Senator Robert Byrd Democrate of Sophia, Raleigh County, West Virginia

Robert C. Byrd’s story is a classic American saga of success and achievement.
Born in 1917 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, Robert Byrd was left a virtural orphan by the death of his mother when he was only one year old. Brought to West Virginia by his aunt and uncle to be reared as their own, the future Senator grew up in various communities in the bituminous coal fields, mastering life’s early lessons and learning its duties as a miner’s son, and graduating as valedictorian of his high school class in the depths of the Great Depression in the 1930’s.

Unable at the time to afford college tuition, Byrd sought employment wherever he found an opportunity-pumping gas at a filling station, working as a produce salesman, and then becoming a meat cutter-picking up new skills as he advanced.

One of those skills, welding, was in essential demand after World War II overtook the United States, and he worked during the war years building Liberty and Victory ships in the construction yards of Baltimore, Maryland. He also worked as a welder in the shipyards of Tampa, Florida.

At war’s end, he returned to West Virginia with a new vision of what his home state and his country could be. In 1946, he made his first run for political office, and was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates.

After two terms in the WV House of Delegates, Byrd was elected to the WV Senate, then to the United States House of representatives for three terms, and finally, in 1958, to the United States Senate, where he has represented West Virginia continuously since. Winning re-election again and again by record margins in statewide elections. He has served longer in the United States Senate than has anyone else in West Virginia’s history, an indication of the confidence, faith, and trust that the people of his home state have regarding him.

In addition to fulfilling his Senate responsibilities, in 1963, after ten years of study at night classes in law school, he earned his law degree (LLB), cum laude, form American University in Washington, D.C., the first time in history that a sitting member of either House of the Congress has accomplished the feat of beginning and completing the courses of study leading to a law degree while serving in Congress>

Continuing his upward trajectory, in 1967, Senator Byrd became a member of the Senate Leadership when he was selected by his party colleagues as Secretary of the Senate Conference. In 1971, he was chosen Senate Democratic Whip. In 1977, he was elected Democratic Leader by his Democratic colleagues, a position he held for six consecutive terms. For the 12 years he held the position of Democratic Leader—from January 1977 through 1988—Senator Byrd served as Senate Majority Leader for six years(1977-1980, 1987-1988) and as Senate Minority Leader for six years (1981-86).

In 1989, for the first time, Senator Byrd had the opportunity to serve as chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Also in 1989, Senator Byrd was unanimously elected President pro tempore of the Senate, a post that placed him third in line of succession to the Presidency and gave him the distinction of having held more leadership positions in the U.S. Senate than any other Senator of any party in Senate history.

In 1994, Senator Byrd was re-elected to a seventh 6-year term in the Senate, making him one of only three U.S. senators in the history of the Republic to achieve that milestone. In that election, Senator Byrd carried all 55 West Virginia counties making him the first person to do so in a contested statewide general election.

He is married to the former Erma Ora James, his high school sweetheart and coal miner’s daughter. The parents of two daughters, Mrs. Mohammad (Mona Byrd) Faterni and Mrs. John (Marjorie Byrd) Moore. Senator and Mrs. Byrd were blessed with six grandchildren, Erik, Darius, and Fredrik Faterni: and Michael (deceased), Mona, and Mary Moore.