Robert C. Byrd: A Champion for Legislatures

by Brian Weberg

Robert C. Byrd was many things to many people.  To those of us who live outside West Virginia, we knew him as the consummate congressional insider, tireless in his efforts to deliver federal dollars to his home state, formal and articulate in an old-school political style, sometimes irascible in manner and always strict in his conviction about how government should work.

We "outsiders" did not know as much about his background--his up-by-the-bootstraps rise from poverty, his unquenchable thirst for a formal education denied him in his youth (he earned his law degree in 1963, the only U.S. Senator ever to accomplish this feat while in office), his conversion from Ku Klux Klan membership to pragmatic, sometimes progressive politician.  He was a fiddle player who early in his political career entertained his campaign audiences with a mix of compelling oratory and basic bluegrass.  

Part of his legacy, as cited in his New York Times obituary, will be as "a champion of the legislative branch."  His commitment to the doctrine of separation of powers was well know within political circles.  This quote from the NYT article perfectly summarizes Byrd's commitment to the legislative branch:     

...former Senator Paul S. Sarbanes of Maryland, a colleague of 30 years, recalled that Mr. Byrd had taught him how to answer when a constituent asked, “How many presidents have you served under?”        

“None,” was Mr. Byrd’s reply, Mr. Sarbanes said. “I have served with presidents, not under them.

Senator Byrd was, above all, a champion for the people of West Virginia.  A note received by me this week from a long-time West Virginia legislative staffer probably speaks for most from The Mountain State:

Senator Byrd will truly be missed by the citizens of West Virginia.  Whether he knew you or not, when he was here he always took to time to speak, shake hands or whatever.  He loved his family, his country, his state and his constitution.

Robert C. Byrd will be missed by all of us who champion legislatures as the first branch of government.  We need more like him.