“West Virginia Senator” Robert Byrd Hand Signed 3X5 Card Todd Mueller COA

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“West Virginia Senator” Robert Byrd Hand Signed 3X5 Card.
This item is authenticated By Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.
ES-8934E
Robert Carlyle Byrd
(born
Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.
; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician who served as a
United States senator
from
West Virginia
for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A
Democrat
, Byrd also served as a
U.S. representative
for six years, from 1953 until 1959. He remains the
longest-serving U.S. Senator
in history; he was the
longest-serving member
in the history of the
United States Congress
until surpassed by Representative
John Dingell
of
Michigan
.
Byrd is the only West Virginian to have served in both chambers of the state legislature and in both chambers of Congress. Byrd's political career spanned more than sixty years. He first entered the political arena by organizing and leading a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s, an action he later described as "the greatest mistake I ever made."
He then served in the West Virginia House of Delegates from 1947 to 1950, and the West Virginia State Senate from 1950 to 1952. Initially elected to the
United States House of Representatives
in 1952, Byrd served there for six years before being elected to the Senate in
1958
. He rose to become one of the Senate's most powerful members, serving as secretary of the
Senate Democratic Caucus
from 1967 to 1971 and—after defeating his longtime colleague
Ted Kennedy
for the job—as
Senate Majority Whip
from 1971 to 1977. Over the next 12 years, Byrd led the Democratic caucus as
Senate Majority Leader
and
Senate Minority Leader
. In 1989 he stepped down, following the pressure to make way for new party leadership. As the longest serving Democratic senator, Byrd held the position of
President pro tempore
four times when his party was in the majority. This placed him third in the
line of presidential succession
, after the vice president and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives
. Serving three different tenures as chairman of the
United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
enabled Byrd to steer a great deal of federal money toward projects in West Virginia. Critics derided his efforts as
pork barrel spending
, while Byrd argued that the many federal projects he worked to bring to West Virginia represented progress for the people of his state. Although he
filibustered
against the
1964 Civil Rights Act
and supported the
Vietnam War
earlier in his career, Byrd's views changed considerably over the course of his life; by the early 2000s, he had completely renounced racism and
segregation
, and spoken in opposition to the
Iraq War
. Renowned for his knowledge of Senate precedent and
parliamentary procedure
, Byrd wrote a four-volume history of the Senate in later  life.Near the end of his life, Byrd was in declining health and was hospitalized several times. He died in office on June 28, 2010, at the age of 92, and was buried at
Columbia Gardens Cemetery
in
Arlington, Virginia
.