Editing Robert Byrd (section)

===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>