reposted from
Ace of Spades (with thanks to commenter "Stuck on Stupid"):
"Byrd was not just a "casual" member of the KKK for a short period of time. He officially joined the Klan in 1942. He was a Kleagle, basically a recruiter convincing others to join the Klan. Byrd himself bragged that he had recruited over 150 members for his local chapter. And while Byrd himself worked very hard to convince others to join the Klan, no one recruited him. He was the one that initiated contact with the Klan, according to his own autobiography, after seeing a newspaper ad. Joining the Klan was all Byrd's idea from the get-go. They must have really seen eye to eye, because within a few years his local chapter elected him Exalted Cyclops.
Byrd publically claimed he left the Klan in 1943, but this is a highly dubious claim at best, especially given that in 1945 he wrote a letter to Mississippi’s Senator Theodore Bilbo stating he would never "fight in the armed forces with a Negro at my side". Then later in 1947 he wrote a letter to Dr. Samuel Green, the Imperial Wizard of the Klan at the time, in which he stated “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.”
In 1964 Byrd fillibustered the Civil Rights Act for more than 14 hours, during that time he made the argument that the founders did not intend that the words "All men are created equally" in the Declaration of Independence were meant to be interpreted literally. “Men and races of men differ in appearance, ways, physical power, mental capacity, creativity, and vision".
Also during this fillibuster Byrd went on to introduce a “study” from the book The Mind of Primitive Man that stated that white people’s brains weighed a few grams more than black people’s brains, and that whites were thus more intelligent. He even cited so called scriptural support for his segregationist views. All of this a full 21 years after he had supposedly "broken all ties" with the Klan.
In 1968 Byrd contacted the FBI, suggesting he give a speech condemning Dr. Martin Luther King on the floor of the Senate. The FBI declined.
Byrd is also the only Senator to have voted against both African American nominees to the supreme court, both a liberal (Marshall) and a conservative (Thomas). Since he voted against both, it's hard to imagine that it was political ideology that was his motivation.
Even as late as 2001, during a television interview Byrd used the n word repeatedly, and later had to apologize. He was referring to people as "white (expletive deleted) " several times thoughout the interview. He later claimed it was just an "expression" from his childhood.*
Somehow, methinks the MSM will give this a big .. well, whitewash, if you'll forgive the obvious pun."
*Editor's note: the word SoS and Ace are too polite to use is ,"nigger". However, out of, for lack of a less appropriate word, 'respect' for the legacy of Senator Byrd, I will reprint it here. -- TBL
