did you know?...part 1

Did you know that recently deceased DEMOCRATIC senator Robert Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan when he was a young man? During his time in the KKK he was given the titles of Kleagle (recruiter) and Exalted Cyclops. During WWII he penned the following letter to segregationist and DEMOCRATIC Senator Theodore Bilbo:

“ I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds. ”
— Robert C. Byrd, in a letter to DEMOCRATIC Senator Theodore Bilbo, 1944,

In 1946 or 1947 he wrote a letter to a Grand Wizard stating:

"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."

Byrd defeated REPUBLICAN incumbent W. Chapman Revercomb for the United States Senate in 1958, a campaign in which Revercomb's record SUPPORTING CIVIL RIGHTS became an issue which played in Byrd's favor.

Byrd joined with other Southern and border state DEMOCRATS to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964, personally filibustering the bill for 14 hours.


Of course, later in life he noted that joining the KKK was "the greatest mistake I ever made" and that he regretted making the filibuster.

more info...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd