82-527: Ross Robert Barnett (January 22, 1898 – November 6, 1987) was an American politician and segregationist who served as the 53rd governor of Mississippi from 1960 to 1964. He was a Southern Democrat who supported racial segregation . Born in Standing Pine in Leake County, Mississippi , Barnett was the youngest of ten children of John William Barnett, a Confederate veteran, and
164-613: A favorite son candidate. He ran to protest leading candidate John Kennedy's support of the civil rights movement, but lost. Following this, Barnett attempted to establish a third-party movement akin to the Dixiecrat movement of 1948. He aimed to counter the civil rights plank adopted by the Democratic National Convention in 1960, which he found repulsive. However, his efforts to garner support from fellow southern governors failed. Consequently, Barnett proposed
246-521: A "counterfeit confederate...who [might] someday resign from the white race" during a "Patriot's Rally Against Tyranny" on 4 July 1964, and supported Barry Goldwater due to his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Shortly after he left office, Barnett's looming presence was evident at the first jury trial of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith in February 1964. De La Beckwith
328-563: A case chronicled in the movie Ghosts of Mississippi . On March 18, 1966, former United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy , who frequently conversed by telephone with Barnett during the Meredith crisis in attempts to peacefully secure Meredith's enrollment at Ole Miss , visited the campus. In a speech before more than 6,000 students and faculty, Kennedy discussed racial reconciliation and answered questions, including those about his role in Meredith's enrollment. To much laughter from
410-427: A chance of winning the presidential nomination. Roosevelt won on the fourth ballot. Although Byrd never again formally sought the presidency nor became his party's candidate, Southern Democrats drafted him in several campaigns between 1944 and 1960. At the 1944 Democratic National Convention , Southern delegates opposed to Roosevelt's New Deal and racial policies nominated Byrd as the party's presidential candidate. He
492-711: A coma for four months. He was 79 years of age and had been a senator for over 32 years. He was interred in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Winchester. Byrd worked in public service for almost fifty years, becoming an influential figure in U.S. politics, and through his Byrd machine , the most powerful force in Virginia politics for much of the 20th century. His leading role in defying the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) by devising
574-609: A distant fourth in the state primary. He then returned to the practice of law, but remained unrepentant about his past, saying, "Generally speaking, I'd do the same things again." He also farmed and spoke before various groups, such as the American Legion . Barnett expressed no remorse for his role in segregation. When he was asked in 1982 about the Ole Miss riot , Barnett said, "'I have no regrets, no apologies to make." Ross Barnett Reservoir , located northeast of Jackson ,
656-585: A duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Mississippi Legislature , to convene the legislature at any time, and, except in cases of treason or impeachment, to grant pardons and reprieves. To be elected governor, a person must be at least 30 years old, and must have been a citizen of the United States for twenty years and a resident of Mississippi for at least five years at
738-424: A family-owned orchard, and they moved there. The cabin was constructed from chestnut logs and remains one of the few examples of natural chestnut bark existing in the United States due to the chestnut blight . The Byrds had three sons: Harry F. Byrd Jr. , Bradshaw Beverley Byrd, and Richard Byrd, and one daughter, Westwood Beverly Byrd. In 1926, Byrd purchased Rosemont Manor, an estate outside Berryville, adjacent to
820-548: A federal judgeship in Virginia in 1939. Byrd broke with Roosevelt and became an opponent of the New Deal , but he was an internationalist and strongly supported Roosevelt's foreign policy. As war loomed in 1941 Congress approved his proposal for a joint House–Senate committee to look into ways of eliminating nonessential expenditures. By late September, the Joint Committee on Reduction of Non-essential Federal Expenditures
902-514: A fifty-year political career, no statement of Byrd's ever more succinctly spelled out his view of government. In 1907, he founded The Evening Journal in nearby Martinsburg, West Virginia . He sold the paper in 1912 to associate Max von Schlegell. In 1908, at the age of 21, he became president of The Valley Turnpike Company , overseeing the Valley Turnpike, a 93-mile (150-km) toll road between Winchester and Staunton . Earning $ 33
SECTION 10
#1732780581799984-583: A group of uncommitted Democratic electors, who triumphed over the Mississippi slate committed to endorsing Kennedy in the November elections. Ultimately, these electors allocated the state's eight electoral votes to Senator Harry F. Byrd . During his first months as governor, the state legislature saw the introduction of 24 new bills advocating segregation, and directives were issued to circuit clerks, instructing them to withhold voter registration data from
1066-438: A majority of district electors. The term length was originally two years, with no limit on how many terms they could serve. The 1832 constitution limited governors to serving no more than four out of every six years. When terms were lengthened to four years in 1868, this limit was removed. The 1890 constitution forbid governors from succeeding themselves, but a 1986 amendment allows them to succeed themselves once. The office of
1148-633: A man got into debt, there was small chance of getting out of it." Even worse in Byrd's eyes was the dilemma of the state itself, which was also heavily in debt during Byrd's youth. Before the Civil War, Virginia had taken on debt to help finance many internal public improvements (canals, turnpikes, and railroads) through the Virginia Board of Public Works . Most had been destroyed during the War, although
1230-475: A month, he was required to drive the entire route at least twice a month to inspect it and arrange any repairs. As automobile traffic increased, he ensured road conditions were maintained within the available revenues. He held that office for seven years until his election to state office. Byrd also owned extensive apple orchards in the Shenandoah Valley and an apple-packing operation which was among
1312-481: A presidential candidate, he received votes in the 1956 presidential election and 15 electoral votes in the 1960 election . Harry Flood Byrd was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia , in 1887 (just two weeks after future fellow U.S. senator Absalom Willis Robertson was born in the same community). His parents, Eleanor Bolling (Flood) and Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. , moved the young family to Winchester, Virginia ,
1394-840: A series of laws, known as the Stanley Plan , to implement his "massive resistance" policy. This led to closure of some public school systems in Virginia between 1959 and 1964, most notably a five-year gap in public education in Prince Edward County, Virginia . In 1933 Byrd was appointed to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate ; he won reelection as a Democrat in 1933, 1934, 1940, 1946, 1952, 1958, and 1964. Byrd and his colleague Carter Glass invoked senatorial courtesy to stop President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's nomination of Floyd H. Roberts to
1476-411: Is different because God made him different to punish him. His forehead slants back. His nose is different. His lips are different, and his color is sure different." His song "Roll with Ross", whose tune was later used for the state anthem " Go, Mississippi ", contained the following: Roll with Ross, roll with Ross, he's his own boss For segregation, one hundred percent He's not a moderate like some of
1558-427: Is named in his honor. In May 2022, a petition began to be circulated to rename the reservoir after outdoors writer R. H. Cleveland. In Smith County , a lake was named after him before it was renamed Lake Prentiss Walker . List of Governors of Mississippi The governor of Mississippi is the head of government of Mississippi and the commander-in-chief of the state 's military forces . The governor has
1640-629: The Antietam Paper Company . The company refused to ship more newsprint on credit, so Byrd cut a deal to make daily cash payments in return for ownership. As Byrd would later say, "when you have to hunt for them that way, you get to know how many cents there really are in a dollar." He eventually bought the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record and several other papers in the Shenandoah Valley. His family operated these papers until April 1, 2018, when they were sold to
1722-734: The Confederate States of America on February 4, 1861. During the Reconstruction era following the end of the American Civil War , Mississippi was part of the Fourth Military District , which exerted some control over governor appointments and elections. Mississippi was readmitted to the Union on February 23, 1870. Harry F. Byrd Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966)
SECTION 20
#17327805817991804-485: The Electoral College : eight unpledged electors from Mississippi (all of that state's electoral votes), six unpledged electors from Alabama (the other 5 electoral votes from that state went to John F. Kennedy ), and a faithless elector from Oklahoma (the other 7 electoral votes from that state went to Richard Nixon ). Shortly after leaving office, Byrd died in 1966 from a brain tumor; he had been in
1886-603: The Interstate Highway System , and played a key role in the passing of the 1964 Revenue Act . He had blocked the bill until President Lyndon Johnson agreed to decrease the total budget to under $ 100 billion. Subsequently, he helped push the Act through. Byrd retired from the Senate for health reasons in November 1965. His son, Harry F. Byrd Jr. , was appointed his successor. Having supported Al Smith ,
1968-507: The Kentucky Wildcats . 41,000 fans cheered at the stadium waving thousands of Confederate flags . At halftime, a gigantic Confederate flag was unveiled on the field. The crowd shouted "We want Ross!". Barnett went to the field, grabbed the microphone at the 50-yard line and said to an enthusiastic crowd: I love Mississippi! I love her people! Our customs. I love and I respect our heritage. Many Mississippians linked segregation to
2050-508: The Ogden Newspapers Inc. of Wheeling, West Virginia. Thus started what would become Byrd's famous "pay-as-you-go" policy. He developed a lifelong aversion to borrowing money and any indebtedness. "I stand for strict economy in governmental affairs," Byrd proclaimed. "The State of Virginia is similar to a great business corporation ... and should be conducted with the same efficiency and economy as any private business." In
2132-669: The Skyline Drive , the Blue Ridge Parkway , and the Virginia state park system. Byrd's influence kept Shenandoah National Park segregated during its construction by the CCC, at its initial establishment, and even a year after the Truman Administration mandated full desegregation in all National Parks. Shenandoah National Park's main visitor center is named in his honor. The Blue Ridge Parkway bridge over
2214-651: The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1915 that West Virginia owed Virginia $ 12,393,929.50. After the Reconstruction period, most of Virginia's governors insisted upon paying state bondholders, rather than pay for public education (newly added in Virginia Constitution of 1869) or other government services. The Readjuster Party , which briefly challenged the Conservative Party of Virginia (the latter of which became
2296-458: The massive resistance strategy has come to dominate public memory of his career, leading to a mixed legacy. The author of the most comprehensive biography of Byrd (as of 2024), Dr. Ronald L. Heinemann, Squires Professor of History at Hampden-Sydney College from 1969 to 2007, assessed Byrd's life and career in Harry Byrd of Virginia (published in 1996). Heinemann concluded that although Byrd
2378-526: The Bible. Barnett, a Baptist Sunday school teacher, declared " The Good Lord was the original segregationist . He put the black man in Africa. ... He made us white because he wanted us white, and he intended that we should stay that way." Barnett said that Mississippi had the largest percent of black Americans because "they love our way of life here, and that way is segregation." In 1963, Barnett tried to prevent
2460-607: The Byrd family's once vast fortune through gambling and bad investments. One younger brother was Naval aviator and polar explorer Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888–1957). His other younger brother, Thomas Bolling Byrd (1890–1968), became an infantry captain during World War I . Their uncle Henry De La Warr Flood served in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress from Appomattox County from 1901 to 1921. Another uncle from Appomattox County, Joel West Flood , served as that county's Commonwealth Attorney (1919 to 1932), in
2542-551: The Byrd statue was subsequently removed in 2021. In 2016, forty-five years after its 1971 founding, Harry F. Byrd Middle School, a National Blue Ribbon School in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia , was renamed to Quioccasin Middle School . In response to a campaign in the local community, the Henrico County School Board agreed that "having a school named after a man who supported school segregation
Ross Barnett - Misplaced Pages Continue
2624-770: The Democratic governor of New York , in the 1928 U.S. presidential campaign , Byrd was selected by the Virginia Democratic Convention as a favorite son for the 1932 presidential nomination. According to the American political historian Steve Neal , at one point during the Democratic National Convention Byrd was offered the vice-presidential slot in exchange for instructing his 24 delegates to vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt , but declined because he believed he had
2706-504: The Democratic primary for Governor of Mississippi , in 1951 and 1955. At the time, Mississippi was a one-party state dominated by the Democrats, and the Democratic primary was the only meaningful contest. On his third try in 1959, he won the nomination, in a campaign which mostly ran on segregation, publishing the brochure "Dynamic Leadership – To Keep Segregation and Improve Our Standard of Living" and making statements such as "The Negro
2788-553: The Freedom Riders were strip-searched, had beds taken away, and were humiliated and brutalized in the prison. Barnett reportedly told the guards to "break their spirits, not their bones". While this approach gained approval in the state, it was done in part to blunt the criticism that he was receiving for multiple reasons: failing to follow through with promises of jobs for office-seekers; filling those jobs with acquaintances, and attempting to wrest control of state agencies from
2870-681: The James River in Big Island, Virginia was named and dedicated to him in 1985. On November 26, 1968, the Virginia State Highway Commission named Virginia State Route 7 , a historic road which travels from Alexandria past Berryville to Winchester, as "Harry Flood Byrd Highway" between Alexandria and Winchester. In 2021, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to rename Route 7 within
2952-732: The Justice Department. In his capacity as the chairman of the State Sovereignty Commission, Barnett financially supported the Mississippi Association of Citizens Councils, granting them more than $ 100,000 in state grants 1962. Barnett, a staunch segregationist , became known for his tumultuous clashes with the civil rights movement which dominated his term. Barnett arranged for the arrest of Freedom Riders in 1961 and then imprisoned them at Parchman Farm . While their offenses were minor,
3034-447: The U.S. A New York Times editorial following Byrd's retirement from the U.S. Senate in 1965 gave a similar assessment: "A talented man, Byrd chose to stand outside the broad currents of his time and to set his face against the future... He began as a force and ended as an anachronism." Possibly Byrd's greatest and most enduring achievement in public life was his strong advocacy for the creation of Shenandoah National Park , as well as
3116-600: The U.S. Congress (beginning in 1932 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry St. George Tucker ), and as a state appellate Judge (of the Virginia Fifth Circuit, based in Richmond, from 1940 to 1964). Born only twenty-two years after the end of the American Civil War , Byrd grew up in an era when "the Shenandoah Valley was still a place of genteel poverty ... Harry Byrd never lacked food, but he had no money for luxuries. No one had any money. If
3198-546: The Virginia Democratic Party), advocated adjusting the terms of the prewar bonds, but had a relatively brief lifespan. Thus, the issue of Virginia's public debt was far from resolved during Byrd's formative years. Byrd married Anne Douglas Beverley, a childhood friend, on October 7, 1913. They lived with her parents in Winchester until 1916, when he built a log cabin, named Westwood, in Berryville at
3280-507: The audience members, he told of a plan in which Barnett had asked that US marshals point their guns at him while Meredith attempted to enroll so that "a picture could be taken of the event." He also drew laughter by recounting another plan where Meredith would go to Jackson to enroll while Barnett remained in Oxford "and when Meredith was registered, he (Barnett) would feign surprise." Both plans were approved by Kennedy and failed only because of
3362-507: The challenge of the Republicans Rubel Phillips and Stanford Morse , the first Republican ticket for governor and lieutenant governor to run in Mississippi in decades. Barnett urged his state's Democratic voters to "push out this Republican threat" and added that he was "fed up with these fence-riding, pussy-footing, snow-digging Yankee Republicans", a reference to northern transplants coming into Mississippi. Barnett
Ross Barnett - Misplaced Pages Continue
3444-634: The consent of either. The slate got 17,205 votes nationwide. In 1956 , the year that Byrd initiated the "massive resistance" campaign, the States' Rights Party of Kentucky named Byrd as a presidential candidate. He received 2,657 votes in that state; in South Carolina, in the same election, he received 88,509 votes as the choice of an independent (i.e. unpledged ) slate of electors with the endorsement of former governor James Byrnes and Senator Strom Thurmond . In 1960 , Byrd received 15 votes in
3526-452: The debt remained and the infrastructure needed to be rebuilt to get crops and goods to market. Virginia's first postwar legislature had affirmed those debts at original terms (highly favorable to bondholders, which by then were mostly out-of-state purchasers at rates a small fraction of par value). Some related to improvements in the area that separated during the war to form the new State of West Virginia ; those were litigated for decades until
3608-590: The decline of the Byrd Organization. Byrd succeeded to what had been the Virginia Democratic Party organization of U.S. senator Thomas Staples Martin , who died in 1919. Elected the 50th governor of Virginia in 1925, initially Byrd reorganized and modernized Virginia's government. His political machine dominated state politics for much of the first half of the 20th century. Byrd was vehemently opposed to racial desegregation of
3690-535: The development of events. When Kennedy finished his speech and question-and-answer session, he was greeted by a standing ovation. The next day Barnett bitterly attacked Kennedy's version of events: It ill becomes a man who never tried a lawsuit in his life, but who occupied the high position of United States attorney general and who was responsible for using 30,000 troops and spent approximately six million dollars to put one unqualified student in Ole Miss to return to
3772-546: The family apple orchards. The family moved into the antebellum mansion in 1929, at the end of Byrd's term as governor, after some renovations. As a businessman, Byrd had several operations: publishing newspapers, running a local turnpike, and selling apples and apple products. In 1903, Harry Byrd took over his father's newspaper, the Winchester Star . Under his father's ownership, it came to owe $ 2500 ( equivalent to $ 85,000 in 2023 ) to its newsprint supplier,
3854-643: The federal authorities, Joe Wroten and Karl Wiesenburg . On September 13, he said that "There is no case in history where the Caucasian race has survived social integration. We will not drink from the cup of genocide." On the night before the Ole Miss riot of 1962 protesting Meredith's entry to the university, Barnett gave his sixteen-word "I Love Mississippi" speech at the University of Mississippi football game in Jackson . The Ole Miss Rebels were playing
3936-736: The former Virginia Ann Chadwick. He served in the United States Army during World War I , then worked in jobs while earning an undergraduate degree from Mississippi College in Clinton in 1922. Four years later, he followed that with an LL.B. from the University of Mississippi (commonly known as "Ole Miss") at Oxford , where he gave courses to freshmen. In order to save money, he worked as schoolhouse janitor, barber, brass band organizer, and door-to-door salesman for WearEver aluminum products . His first legal case was, while he
4018-616: The general election. In 1923, he became a member of the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution . As governor, serving a term from 1926 to 1930, Byrd pushed through constitutional amendments that streamlined the state government and allowed for more efficient use of tax dollars. He also made property taxes solely a county responsibility. When it was obvious that increased spending on road construction
4100-495: The gents He'll fight integration with forceful intent. No Republican even filed, and Barnett was unopposed in the November general election. His inauguration was on January 19, 1960. During his term in office, he celebrated the centennial of the American Civil War . Barnett traveled to Civil War sites to pay homage to fallen "sons of Mississippi". In 1960, Barnett ran in the Democratic Party presidential primaries as
4182-565: The largest on the East Coast. He later pointed out that he paid his African-American workers the same wages as his white farm workers. In the 1950s, Edward P. Morgan 's assistant visited Byrd's Northern Virginia farm during the apple harvest and was outraged by the living conditions of the migrant workers . This prompted Morgan to take up the issue of migrant labor in his CBS Radio Network commentaries. Producer Fred W. Friendly then prompted his close associate Edward R. Murrow to produce
SECTION 50
#17327805817994264-415: The late 1960s. Byrd became one of the most vocal proponents of maintaining policies of racial segregation . Byrd authored and signed the " Southern Manifesto " condemning the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education . His call for " massive resistance " against desegregation of public schools led to many Virginia schools closing rather than be forced to integrate. He helped draft
4346-504: The legislature. Barnett was a member of the white supremacist Citizens' Councils movement. In 1962, the state agency in charge of universities and colleges, the Institutions of Higher Learning, appointed Barnett the registrar in order to oppose James Meredith 's efforts to desegregate Barnett's alma mater , the University of Mississippi . With the accreditation of the state's medical school and other universities in jeopardy due to
4428-463: The lieutenant governor was created in the 1817 constitution, officially abolished in 1832, and recreated in 1868. When the office of governor becomes vacant for any reason, the lieutenant governor exercises the powers of governor for the remainder of the term. The governor and the lieutenant governor are not officially elected on the same ticket. The current governor is Republican Tate Reeves , who took office January 14, 2020. Mississippi Territory
4510-459: The men's basketball team of Mississippi State University from playing an NCAA Tournament game against the racially integrated team from Loyola of Chicago . The team defied Barnett by sneaking out of the state and playing the game, which they lost to the eventual national champions. Barnett's term as governor officially expired on January 21, 1964, with the swearing-in of his successor, the outgoing lieutenant governor , Paul B. Johnson . Barnett
4592-447: The next quarter century, Barnett became one of the state's most successful trial lawyers, earning more than $ 100,000 a year with specialty in damage suits against corporations. Most of his clients were poor whites and blacks, and tales were told about an elderly black man being injured in a traffic accident and asking for "Doctor Ross Barnett" when asked which doctor to call. Ole Miss Law School Dean Robert Farley described him as such: "He
4674-554: The political interventions, the IHL board reversed their action after the riots on the campus. Barnett was fined $ 10,000 and sentenced to jail for contempt but never paid the fine or served a day in jail. This was because the charges were terminated (civil) and dismissed (criminal) by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals because of "substantial compliance with orders of the court," and "in view of changed circumstances and conditions." Only two Mississippi legislators opposed Barnett's efforts to defy
4756-495: The public schools, and was the leader of massive resistance , a campaign of opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Brown v. Board of Education that led to closure of some public schools in Virginia in the 1950s. Students who were denied their education in several Virginia counties became known as the "lost generation". According to Clarence M. Dunnaville Jr. , Byrd was a racist and avowed white separatist . Although Byrd paid his black and white workers similarly, he
4838-596: The public schools, but received most of his education from the private Shenandoah Valley Academy in Winchester. Byrd's ancestors included the First Families of Virginia . His paternal ancestors included Col Benjamin Harrison of Brandon Plantation , William Byrd II of Westover Plantation (who established Richmond ) and Robert "King" Carter of Corotoman . His maternal ancestors included John Rolfe and Pocahontas . His ancestor William Byrd III squandered
4920-401: The road system could be completed within ten years through such cooperation... A tour of the highway system convinced him of the progress being made in extending the arterial network. Indeed, over 2,000 miles would be added to the system during Byrd's governorship, 1,787 of these miles in 1928. Road building was one way to keep the voters happy and prove the efficacy of pay-as-you-go." While he
5002-670: The same year. Young Harry Byrd's father became wealthy as an apple grower in the Shenandoah Valley , and publisher of the Winchester Star newspaper. He represented Winchester in the Virginia House of Delegates , and served as that body's Speaker from 1908 until 1914. He was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 1914 until 1920. Harry initially attended
SECTION 60
#17327805817995084-447: The scene of this crime and discuss any phase of this infamous affair. ... I say to you that Bobby Kennedy is a very sick and dangerous American. We have lots of sick Americans in this country but most of them have a long beard. Bobby Kennedy is a hypocritical, left-wing beatnik without a beard who carelessly and recklessly distorts the facts. Barnett attempted a political comeback by running for governor again in 1967 but lost, finishing
5166-517: The state would sacrifice future flexibility by committing too many resources to paying off construction debt. In 1923, Byrd was sued by the Virginia Highway Contractors Association because he said their activities "by combination and agreements may be very detrimental" to the State. The court dismissed the suit, stating the criticism was legal, imposing all costs upon the association. The publicity helped him to be elected Governor of Virginia in November 1925, easily defeating Republican Samuel H. Hoge in
5248-444: The television documentary Harvest of Shame on this issue. In 1915, while still heading the Valley Turnpike Company, at the age of 28, Byrd was elected to the Virginia Senate . That election was to begin his 50 years of service in various roles in the state and federal government. At the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond , as a new state senator, Byrd was initially a progressive with an early interest in road improvements. He
5330-419: The time of inauguration. The Constitution of Mississippi , ratified in 1890, calls for a four-year term for the governor, elected via the two-round system since a 2020 referendum . Prior to this, the governor was elected by an electoral college composed of the districts represented in the Mississippi House of Representatives , with a contingent election held in the House in the event no candidate received
5412-513: The unincorporated areas of Loudoun County, "Leesburg Pike". Byrd's home from 1926 until his death, Rosemont Manor, still exists and is surrounded by about 60 acres. Although many acres of Byrd's former orchards are now commercial and residential properties, Rosemont is now open to the public as a bed and breakfast, as well as event venue. A statue of Byrd was installed in Richmond's Capitol Square in 1976. The statue became controversial after Virginia began to reconsider its historical monuments, and
5494-420: Was a greatly-talented and intelligent politician, one who came to dominate Virginia politics and substantially impact U.S. politics for decades, he frequently overlooked many other issues he could have helped address in favor of defending white supremacist policies and resisting the changing of the times, consequently squandering his long-term reputation on a doomed battle to preserve de jure racial segregation in
5576-416: Was a member of the Senate Committee on Roads, the Finance Committee, the Steering Committee, the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and the Committee of Schools and Colleges. He advocated a tax on gasoline as a fair method of raising revenue for road construction. However, he first came to prominence in 1922, when he led a fight against using bonded indebtedness as a method to pay for new roads. He feared
5658-566: Was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization . Byrd served as Virginia's governor from 1926 until 1930, then represented the state as a U.S. senator from 1933 until 1965. He came to lead the conservative coalition in the Senate, and opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt , largely blocking most liberal legislation after 1937. His son Harry Jr. succeeded him as U.S. senator, but ran as an Independent following
5740-413: Was expected by some to run in the 1964 Democratic presidential primaries as a segregationist candidate against incumbent U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson , but he did not. Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama subsequently assumed this role in part, not running openly against Johnson but rather testing his popularity in Wisconsin , Indiana , and Maryland . Barnett opposed Johnson, whom he called
5822-584: Was governor, Byrd built up contacts with the "courthouse cliques" in most of Virginia's counties. He curried support from the five constitutional officers in those counties (sheriff, Commonwealth's attorney, clerk of the court, county treasurer, and commissioner of revenue). This formed the basis of the Byrd Organization , which dominated Virginia politics well into the 1960s. They carefully vetted candidates for statewide office, and Byrd only made an endorsement, or "nod," after consulting with them. Without his "nod," no one could win statewide office in Virginia. While he
5904-503: Was governor, he shortened the ballot so that only three officials ran statewide: the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. This limited opportunities to challenge the candidates that he wanted to run. His secondary roads bill in 1932, which became known as the Byrd Road Act , did not apply to the state's independent cities . Education was not on his agenda, and state spending for public schools remained very low until
5986-715: Was in operation with Senator Byrd as chairman; it built his national reputation as an economizer. By the 1950s Byrd was one of the most influential senators, serving on the Armed Services Committee , and later as chairman of the Finance Committee . He often broke with the Democratic Party line, going so far as to refuse to endorse the re-election of liberal President Harry S. Truman in 1948. He also refused to endorse Adlai Stevenson in 1952. He voted against public works bills, including
6068-439: Was known for his strong opposition to the development of the two-party system in the former Democratic stronghold of Mississippi. Along with state Democratic chairman Bidwell Adam , Barnett campaigned strongly for his state Democratic ticket , including Paul Johnson for governor to succeed Barnett and Carroll Gartin for lieutenant governor, the man that Barnett had defeated for governor four years earlier. Johnson and Gartin faced
6150-602: Was nominated by Ruth Nooney of Florida, who said she did so without his knowledge or consent. He won 89 delegate votes to Roosevelt's 1,086 ( James Farley of New York got one vote). All the convention delegates from Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia, and 12 of the 36 delegates from Texas voted for Byrd. In 1952 , both the Constitution Party and the America First Party nominated Byrd for vice president, and Douglas MacArthur for president, without
6232-558: Was not a brilliant lawyer, he was a brilliant jury manipulator, but I don't think anybody ever accused Ross of knowing much law". He often donated his skills to causes and served as president of the Mississippi Bar Association for two years beginning in 1943. In 1929, he married Mary Pearl Crawford, a school teacher; the couple had two daughters and a son. Using the income derived from his legal fees, Barnett sought to enter politics, unsuccessfully running twice in
6314-424: Was not enough to "get Virginia out of the mud," he pushed through a secondary roads bill that gave the state responsibility for maintaining county roads. These measures made Byrd seem like a New South progressive at first. However, many of his measures were more to the benefit of rural areas more interested in low taxes than better services. He instituted a "pay as you go" approach to spending, in which no state money
6396-427: Was on trial for the murder of African American civil rights activist Medgar Evers , but an all-white jury was unable to agree on a verdict in both this and a subsequent re-trial. In the second subsequent re-trial, former Governor Ross Barnett interrupted the proceedings, while Myrlie Evers was testifying, to shake hands with Beckwith. De La Beckwith was eventually convicted at a subsequent trial three decades later,
6478-454: Was organized on April 7, 1798, from land ceded to the federal government by Georgia . It had four governors appointed by the president of the United States during its 19-year history, including one, David Holmes , who would later serve as state governor. Mississippi was admitted to the Union on December 10, 1817. It seceded from the Union on January 9, 1861, and was a founding member of
6560-492: Was spent until enough taxes and fees came in to pay for it. Highways and tourism were his primary pursuits, says his biographer. "He advocated building roads to state shrines such as Jamestown and Monticello and called for historical markers along roadways, the first of which appeared in Fredericksburg . He held regional meetings to bring about closer cooperation between state and county road officials, prophesying that
6642-478: Was still at Ole Miss, over a replevin case about a cow , which he won and for which he received a $ 2.50 fee; his first real case as a lawyer was about representing a black woman suing her ex-husband over the value of a sidesaddle , losing this case in the justice court but winning it in the county court, earning himself $ 7.50. After trying and failing to join an existing law firm, he rented space near Charles Crisler's office, and soon founded his own law firm; over
6724-689: Was vehemently opposed to racial desegregation even early in the New Deal , and later opposed Presidents Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy as well as losing presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson , despite their all being fellow Democrats, because unlike Byrd they opposed racial discrimination within the federal workforce. The Byrd Organization also benefited from limiting the political participation of blacks and poor whites in Virginia by means of poll taxes and literacy tests , but managed to defeat opposition ranging from New Deal governor James H. Price to gubernatorial and senatorial candidate Francis Pickens Miller . Although Byrd never announced himself as
#798201