WASHINGTON – US senator Robert Byrd, who evolved from a segregationist to a civil rights advocate in becoming the longest-serving member ever of the Congress, died yesterday. First elected in 1952, Byrd was 92.
His death is not expected to have any immediate impact on the Democrats’ 59-41 control of the Senate as West Virginia governor Joe Manchin is virtually certain to appoint a fellow Democrat to succeed Byrd, whose current term expires in 2012.
But Byrd’s death may delay efforts to win final congressional approval this week of landmark legislation that he backed to tighten regulation of the financial industry.
Strong public support, however, means Democrats are likely to get the needed 60 Senate votes from within their rank.
Byrd helped shape much of the nation’s history and served with a dozen US presidents. He died peacefully at Inova Fairfax Hospital outside of Washington, DC, said his spokesman, Jesse Jacobs. Byrd was hospitalised last week with what doctors believed was a heat-related illness.
“I love to serve. I love the Senate. If I could live another 100 years, I’d like to continue in the Senate,” Byrd, who kept a copy of the US Constitution in his breast pocket, said in an interview with Reuters in 2006.
“The people of West Virginia have lost a true champion, the United States Senate has lost a venerable institution, and America has lost a voice of principle and reason with the passing of Robert C Byrd,” said President Barack Obama.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Byrd will be remembered “for his fighter’s spirit, his abiding faith and for the many times he recalled the Senate to its purposes”. Byrd was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1952, and served six years in that chamber before moving to the Senate. His early campaigns were punctuated by his skills as a bluegrass fiddler that helped draw enthusiastic crowds for the self-described West Virginia “hillbilly”.
With his old-fashioned courtliness, Byrd was a defender of the Senate’s traditions and over the years held most of its key positions, including Democratic leader from 1977 to 1988 and later as the top Democrat on the powerful Appropriations Committee.
Byrd was an early and eloquent opponent of the Iraq war, which began in 2003 with popular support but within a few years was widely condemned. He also warned against a build-up of US troops in Afghanistan.
He worked with and challenged presidents, Democrats and Republicans alike, and reminded all of them of Congress’s responsibility to check their power. “I’m not any president’s man. I’m a Senate’s man,” he said in the interview.
During his more than half century in Congress, the US changed dramatically and so did Byrd. “When I got here, I was to the right of Barry Goldwater,” Byrd said, referring to the conservative Republican senator and failed 1964 presidential candidate. “I moved more to the centre.”
– (Reuters)