Editing Robert Byrd (section)

===Leadership roles===
[[File:DemSenateLeadersDesk.jpg|thumb|right|Drawer of the Senate desk used by Democratic leaders, including Byrd]]
[[File:Robert Byrd portrait.jpg|thumb|220px|left|Byrd as president pro tempore of the Senate]]

Byrd served in the Senate Democratic leadership. He succeeded [[George Smathers]] as secretary of the [[Senate Democratic Caucus|Senate Democratic Conference]] from 1967 to 1971.<ref name="CONG_BIO"/> He unseated [[Ted Kennedy]] in 1971 to become [[Assistant party leaders of the United States Senate|Majority Whip]], the second highest-ranking Democrat, until 1977.<ref name="CONG_BIO"/> Smathers recalled that, "Ted was off playing. While Ted was away at Christmas, down in the islands, floating around having a good time with some of his friends, male and female, here was Bob up here calling on the phone. 'I want to do this, and would you help me?' He had it all committed so that when Teddy got back to town, Teddy didn't know what hit him, but it was already all over. That was Lyndon Johnson's style. Bob Byrd learned that from watching [[Lyndon Johnson]]". Byrd himself had told Smathers that "I have never in my life played a game of cards. I have never in my life had a golf club in my hand. I have never in life hit a tennis ball. I have—believe it or not—never thrown a line over to catch a fish. I don't do any of those things. I have only had to work all my life. And every time you told me about swimming, I don't know how to swim".<ref>George A. Smathers. United States Senator from Florida, 1951–1969. "Interview #6: Senate Democratic Leadership." Tuesday, September 19, 1989. Interviewed by Donald A. Ritchie https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Smathers_interview_6.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926131115/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Smathers_interview_6.pdf |date=September 26, 2018 }}</ref>
[[File:Byrd-stevens-supp-mark-web.jpg|thumb|right|Byrd with Senator [[Ted Stevens]] in 2003]]
In the [[1976 Democratic Party presidential primaries]], Byrd was the "favorite son" presidential candidate in West Virginia's primary. His easy victory gave him control of the delegation to the [[1976 Democratic National Convention|Democratic National Convention]]. Byrd had the inside track as Majority Whip but focused most of his time running for Majority Leader, more so than for re-election to the Senate, as he was virtually unopposed for his fourth term. By the time the vote for Majority Leader came, his lead was so secure that his lone rival, Minnesota's [[Hubert Humphrey]], withdrew before the balloting took place. From 1977 to 1989 Byrd was the leader of the Senate Democrats, serving as [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Majority Leader]] from 1977 to 1981 and 1987 to 1989, and as [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Minority Leader]] from 1981 to 1987.<ref name="CONG_BIO"/>

[[File:Byrd bush.jpg|thumb|left|President pro tempore Byrd and House Speaker [[Dennis Hastert]] presided over a special joint session following the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]]. Here, President Bush shakes hands with Byrd.]]

====Appropriations Committee====
Byrd was known for steering federal dollars to West Virginia, one of the country's poorest states. He was called the "King of [[pork barrel|Pork]]" by [[Citizens Against Government Waste]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Citizens Against Government Waste: Byrd Droppings |publisher=[[Citizens Against Government Waste]] |url=http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=news_byrddroppings |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060709044348/http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=news_byrddroppings |archive-date=July 9, 2006 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> After becoming chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on Appropriations|Appropriations Committee]] in 1989, Byrd set a goal securing a total of {{Nowrap|$1 billion}} for public works in the state. He passed that mark in 1991, and funds for highways, dams, educational institutions, and federal agency offices flowed unabated over the course of his membership. More than 30 existing or pending federal projects bear his name. He commented on his reputation for attaining funds for projects in West Virginia in August 2006, when he called himself "Big Daddy" at the dedication for the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ginsberg |first1=Benjamin |last2=Hill |first2=Kathryn Wagner |title=Congress: The First Branch |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-300-24961-3 |page=85 |publisher=Yale University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XtimDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Robert+C.+Byrd+Biotechnology+Science+Center%22+%22Big+daddy%22&pg=PA85|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Campus growth propelling Marshall up academic ladder |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=AWNB&req_dat=0D0CB57AB53DF815&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F113D62B3B63D0668 |access-date=May 26, 2020 |work=The Herald-Dispatch |date=August 27, 2006 |location=Huntington, WV |page=6A|via=Newsbank}}</ref> Examples of this ability to claim funds and projects for his state include the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s repository for computerized fingerprint records as well as several [[United States Coast Guard]] computing and office facilities.<ref name="Taylor">{{cite news|last=Taylor |first=Andrew |title=Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia dead at 92 |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100628/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obit_byrd |work=Obituaries |agency=Associated Press |access-date=June 29, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100701151352/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100628/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obit_byrd |archive-date=July 1, 2010 }}</ref>

====Parliamentary expertise====
Byrd was also known for using his knowledge of [[parliamentary procedure]]. Byrd frustrated Republicans with his encyclopedic knowledge of the inner workings of the Senate, particularly prior to the [[Reagan Era]]. From 1977 to 1979 he was described as "performing a procedural tap dance around the minority, outmaneuvering Republicans with his mastery of the [[Standing Rules of the United States Senate|Senate's arcane rules]]".<ref>{{cite news | author=Sheryl Gay Stolberg | title=Dispute in the Senate: the Players; Behind the Scenes, an Army of Senate Aides Takes On the Filibuster Fight | date=May 20, 2005 | work=The New York Times | url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20C13FD3F5D0C738EDDAC0894DD404482 | access-date=February 12, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520192426/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20C13FD3F5D0C738EDDAC0894DD404482 | archive-date=May 20, 2013 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> In 1988, majority leader Byrd [[Motion (parliamentary procedure)|moved]] a [[Call of the house|call of the Senate]], which was adopted by the majority present, in order to have the [[Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate|Sergeant-at-Arms]] arrest members not in attendance. One member ([[Robert Packwood]], R-[[Oregon]]) was carried feet-first back to the chamber by the Sergeant-at-Arms in order to obtain a [[quorum]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Feet_First.htm|title=U.S. Senate: Feet First}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-24-mn-11822-story.html | title=Guards Seize Senator, Haul Him into Debate Feet First : Packwood's OK but GOP is Outraged | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=February 24, 1988 }}</ref>

====President pro tempore====
As the longest-serving Democratic senator, Byrd served as [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore]] four times when his party was in the majority:<ref name="CONG_BIO"/> from 1989 until the Republicans won control of the Senate in 1995; for 17 days in early 2001, when the Senate was evenly split between parties and outgoing Vice President [[Al Gore]] broke the tie in favor of the Democrats; when the Democrats regained the majority in June 2001 after Senator [[Jim Jeffords]] of [[Vermont]] left the Republican Party to become an independent; and again from 2007 to his death in 2010, as a result of the [[2006 United States Senate elections|2006 Senate elections]]. In this capacity, Byrd was third in the line of presidential succession at the time of his death, behind Vice President [[Joe Biden]] and House Speaker [[Nancy Pelosi]].