Senator Robert C. Byrd, a son of West Virginia coal country who used his masterful knowledge of Senate rules and a penchant for hardball tactics to become a passionate yet feared advocate for his state, died Monday at age 92. Byrd died at about 3 a.m. at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va., where he had been since late last week, after several years of being in frail health. His 51 years of service in the Senate made him the longest serving senator in history.
As the Senate opened Monday for the Elena Kagan nomination hearings, Byrd’s desk was draped in black cloth with a bowl of white roses. Flags outside the White House and the Capitol flew at half-staff, while Senators took to the floor to pay tribute. “Senator Byrd’s ambition was legendary,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., recalling how shortly after he first took his oath of office on January 3, 1959, the same day Alaska became a state, he told a local newspaper that he wanted to someday chair the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Thirty years later, he was — and then lived and served for 21 more.”
President Obama said the Senate “has lost a venerable institution, and America has lost a voice of principle and reason,” adding “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.”
West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, will appoint Byrd’s replacement, perhaps as early as next week. Some Democratic sources believe that Manchin is interested in the seat for himself.
