Byrd was a butcher, who appeared to have political aspirations and dreams.
This article covers;
Some of the background of Senator Robert Byrd
His connections to the KKK, his beliefs about the black population, jewish population and catholics.
How did someone opposed to what modern day democrat leaders claim they stand for, rise so high in the ranks of government to become the longest serving senator in the United States?
How certain media outlets and democrat leaders attempt to white wash Byrd's actions and connections to a violent hate group involved in numerous murders of those they deemed they were superior to. How do you reconcile that?
What did this particular democrat do in West Virginia back in the 1940's to fulfill those dreams?
Start a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan of course and garner the attention of the head Klansman by recruiting 150 of your friends.
Apparently the Grand Dragon came down to officially organize the chapter.
Byrd appears to brag about how the leader of the KKK was so impressed with him.
This leader was Joel L. Baskin, who led the offices for the Klan in Washington D.C. in the 1920's.
After Byrd had collected the $10 joining fee and $3 charge for a robe and hood from every applicant, the "Grand Dragon" for the mid-Atlantic states came down to tiny Crab Orchard, W.Va., to officially organize the chapter.
As Byrd recalls now, the Klan official, Joel L. Baskin of Arlington, Va., was so impressed with the young Byrd's organizational skills that he urged him to go into politics. "The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation," Baskin said.
Now this is interesting because the Washington Post stated he was politically ambitious and the fact he organized those men and convinced them to pay dues and fees for their garb seems to show he wanted to garner attention for what he claimed Baskin was "impressed with. . .those organizational skills he demonstrated.
In other words it seems he had Political Aspirations well before Baskin would have "given him the idea."
The young Klan leader went on to become one of the most powerful and enduring figures in modern Senate history. Throughout a half-century on Capitol Hill, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) has twice held the premier leadership post in the Senate, helped win ratification of the Panama Canal treaty, squeezed billions from federal coffers to aid his home state, and won praise from liberals for his opposition to the war in Iraq and his defense of minority party rights in the Senate.
Despite his many achievements, however, the venerated Byrd has never been able to fully erase the stain of his association with one of the most reviled hate groups in the nation's history.
Here is the link where Hillary is praising him. Q pointed to her praise and admiration of Byrd in previous drops.
What Obama had to say about Byrd.
"He [Robert Byrd] was as much a part of the Senate as the marble busts that line its chamber and its corridors. His profound passion for that body and its role and responsibilities was as evident behind closed doors as it was in the stemwinders he peppered with history. He held the deepest respect of members of both parties, and he was generous with his time and advice, something I appreciated greatly as a young senator."
A great poster on Voat TheAwakening board shared this link.
Barack Obama - Eulogy for Robert Byrd
Really, "he peppered with history?" Just who or what was the pepper?
The Washington Post appears to help him attempt to explain away his desire to organize and be such an integral part of the KKK. Downplaying his goals and activities. Even suggesting they were just their mainly for a fraternal of men from different careers and Byrd was just the man to organize and lead them.
The writer claimed West Virginia was "never a hotbed of Klan activity." Well, at least not like those Other states from the Deep South.
He claims the violence that was demonstrated against 48 people to include 28 blacks that were lynched (so just a mild problem and happened in the 1800's and early 1900's) so no biggie. You know, just how things were.
Did the Washington Post want to give him a medal for this? They try to white wash Byrd's involvement with this statement,
The last two reported lynchings occurred on Dec. 10, 1931, in Lewisburg, W.Va. By the time Byrd began organizing for the Klan during World War II, the organization had largely morphed into a money-making fraternal organization that was virulently anti-black, anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic.
Oh, okay. Well why didn't they start with That? So as a leading democrat being praised by other leaders in government. . .the hate is okay as long as the lynchings were years before their esteemed colleague joined the hate organization admitting through chants and actions what they wanted to do to certain groups of people.
Height of hypocrisy and disgust!
Byrd wrote to Samuel Green, an Atlanta doctor and "Imperial Wizard" of the Ku Klux Klan, in late 1941 or early 1942, expressing interest in joining. Some time later, he received the letter from Baskin, the "Grand Dragon" of mid-Atlantic states, saying he would come to Byrd's home in Crab Orchard whenever Byrd had rounded up 150 recruits for the Klan.
When Baskin finally arrived, the group gathered at the home of C.M. "Clyde" Goodwin, a former local law enforcement official. When it came time to choose the "Exalted Cyclops," the top officer in the local Klan unit, Byrd won unanimously.
Byrd asserts that his Klan chapter never engaged in or preached violence, "nor did we conduct any parades or marches or other public demonstrations" -- other than one time delivering a wreath of flowers in the shape of a cross to the home of a member who had been killed in a pistol duel.
Byrd wrote that he continued as a "Kleagle" recruiting for the Klan until early 1943, when he and his family left Crab Orchard for a welding job in a Baltimore shipyard. Returning to West Virginia after World War II ended in 1945, he launched his political career, but not before writing another letter, to one of the Senate's most notorious segregationists, Theodore Bilbo (D-Miss.), complaining about the Truman administration's efforts to integrate the military.
Byrd said in the Dec. 11, 1945, letter -- which would not become public for 42 more years with the publication of a book on blacks in the military during World War II by author Graham Smith -- that he would never fight in the armed forces "with a Negro by my side." Byrd added that, "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."
How did Byrd manage to become so successful and powerful in government leadership with his background in what democrat leaders "claim" to abhor? Byrd had already served in the state legislature, then when making a run for the House, his opponent pointed out Byrd's ties to the Klan.
He explained that he had joined "because it offered excitement and because it was strongly opposed to communism." He said that after about a year, he quit and dropped his membership, and never was interested in the Klan again.
Interesting because he seemed fairly involved and dedicated to helping them.
Interesting Byrd made no mention of this in his book, conveniently Left out.
Byrd's GOP opponent uncovered a letter Byrd had handwritten to Green, the KKK Imperial Wizard, recommending a friend as a Kleagle and urging promotion of the Klan throughout the country. The letter was dated 1946 -- 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. Byrd makes no mention of the letter in his new book.
So how did Byrd become the longest serving senator when involved directly in this?
He presides over the Council of the Centaurs and writes quarterly reports to the Grand Giant. In the Klan hierarchy, each local chapter, or Klavern, is led by an Exalted Cyclops. This member is typically elected by his fellow Klansmen and serves a one-year term. According to the original 1867 Prescript of the Ku Klux Klan, the Exalted Cyclops reports to a Grand Giant, or provincial leader; a Grand Dragon, or state director; and the Grand Wizard, or national chair.
People under Byrd in the KKK
Below the Cyclops on the org chart were the Grand Magi, the Grand Monk, the Grand Exchequer, the Grand Turk, and, finally, the rank-and-file members known as Ghouls or Knights. (Many of these titles have changed over time, and most of the sub-Cyclops ranks have been eliminated.) The Exalted Cyclops’ responsibilities include presiding over Klavern meetings, initiating new members, and appointing Councils of Centaurs—that’s Klan-speak for a jury—to try and punish wayward Ghouls.
This source seems to downplay the hate, vitriol and murderous history behind the KKK as it states,
The Klan’s whimsical titles of office hearken back to its Reconstruction-era beginnings. In 1865, six Tennesseans formed a club that mainly involved dressing up in costumes and riding around Giles County after dark. Their ghoulish appearance spawned a legend that they were apparitions of soldiers from the bloody Civil War battle of Shiloh seeking revenge against the freedmen. Sensing the fear of a few credulous blacks, nearby localities started copying the stunt, and representatives from around the region formed an umbrella organization in Nashville in 1867. The titles of offices drew upon the ghostly mythology surrounding the group.
WHIMSICAL Titles? In the Ku Klux Klan? Nothing whimsical about haters and murderers!
What kind of a movie script do they think they are writing?
These titles, while odd to the modern ear, were in line with fraternal organizations of the time. Members of the Masons, the forefathers of the fraternal-order movement, aspire to be Worshipful Masters or Senior Wardens. The Lamb’s Club, which first appeared in the U.S. in 1874, is headed by a Shepherd and a Boy. When the Shriners formed in 1870, their leaders were styled the Potentate and the Chief Rabban.
Those who understand the roots of Free Masonry, it's connections to the illuminati and the occult understand first hand the source of their power and how vital their belief system embedded in rituals is to them. Set up to be controllers and to decide the fate of those beneath them.
Here the article speaks of rebranding them! . Really? Shouldn't such a hateful organization be shucked and denounced?
Today’s Exalted Cyclops is responsible for rehabbing the chapter’s image, as the Klan tries to rebrand itself as a community service organization, civil rights advocate for whites, and semilibertarian political action group. (They do advocate placing all HIV-positive Americans in state-owned hospitals.) Several Klaverns now participate in the Adopt-a-Highway program. The group has also adopted the slogan “America’s Oldest Civil Rights Organization.
What Pelosi said about Robert Byrd,
"Throughout his historic career in the House and Senate, he never stopped working to improve the lives of the people of West Virginia. While some simply bore witness to history, Senator Byrd shaped it and strove to build a brighter future for us all."
Interesting! I'll bet he did "strive to shape the future!" Just who does the us all entail?
Would that be the elitists in positions of leadership and power deciding the fate of the general population, all while pocketing off of the profits made through predatory practices? Say practices like KKK membership dues, fees and acts not always done at only the cost of monetary currency, but also Blood.
Who benefits, who loses?
Jay Rockefeller said,
He "Triumphantly rose to the heights of power in America. But he never forgot where he came from nor who he represented, and he never abused that power for his own gain."
Interesting how his power seemed to garner Byrd a great deal of influence and spending.
He also served as the Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations from 1989 to 1995, 2001 to 2003, and 2007 to 2009, giving him extraordinary influence over federal spending. Byrd's seniority and leadership of the Appropriations Committee enabled him to steer a great deal of federal money toward projects in West Virginia. Critics derided his efforts as pork spending to appeal to his own constituents. He filibustered against the 1964 Civil Rights Act and supported the Vietnam War
Interesting as Jay Rockefeller was the only serving politician in his family.
Jay originally was a Republican, until running in a Democrat state, then switched.
He worked under President John F. Kennedy for the Peace Corp in D.C.
Served as the Operations Director for the Corps' largest overseas program, in the Philippines.
Then worked under Lyndon B. Johnson for VISTA, Volunteers In Service To America.
Jay and his son, Charles are trustees of New York's Asia Society.
He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, formerly chaired by his uncle David.
So once again, how did was he able to garner such favor among leaders who claim they are against these actions of the KKK?
The Washington Post article attempts to explain the obvious dichotomy.
Historians, political analysts and admirers have long sought to reconcile Byrd's early Klan affiliation with his image as a pillar of the Senate. More extraordinary is how he managed to overcome such a blot on his record to twice become Senate majority leader.
"To imagine someone who was a member of the Klan in his youth who managed to become the majority leader of the Senate, it's really quite striking," said congressional scholar Thomas E. Mann of the Brookings Institution.
Indeed!
In 2005, Byrd said last week that his membership in the Baptist church tempered his views and marked "the beginning of big changes in me." And like other southern and border-state Democrats of his time, Byrd came to realize that he would have to temper his blatantly segregationist views and edge toward his party's mainstream if he wanted to advance on the national stage.
Yes, this is what career politicians do don't they? Appear as a chameleon in order to further their own aspirations.
Ken Hechler, a liberal Democratic former U.S. House member from West Virginia who served with Byrd in Congress, once stated, "It's impossible for anyone to try to whitewash the KKK and its overall symbolism."
"But at the same time," he added, "we honor those people who publicly admit the error of their ways."
Would they do so if it were a Republican who had erred in the same manner?