Robert Carlyle Byrd

Byrd, Robert Carlyle (1917– ), U.S. legislator. He belonged to the Ku Klux Klan for a year and a half during the 1940s. He ran successfully for the West Virginiaa. State Senate in 1950. After service in the U.S. House of Representative (1953–59), he entered the Senate, 1959. He served as majority whip for the Democrats (1971–77) and then as majority leader (1977–80; 1987–88) and minority leader (1981–87).