Senate Loses Its Longest-Serving Lawmaker; Robert Byrd Passes Away at 92
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Robert Byrd, a 92-year-old West Virginia Democrat and former Ku Klux Klan member turned civil rights advocate, died Monday after serving for the past 51 years in the U.S. Senate.
According to a spokesman for the the family, Byrd died peacefully in a Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia at 3 a.m., after suffering from what was to believed to be heat exhaustion and severe dehydration, but other conditions developed for the Senator who had been in failing health for for some time.
"I am saddened that the family of U.S. Senator Robert Byrd tearfully announced the passing of the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history," Byrd's spokesman Jesse Jacobs said in statement.
Byrd has fought for the issues facing his home state of West Virginia since first being elected to the House of Representatives in 1952 and has served alongside a dozen U.S. presidents. He served six years in that chamber before moving to the Senate.
In 1970, Byrd received the support of all of West Virginia’s 55 counties in an election, a sign of the great respect that he held in his home state.
The late Senator was considered to be a defender of the Senate’s traditions and held several key positions in the Senate over the past fifty-plus years, including Democratic leader from 1977 to 1988 and later as the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.
Byrd was currently set to vote in favor of the financial reform bill that should be passed by July 4.
It is expected that West Virginia’s Democrat Governor Joe Manchin will appoint a Democrat to serve the rest of Byrd’s six year term that was to run through 2012.
According to a spokesman for the the family, Byrd died peacefully in a Hospital in Fairfax, Virginia at 3 a.m., after suffering from what was to believed to be heat exhaustion and severe dehydration, but other conditions developed for the Senator who had been in failing health for for some time.
"I am saddened that the family of U.S. Senator Robert Byrd tearfully announced the passing of the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history," Byrd's spokesman Jesse Jacobs said in statement.
Byrd has fought for the issues facing his home state of West Virginia since first being elected to the House of Representatives in 1952 and has served alongside a dozen U.S. presidents. He served six years in that chamber before moving to the Senate.
In 1970, Byrd received the support of all of West Virginia’s 55 counties in an election, a sign of the great respect that he held in his home state.
The late Senator was considered to be a defender of the Senate’s traditions and held several key positions in the Senate over the past fifty-plus years, including Democratic leader from 1977 to 1988 and later as the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.
Byrd was currently set to vote in favor of the financial reform bill that should be passed by July 4.
It is expected that West Virginia’s Democrat Governor Joe Manchin will appoint a Democrat to serve the rest of Byrd’s six year term that was to run through 2012.
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