Was Robert Byrd compromised by the Klan?

While Byrd spent the latter part of his career apologizing for his racist past, it may still have marred his career...

From Talking Points Memo:

While remembering Robert C. Byrd today we would not do him justice without taking stock of the major blot on his public life: the fact that his early life and political career was inextricably bound up with the politics of racism. That much is not in dispute. Byrd spent the latter part of his life admitting as much and apologizing for it. The outstanding question is whether it compromised him in the bulk of his public career that took place after the 1960s when he became a more or less conventional Democrat on issues of Civil Rights.

First a brief review of the history. In his early twenties Byrd joined the Ku Klux Klan and became the leader of the unit is his small town in West Virginia. According to Byrd’s account he wrote the head of the national organization in late 1941 or early 1942 and said he wanted to join the organization. Eventually he was instrumental in recruiting a local group which eventually got the imprimatur of the national Klan and elected Byrd their “Exalted Cyclops”, or leader of the local group, in addition to “Kleagle”, or chief local recruiter.

Click here for the entire article.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE