Washington – Robert Byrd became the longest-serving U.S. senator in history Monday. And, with almost 48 years of service, he’s not finished yet.
Byrd, D-W.Va., surpassed the record of Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., and has spent 17,327 days in the chamber, where he’s the epitome of an old-school senator.
At 88, he’s running for a record ninth term and is favored to win in November. Byrd is a political icon in the Mountain State, where he’s known for his efforts each year to send hundreds of millions of federal dollars back home through his post on the powerful Appropriations Committee.
He’s slowed by age and grief- stricken by the recent death of Erma, his wife of almost 69 years. He requires two canes to slowly make his way around the Capitol, but his mind is still sharp.
His milestone was a bittersweet day; Erma Byrd would have turned 89 on Monday.
Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., called Byrd “one of the greatest orators in the grand tradition of this august Senate.”
In many ways Byrd is out of sync with today’s political scene, quoting from the Bible and citing Roman history in his speeches. But his fervent opposition to the war in Iraq has earned him a following among young liberals.
Still, his career has had some low points. Byrd participated in an unsuccessful filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. As a young man, he joined the Ku Klux Klan, a mistake he has been saddled with since the early 1940s.
