Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale , Jr .; November 20, 1917 June 28, 2010) 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. He was the longest-serving U S Senator and, at the time of his death, the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress . [3] [4] [5] [6] (In June 2013, his record was surpassed by U S Representative John Dingell of Michigan ). [7] Byrd , however, still holds the record as the longest-serving member of Congress to serve in both houses. Initially elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1952, Byrd served there for six years before being elected to the Senate in 1958. He rose to become one of the Senate 's most powerful members , serving as secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus from 1967 to 1971 andafter defeating his longtime colleague, Ted Kennedy as Senate Majority Whip from 1971 to 1977. Byrd led the Democratic caucus as Senate Majority Leader from 1977 to 1981 and 1987 to 1989, and as Senate Minority Leader from 1981 to 1987. From 1989 to 2010 he served as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate when the Democratic Party had a majority , and as President pro tempore emeritus during periods of Republican majority beginning in 2001. [8] As President pro tempore , he was third in the line of presidential succession , behind the Vice President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives . He also served as the Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations from 1989 to 1995, 2001 to 2003, and 2007 to 2009, giving him Extraordinary influence over federal spending. Byrd 's seniority and leadership of the Appropriations Committee enabled him to steer a great deal of federal money toward projects in West Virginia . [9] Critics derided his efforts as pork spending [10] to appeal to his own constituents . He filibustered against the 1964 Civil Rights Act and supported the Vietnam War , but later backed civil rights measures and criticized the Iraq War . Background [ edit ] Robert Byrd was born on November 20, 1917 as Cornelius Calvin Sale , Jr . [11] in North Wilkesboro , North Carolina , to Cornelius Calvin Sale Sr . and his wife Ada Mae Kirby . [8] When he was ten months old, his mother died in the 1918 Flu Pandemic . In accordance with his mother's wishes , his father [11] dispersed their children among relatives . Calvin Jr . was adopted by his aunt and uncle , Titus and Vlurma Byrd , who changed his name to Robert Carlyle Byrd and raised him in the coal-mining region of southern West Virginia . [5] [12] [13] Byrd was valedictorian at Mark Twain High School in Tams , West Virginia [14] and successively attended Beckley College , Concord College , Morris Harvey College , and Marshall University , all in West Virginia . [8] He joined Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity . Marriage [ edit ] On May 29, 1937, Byrd married Erma Ora James (June 12, 1917 March 25, 2006) [15] who was born to a coal mining family in Floyd County, Virginia . [16] Her family moved to Raleigh County , West Virginia , where she met Byrd when they attended the same school.[ citation needed ] Children [ edit ] Robert Byrd had two children, Mona Byrd Fatemi and Marjorie Byrd Moore ; two sons-in-law, Mohammad Fatemi and Jon Moore ; six grandchildren, Erik Byrd Fatemi, Mona Byrd Moore Pearson , Darius Fatemi, Mary Anne Moore Clarkson , Fredrik Fatemi, and Jon Michael Moore (deceased automobile accident in the 1980s); and seven great-grandchildren, Caroline Byrd Fatemi, Emma James Clarkson , Kathryn James Fatemi, Hannah Byrd Clarkson , Michael Yoo Fatemi, Anna Cristina Fatemi, and James Matthew Fatemi. [8] Ku Klux Klan [ edit ] 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 . [12] [11] According to Byrd , a Klan official told him, "You have a talent for leadership, Bob ... 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." [12] Byrd became a recruiter and leader of his chapter. [12] When it came time to elect the top officer ( Exalted Cyclops ) in the local Klan unit , Byrd won unanimously . [12] In 1946, Byrd wrote to segregationist Mississippi Senator Theodore G. Bilbo : [17] I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side ... 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), 1946 [12] [18] [19] In 1946, Byrd wrote a letter to a 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 ." [20] However, when running for the United States House of Representatives in 1952, he announced "After about a year, I became disinterested , quit paying my dues, and dropped my membership in the organization . During the nine years that have followed, I have never been interested in the Klan ." He said he had joined the Klan because he felt it offered excitement and was anti-communist . [12] But Byrd 's friend and fellow Klansman Democratic Senator Theodore G. Bilbo told Meet the Press , "No man can leave the Klan . He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux." [21] Byrd never provided any corroboration for his claim to have quit. In 1997, Byrd 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 around your neck . Once you've made that mistake, you inhibit your operations in the political arena." [22] 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 ." [23] 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." [12] Early career [ edit ] Byrd worked as a gas-station attendant, a grocery-store clerk , a shipyard welder during World WarII , and a butcher , before he won a seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1946, representing Raleigh County from 1947 to 1950. [8] Byrd became a local celebrity after a radio station in Beckley, WV began broadcasting his "fiery fundamentalist lessons." [24] In 1950, he was elected to the West Virginia Senate , where he served fr