They tell me that Robert C. Byrd is gone from us this dark day. We will not live to see his like again.
He had recently become the longest-serving lawmaker in our history. "I look forward to serving you for the next 56 years and 320 days," Byrd said in a statement.
His career in Washington began in 1952 with election to the House and elevation six years later to the Senate. Since June 12, 2006, Byrd has been the longest-serving senator and later that year he was elected to an unprecedented ninth term. His colleagues have elected him to more leadership positions than any senator in history.
He cast more than 18,000 votes and, although his deteriorating health had kept him from the Senate floor this year, he had a nearly 98 percent attendance record over the course of his career which, by Byrd's count, had then spanned 20,774 days.
Byrd rose up from ignorance and poverty as a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan to later support civil rights, to write the history of the Senate and other books, to earn of a law degree from American University while serving in Washington, and to live to cheer for the nation's first black president.
He was a champion of Constitutionally-permitted project spending called "earmarks" and he brought $326 million in such projects to West Virginia for 2008 alone.
In October, despite a long illness and hospital absences, Byrd still personally managed a $44.1 Billion spending agreement on security measures against natural disaster, terrorist attacks and other threats.
Friday the 20th of November, 2009 was his 92nd birthday. It was his last.
Byrd wrote in his weekly column that week that his birthday should be about Thanksgiving. What did he give thanks for in his 92nd year? The privilege of representing "our great people in the U.S. Senate." He did so better and longer than anyone.
And he didn't apologize for representing one of the poorest and least developed of these United States.
"They call me 'The Pork King,' they don't know how much I enjoy it. When I was a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates 51 years ago, West Virginia had four miles of divided highway. Four miles. Today the state has about 37,000 miles of highway."
My son in law recently drew my attention to just a few of the many, many items Byrd's Billions in federally funded projects has brought to this once poor State during his tenure:
Robert C. Byrd Drive, from Beckley to Sophia (Byrd's hometown)
Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center at Wheeling Jesuit University
Robert C. Byrd Highway
Robert C. Byrd Federal Correctional Institution
Robert C. Byrd High School
Robert C. Byrd Freeway
Robert C. Byrd Center for Hospitality and Tourism
Robert C. Byrd Science Center
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center of West Virginia
Robert C. Byrd Cancer Research Center
Robert C. Byrd Technology Center at Alderson-Broaddus College
Robert C. Byrd Hardwood Technologies Center, near Princeton
Robert C. Byrd Bridge between Huntington and Chesapeake, Ohio
Robert C. Byrd addition to the lodge at Oglebay Park, Wheeling
Robert C. Byrd Community Center, Pine Grove
Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarships
Robert C. Byrd Expressway, U.S. 52 near Weirton
Robert C. Byrd Institute in Charleston
Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing
Robert C. Byrd Visitor Center at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park
Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse
Robert C. Byrd Academic and Technology Center
Robert C. Byrd United Technical Center
Robert C. Byrd Federal Building (there are two)
Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex
Robert C. Byrd Library and Robert C. Byrd Learning Resource Center
Robert C. Byrd Rural Health Center
Robert C. Byrd Clinical Addition to the veteran's hospital in Huntington
Robert C. Byrd Industrial Park, Hardy County
Robert C. Byrd Scholastic Recognition Award
Robert C. Byrd Community Center in the naval station, Sugar Grove
Robert C. Byrd Clinic at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center at Marshall University
So go ahead and criticize his accomplishments if you wish, while you travel his roads and his bridges, attend his schools, read his books, are treated in his hospitals or in work in the businesses his gracious generosity has provided.
Without his help, God knows the rest of this country would have been content to continue to forget the State that has suffered such an disproportionally high number of deaths per capita serving in our wars, and whose dedicated miners through the years provided more traditional fuels to this nation's production and energy needs than any other.
For myself, I intend to celebrate the life of, and to mourn the loss of one of the greatest statesmen, and the greatest of men.
- And I say God Bless Robert C. Byrd.
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