Editing Robert Byrd (section)

==Background==
[[File:Byrd mother.gif|left|thumb|Byrd's mother, Ada Mae Kirby]]

Robert Byrd was born on November 20, 1917, as Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.<ref name=nyt1/> in [[North Wilkesboro, North Carolina]], to Cornelius Calvin Sale and his wife Ada Mae (Kirby).<ref name="CONG_BIO">{{cite encyclopedia|title=BYRD, Robert Carlyle, (1917–2010)|dictionary=Biographical Directory of the [[United States Congress]]|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=b001210|access-date=January 22, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130000258/http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B001210|archive-date=January 30, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> When he was ten months old, his mother died on [[Armistice Day]]<ref name="NPR">{{cite web |last1=Gross |first1=Terry |author-link=Terry Gross|title=Fresh Air Remembers Sen. Robert Byrd (Transcript of a 2004 Interview of Robert Byrd) |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/128162362 |website=[[NPR]] |access-date=January 8, 2021 |date=June 28, 2010}}</ref> during the [[Spanish flu|1918 flu pandemic]]. Byrd was the youngest of four<ref name="NPR"/> and in accordance with his mother's wishes, his father<ref name=nyt1>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/us/politics/29byrd.html?pagewanted=all |title=Robert Byrd, Respected Voice of the Senate, Dies at 92 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 28, 2010 |access-date=June 28, 2010 |first=Adam |last=Clymer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521002228/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/us/politics/29byrd.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=May 21, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> dispersed the children among relatives. Calvin Jr. was adopted by his biological father's sister and her husband,<ref name="NPR"/> Vlurma and Titus Byrd, who changed his name to Robert Carlyle Byrd and raised him in the coal mining region of [[southern West Virginia]], primarily in the coal town of [[Stotesbury, West Virginia]].<ref name="111809_CNN_Byrd"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.byrdcenter.org/senator-byrds-hometown.html|title=Senator Byrd's Hometown}}</ref><ref name="WP061905">{{cite news|last=Pianin|first=Eric|title=A Senator's Shame: Byrd, in His New Book, Again Confronts Early Ties to KKK|pages=A01|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=June 19, 2005|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/18/AR2005061801105_pf.html|access-date=October 3, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117055016/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/18/AR2005061801105_pf.html|archive-date=November 17, 2007|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="usatoda2003">{{cite news|last=Kiely|first=Kathy|title=Senator takes on White House and wins fans|work=[[USA Today]]|date=June 23, 2003|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-06-23-byrd_x.htm|access-date=June 28, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100907060243/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-06-23-byrd_x.htm|archive-date=September 7, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> Robert Byrd's biological father Calvin Sale went on to have four more children with his second wife, Ola (Pruitt) Sale.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Theodore |first1=Larissa |title=Byrd, Sister Spoke Often |url=https://www.ellwoodcityledger.com/article/20100629/News/306299933 |newspaper=Ellwood City Ledger|access-date=January 8, 2021 |date=June 29, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Quelle Ann Eckhardt |url=https://www.timesonline.com/c607e23e-b6b2-50a3-94f7-6a0b385b8043.html |newspaper=[[The Beaver County Times]] |access-date=January 8, 2021 |date=June 26, 2011 |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111033859/https://www.timesonline.com/c607e23e-b6b2-50a3-94f7-6a0b385b8043.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Byrd was educated in the public schools of Stotesbury.<ref>{{cite news |last=Plummer |first=Sarah |date=July 29, 2014 |title=Alumni group remembers Byrd as politician, friend |publication-place=[[Beckley, West Virginia]]|url=https://www.register-herald.com/archives/alumni-group-remembers-byrd-as-politician-friend/article_2a6d6200-6172-53f5-9f01-dfb306a0b7ca.html |work=[[The Register-Herald]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Sherrill |first=Robert |date=February 28, 1971 |title=The Embodiment Of Poor White Power |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/28/archives/the-embodiment-of-poor-white-power-the-embodiment-of-poor-white.html |work=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |page=9}}</ref> Byrd played the violin at the Mark Twain School orchestra and the bass drum in the Mark Twain High School marching band.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Byrd|first=Robert C.|title=Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields|publisher=West Virginia University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-1-940425-54-2|pages=28–29}}</ref> He was the [[valedictorian]] of his 1934 graduating class at Stotesbury's Mark Twain High School.<ref name="byrd_education">{{cite web|url=http://byrd.senate.gov/issues/byrd_education/byrd_education.html|title=Robert C. Byrd: A Lifelong Student|publisher=United States Congress|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=November 3, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031004216/http://byrd.senate.gov/issues/byrd_education/byrd_education.html|archive-date=October 31, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

===Marriage and children===
[[File:Byrdandhiswife.png|left|thumb|Senator Byrd, his wife, Erma, and dog, Trouble]]
On May 29, 1937, Byrd married Erma Ora James (June 12, 1917 – March 25, 2006)<ref>{{cite news|access-date=March 10, 2009
| url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-9952661.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121105103136/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-9952661.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = November 5, 2012|title=Erma Byrd recalled for steadfast nature, Senator's wife to be buried beside grandson in Virginia tomorrow|work=[[Charleston Daily Mail]] |date=March 31, 2006 |first=Karin |last=Fischer
}}</ref> who was born to a coal mining family in [[Floyd County, Virginia]].<ref name="Off_Byrd">{{cite web|title=Erma Ora James Byrd|url=http://byrd.senate.gov/erma_byrd.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090123045208/http://byrd.senate.gov/erma_byrd.html|archive-date=January 23, 2009|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Her family moved to [[Raleigh County, West Virginia]], where she met Byrd when they attended the same high school.<ref>{{cite book |date=2006 |title=Robert C. Byrd: U.S. Senator from West Virginia; Tributes in the Congress of the United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-y97UEK8QeQC&pg=PA50 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=50 |access-date=January 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216110308/https://books.google.com/books?id=-y97UEK8QeQC&pg=PA50 |archive-date=February 16, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Robert Byrd had two daughters (Mona Byrd Fatemi and Marjorie Byrd Moore), six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.<ref name="CONG_BIO"/>

===Ku Klux Klan===
In the early 1940s, Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to create a new chapter of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in [[Sophia, West Virginia]].<ref name=nyt1/><ref name="WP061905"/>

As a young boy, Byrd had witnessed his adoptive father walk in a Klan parade in [[Matoaka, West Virginia]].<ref name="DailySun">{{cite news |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=June 19, 2005 |title=Byrd memoir laments early fling with Klan |publication-place=[[Flagstaff, Arizona]]|url=https://azdailysun.com/byrd-memoir-laments-early-fling-with-klan/article_3be16751-1677-5e00-99d8-240f4c39e86b.html |work=[[Arizona Daily Sun]]}}</ref> While growing up, Byrd had heard that "the Klan defended the American way of life against racemixers and communists".<ref name="Carlson">{{cite web |url=https://www.historynet.com/robert-byrd-consorts-kkk-grand-dragon.htm |title=Robert Byrd Consorts With a KKK Grand Dragon |last=Carlson |first=Peter |date=August 1, 2011 |website=History Net |publisher=Historynet LLC |location=Leesburg, Virginia}}</ref> He then wrote to Joel L. Baskin, Grand Dragon of the Realm of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, who responded that he would come and organize a chapter when Byrd had recruited 150 people.<ref name="DailySun"/>

It was Baskin who told Byrd, "You have a talent for leadership, Bob&nbsp;… The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation". Byrd later recalled, "Suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities! I was only 23 or 24 years old, and the thought of a political career had never really hit me. But strike me that night, it did".<ref>Byrd (2005), p. 53</ref> Byrd became a [[Kleagle|recruiter]] and leader of his chapter.<ref name="WP061905"/> When it came time to elect the top officer ([[Exalted Cyclops]]) in the local Klan unit, Byrd won unanimously.<ref name="WP061905"/><ref>{{cite news |first1=Jude|last1=Joffe-Blocke |first2=Marcos|last2=Martinez Chacón|title=Biden did not eulogize former KKK "grand wizard" |url=https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-afs:Content:9545480195 |access-date=30 October 2020 |work=[[Associated Press]]|date=11 October 2020 |quote=Byrd recruited members to a local KKK chapter and was elected to the post of “exalted cyclops” according to his 2005 autobiography}}</ref> Despite his later claim to have only been a KKK member for a year, documents indicate that Byrd joined the KKK around 1941,<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/06/19/a-senators-shame/95f623af-7bed-4389-9369-05a428ae4994/</ref> and a 1946 letter to [[Samuel Green (Klansman)|Samuel Green]] indicates that Byrd was a Klan member until at least 1946.<ref name="King">{{cite news|first=Colbert I.|last=King|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2002/03/02/sen-byrd-the-view-from-darrells-barbershop/4d78d270-f993-4336-b08c-4c83852157ef/|title=Sen. Byrd: The view from Darrell's barbershop|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=March 2, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822120523/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2002/03/02/sen-byrd-the-view-from-darrells-barbershop/4d78d270-f993-4336-b08c-4c83852157ef/ |archive-date=August 22, 2016 }}</ref> The same year, he was encouraged to run for the [[West Virginia House of Delegates]] by the Klan's grand dragon; Byrd won, and took his seat in January 1947.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Clymer|first=Adam|date=June 28, 2010|title=Robert C. Byrd, a Pillar of the Senate, Dies at 92|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/us/politics/29byrd.html|access-date=May 14, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="seattletimes.com">{{Cite web|last=Taylor|first=Andrew|date=June 29, 2010|title=Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia dead at 92|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/sen-robert-byrd-of-west-virginia-dead-at-92/|access-date=May 14, 2021|newspaper=[[The Seattle Times]]|language=en-US}}</ref>

In December 1944, Byrd wrote to [[racial segregation|segregationist]] [[Mississippi]] Senator [[Theodore G. Bilbo]]:

{{blockquote|I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side&nbsp;... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see [[Old Glory]] trampled in the dirt never to rise again than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.|Robert C. Byrd, in a letter to Sen. Theodore Bilbo (D-MS), 1944<ref name="WP061905"/><ref>{{cite book |last= Katznelson |first= Ira |title= When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History Of Racial Inequality In Twentieth-century America |publisher=[[W.W. Norton & Company]] |location=New York City|year= 2005 |page=81 |isbn=0-393-05213-3 |url= https://archive.org/details/whenaffirmativea00katz/page/81 }}</ref>}}

In 1946, Byrd wrote a letter to [[Samuel Green (Klansman)|Samuel Green]], the Ku Klux Klan's [[Grand Wizard]], stating, "The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation".<ref name="King"/> The same year, he was encouraged to run for the [[West Virginia House of Delegates]] by the Klan's grand dragon; Byrd won, and took his seat in January 1947.<ref name=":0"/><ref name="seattletimes.com"/> However, during his campaign for the [[United States House of Representatives]] in 1952, he announced that, "after about a year, I became disinterested, quit paying my dues, and dropped my membership in the organization", and that during the nine years that have followed, he had never been interested in the Klan.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Newton|first=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_4-BAAAQBAJ&q=disinterested%2C+quit+paying+my+dues%2C+and+dropped+my+membership+in+the+organization&pg=PA103|title=White Robes and Burning Crosses: A History of the Ku Klux Klan from 1866|date=April 14, 2016|publisher=[[McFarland (publisher)|McFarland]]|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-1-4766-1719-0|page=103|language=en}}</ref> He said he had joined the Klan because he felt it offered excitement and was [[anti-communist]], but also suggested his participation there "reflected the fears and prejudices" of the time.<ref name=" WP061905"/><ref name=":0" />

Byrd later called joining the KKK "the greatest mistake I ever made".<ref name=slatebyrd/> In 1997, he told an interviewer he would encourage young people to become involved in politics but also warned, "Be sure you avoid the Ku Klux Klan. Don't get that [[Albatross (metaphor)|albatross]] around your neck. Once you've made that mistake, you inhibit your operations in the political arena".<ref>{{cite news|title=The Democrats' Lott|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1040607367889016753|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=December 12, 2008|access-date=March 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320054226/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1040607367889016753|archive-date=March 20, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In his last autobiography, Byrd explained that he was a KKK member because he "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".<ref>Byrd (2005), p.54</ref> Byrd also said in 2005, "I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times … and I don't mind apologizing over and over again. I can't erase what happened".<ref name="WP061905"/> However, in a 2005 book, Byrd claimed that the Klan had been made of "upstanding people" like lawyers, judges, clergy and doctors.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2005/06/19/byrd-again-tries-to-explain-former-klan-ties/ | title=Byrd again tries to explain former klan ties }}</ref>