Senator Robert Byrd not only was a KKK member but led his local Klan chapter

Byrd fiddled while America was burning

Senator Robert Byrd not only was a KKK member but led his local Klan chapter

Deceased U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd will be remembered by lots of things: His love for dogs and hyperbole, his ability to funnel federal dollars into make-work jobs in his native West Virginia, his loathing of balanced budgets and the fact that he skillfully conned several generations of Appalachian people into voting for him, over and over again, for almost six decades.

In passing, Sen. Byrd will also be remembered for having joined the Ku Klux Klan as a “young man.”

Byrd joined the Klan at the ripe young age of 24 — hardly a young’un by today’s standards, much less those of 1944, when Byrd refused to join the military because he might have to serve alongside “race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds,” according to a letter Byrd wrote to Sen. Theodore Bilbo at the height of World War II.

(Democrates accuse republicans of being racists if they even question obama's origins including his birth. Democrates ignore the facts about a KKK senator's past.) Story Reports

Today’s obituaries, however, made little mention of Byrd’s once-deeply held hatred for African Americans.

Of all the outlets that eulogized Byrd, only the Hill bothered to mention that a “young” Byrd not only joined the KKK, but also led his local chapter.

No single obituary of Byrd mentioned his 2001 use of the term “white nigger,” an early 20th-century anachronism that Byrd employed not once, but twice during an interview with Tony Snow.

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Robert Byrd (democrate) was not only a member of the KKK but recruited 150 of his friends and associates to form a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
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Participation in the Ku Klux Klan or modern DNC

In the early 1940s, Byrd joined the Ku Klux Klan, which he had seen holding parades as a child. He "recruited 150 of his friends and associates to form a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. After Byrd had collected the $10 joining fee and $3 charge for a robe and hood from every applicant, the Grand Dragon Joel L. Baskin for the mid-Atlantic states came down to tiny Crab Orchard, West Virginia to officially organize the chapter... "When it came time to choose the Exalted Cyclops, the top officer in the local Klan unit, Byrd won unanimously."[1] Byrd, in his autobiography, attributed the beginnings of his political career to this incident, though he lamented that they involved the Klan. According to Byrd's recollection, Baskin told him, "You have a talent for leadership, Bob... The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation." Byrd recalls that "suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities. I was only 23 or 24, and the thought of a political career had never struck me. But strike me that night, it did." [2]

He participated in the KKK for a period of time during World War II, holding the titles "Kleagle", which indicated a Klan recruiter, and "Exalted Cyclops." Byrd did not serve in the military during the war, working instead as a welder in a Baltimore shipyard, assembling warships.

When running for Congress in 1952, he announced, "After about a year, I became disinterested, quit paying my dues, and dropped my membership in the organization. During the nine years that have followed, I have never been interested in the Klan." During this campaign, "Byrd went on the radio to acknowledge that he belonged to the Klan from 'mid-1942 to early 1943,' according to newspaper accounts. He explained that he had joined 'because it offered excitement and because it was strongly opposed to communism.' " ibid.

(Byrd says he was a member of the clan for 6 months? He was excited about the KKK. He like the KKK because the KKK opposed communism? Byrd was just another democrate liar.) Story Reports

Byrd has often referred to his Klan membership as a mistake of his youth. As recently as 1997, he told an interviewer he'd encourage young people to become involved in politics, but with this warning: "Be sure you avoid the Ku Klux Klan. Don't get that albatross around your neck. Once you've made that mistake, you inhibit your operations in the political arena." Conservatives repeatedly point up his KKK membership to discredit him today, and his fellow Democratic Senators, as hypocritical. [3]

During the campaign, Byrd's Republican opponent "uncovered a letter Byrd had handwritten to [...] the KKK Imperial Wizard, recommending a friend as a Kleagle and urging promotion of the Klan throughout the country. The letter was dated 1946 -- when Byrd was 29 years old and long after the time Byrd claimed he had lost interest in the Klan. 'The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia,' Byrd wrote, according to newspaper accounts of that period."ibid

During his campaign for the U.S. Senate in 1958, when Byrd was 41 years old, Byrd defended the Klan. He argued that the KKK had been incorrectly blamed for much of the violence in the South. [4]

In the 1960 Presidential election primaries, Byrd, a close ally of Lyndon B. Johnson, then Senate Majority Leader, tried to derail the Democratic front-runner and ultimately successful candidate John F. Kennedy in the crucial West Virginia primary. "Kennedy allies retaliated with leaks to the press about Byrd's work as a Klan organizer." [5]

Byrd later joined with other southern Democrats to oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Byrd filibustered the bill for more than 14 hours, saying it abrogated principles of federalism. He also opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which was a substantially more controversial bill than the previous two as it made racial discrimination in selling homes and renting out apartments illegal.

On March 4, 2001, an interview with FOX News Sunday host Tony Snow was aired. In the interview Byrd was asked about race relations: "They are much, much better than they've ever been in my lifetime," Byrd said. "I think we talk about race too much. I think those problems are largely behind us ... I just think we talk so much about it that we help to create somewhat of an illusion. I think we try to have good will. My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody.' We practice that. There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."[8]

When asked about it, Byrd apologized for the language: " 'I apologize for the characterization I used on this program,' he said. 'The phrase dates back to my boyhood and has no place in today's society. [...] 'In my attempt to articulate strongly held feelings, I may have offended people.' "ibid

(What did byrd mean by the term White Ni--er? Was ne talking about mixed blacks and whites or just whites or what? Byrd was using racist terms. Democrates like harry reid etc still use the same terms. Democrates seem to be more racist that some people care to admit.) Story Reports


Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is the name of several past and present organizations in the United States that have advocated white supremacy, anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, racism, homophobia, anti-Communism and nativism. These organizations have often used terrorism, violence, and acts of intimidation, such as cross burning and lynching, to oppress African Americans and other social or ethnic groups.

(The KKK has morphed into other forms today. The thugs in washington led by obama are a prime example.)