use of tax dollars. He also made property taxes solely a county responsibility. When it was obvious that increased spending on road construction was not enough to "get Virginia out of the mud," he pushed through a secondary roads bill that gave the state responsibility for maintaining county roads. These measures made Byrd seem like a New South
New South
New South, New South Democracy or New South Creed is a phrase that has been used intermittently since the American Civil War to describe the American South, after 1877. The term "New South" is used in contrast to the Old South of the plantation system of the antebellum period.The term has been used...
progressive at first. However, many of his measures were more to the benefit of rural areas more interested in low taxes than better services. He instituted a "pay as you go" approach to spending, in which no state money was spent until enough taxes and fees came in to pay for it. Highways and tourism were his primary pursuits, says his biographer. "He advocated building roads to state shrines such as Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
and Monticello
Monticello
Monticello is a National Historic Landmark just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia; it is...
and called for historical markers along roadways, the first of which appeared in Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
. He held regional meetings to bring about closer cooperation between state and county road officials, prophesying that the road system could be completed within ten years through such cooperation... A tour of the highway system convinced him of the progress being made in extending the arterial network. Indeed, over 2,000 miles would be added to the system during Byrd's governorship, 1,787 of these miles in 1928. Road building was one way to keep the voters happy and prove the efficacy of pay-as-you-go." (Heineman)
While he was governor, Byrd built up contacts with the "courthouse cliques" in most of Virginia's counties. He curried support from the five constitutional officers in those counties (sheriff, Commonwealth's attorney, clerk of the court, county treasurer, and commissioner of revenue). This formed the basis of the Byrd Organization
Byrd Organization
The Byrd Organization was a political machine led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. that dominated Virginia politics for much of the middle portion of the 20th century...
, which dominated Virginia politics well into the 1960s. They carefully vetted candidates for statewide office, and Byrd only made an endorsement, or "nod," after consulting with them. Without his "nod," no one could win statewide office in Virginia. While he was governor, he shortened the ballot so that only three officials ran statewide: the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. This limited opportunities to challenge the candidates that he wanted to run. His secondary roads bill in 1932, which became known as the Byrd Road Act
Byrd Road Act
Byrd Road Act was an Act of Assembly passed in February, 1932 by the Virginia General Assembly. Named for former Governor Harry F. Byrd, the legislation was originally presented as measure to relieve the financial pressures of the Great Depression upon the counties, as the state offered to take...
, did not apply to the state's independent cities
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
.
Education was not on his agenda, and state spending for public schools remained very low until the 1960s. Byrd became one of the most vocal proponents of maintaining policies of racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
. Byrd authored and signed the "Southern Manifesto
Southern Manifesto
The Southern Manifesto was a document written February–March 1956 by Adisen and Charles in the United States Congress opposed to racial integration in public places. The manifesto was signed by 101 politicians from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South...
" condemning the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
. His call for "massive resistance
Massive resistance
Massive resistance was a policy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. on February 24, 1956, to unite other white politicians and leaders in Virginia in a campaign of new state laws and policies to prevent public school desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision...
" against desegregation of public schools led to many Virginia schools closing rather than be forced to integrate.
He helped draft a series of laws, known as the Stanley plan
Stanley plan
The Stanley plan was a package of 13 statutes adopted in September 1956 by the U.S. state of Virginia designed to ensure racial segregation in that state's public schools despite the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 347 U.S. 483 ....
, to implement his "massive resistance" policy. led to closure of some public school systems in Virginia between 1959 and 1964, most notably a five-year gap in public education in Prince Edward County, Virginia
Prince Edward County, Virginia
Prince Edward County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 23,368. Its county seat is Farmville.-Formation and County Seats:...
.2008}}
National politics
In the 1928 U.S. presidential campaignUnited States presidential election, 1928
The United States presidential election of 1928 pitted Republican Herbert Hoover against Democrat Al Smith. The Republicans were identified with the booming economy of the 1920s, whereas Smith, a Roman Catholic, suffered politically from Anti-Catholic prejudice, his anti-prohibitionist stance, and...
, he supported Al Smith
Al Smith
Alfred Emanuel Smith. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American statesman who was elected the 42nd Governor of New York three times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928...
, the Democratic Governor of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, who would go on to lose to Republican Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
. Byrd himself was an early favorite for the 1932
United States presidential election, 1932
The United States presidential election of 1932 took place as the effects of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the Revenue Act of 1932, and the Great Depression were being felt intensely across the country. President Herbert Hoover's popularity was falling as...
presidential nomination but he opted to endorse Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
at the right moment and became an official in Roosevelt's successful campaign.
In 1933 Byrd was appointed to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
; he won reelection as a Democrat in 1933, 1934, 1940, 1946, 1952, 1958, and 1964. Byrd and his colleague Carter Glass
Carter Glass
Carter Glass was a newspaper publisher and politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. He served many years in Congress as a member of the Democratic Party. As House co-sponsor, he played a central role in the development of the 1913 Glass-Owen Act that created the Federal Reserve System. Glass...
invoked senatorial courtesy to stop Roosevelt's nomination of Floyd H. Roberts
Floyd H. Roberts
Floyd H. Roberts was a Virginia lawyer, state court judge, and, briefly, a United States federal judge, whose nomination after a recess appointment was rejected overwhelmingly by the United States Senate....
to a federal judgeship in Virginia in 1939. Byrd broke with Roosevelt and became an opponent of the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
, but he was an internationalist and strongly supported Roosevelt's foreign policy. As war loomed in 1941 Congress approved his proposal for a joint House-Senate committee to look into ways of eliminating nonessential expenditures. By late September, the Joint Committee on Reduction of Non-essential Federal Expenditures was in operation with Senator Byrd as Chairman; it built his national reputation as an economizer.
By the 1950s Byrd was one of the most influential senators, serving on the Armed Services Committee
United States Senate Committee on Armed Services
The Committee on Armed Services is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defense, military research and development, nuclear energy , benefits for members of the military, the Selective Service System and...
, and later as chairman of the Finance Committee
United States Senate Committee on Finance
The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generally, and those relating to the insular possessions; bonded debt of the United States; customs, collection...
. He often broke with the Democratic Party line, going so far as to refuse to endorse Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
in 1948. He also refused to endorse Adlai Stevenson in 1952. He voted against public works
Public works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
bills, including the Interstate Highway System
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
.
Although Byrd was never a candidate in a presidential election, he nevertheless received 116,248 votes in the 1956 election
United States presidential election, 1956
The United States presidential election of 1956 saw a popular Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully run for re-election. The 1956 election was a rematch of 1952, as Eisenhower's opponent in 1956 was Democrat Adlai Stevenson, whom Eisenhower had defeated four years earlier.Incumbent President Eisenhower...
. In the 1960 election
United States presidential election, 1960
The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th American presidential election, held on November 8, 1960, for the term beginning January 20, 1961, and ending January 20, 1965. The incumbent president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible to run again. The Republican Party...
, he received 15 votes from unpledged elector
Unpledged Elector
In United States presidential elections, an unpledged elector is a member of the Electoral College who has not pledged to support any particular candidate for President. Presidential elections are indirect, with voters in each state choosing electors on Election Day in November, and these electors...
s: all eight from Mississippi, six of Alabama's 11 (the rest going to John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
), and 1 from Oklahoma (the rest going to Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
).
Byrd retired from the Senate for health reasons in November 1965. His son, Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. is a retired American politician. He represented Virginia in the United States Senate from 1965 to 1983. He is most notable for leaving the Democratic Party in 1970 and becoming an Independent, although he continued to caucus with the Democrats. He is the son of Harry F....
, was appointed his successor.