Tag: Robert C. Byrd

Amtrak’s Hilltopper Ended In 1979. Federal Study Hints At A Revival

Far southern West Virginia has been without passenger rail service since 1979.

Far southern West Virginia has been without passenger rail service since 1979. A federal study hints at a potential revival.

The Federal Railroad Administration has been studying the potential of expanding Amtrak service in West Virginia, including making the Cardinal from New York and Chicago a daily train.

A PowerPoint presentation from the agency at least hints it might be considering the revival of a train that was discontinued more than 40 years ago: The Hilltopper.

That train once stopped in Bluefield, Welch and Williamson on its way from Boston and Washington, D.C., to Catlettsburg, Kentucky.

Despite the support of powerful lawmakers, including the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the train fell to sweeping Carter administration cuts on Oct. 1, 1979.

The Federal Railroad Administration study doesn’t commit to restoring the Hilltopper but could revisit the route in the future.

William Wong, an agency spokesman, said the study “underscores a widespread desire for restoring long-distance routes and exploring the creation of new ones.”

“The study is a first step in future passenger rail planning efforts, and we look forward to continuing to refine our vision and work with partners as we design and implement an equitable long-distance passenger rail network that will tie together local economies and communities through safe and reliable rail service,” he said.

The only daily Amtrak service in West Virginia is in the Eastern Panhandle, with the Capitol Limited stopping in Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg, as well as Cumberland, Maryland.

Capito Will Rise To Senior Senator. What Does That Mean For W.Va.?

Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election. When he leaves the chamber next January, that elevates Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s seniority.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito will become West Virginia’s senior senator next year. What does that mean for the state’s clout in Washington?

Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election. When he leaves the chamber next January, that elevates Capito’s seniority.

Capito is a member of the Senate Republican leadership, and she is the senior Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Both serve on the Appropriations Committee, which gives West Virginia an unusual amount of say over federal spending. Manchin, though, is a committee chairman of Energy and Natural Resources. His departure could diminish the state’s influence.

Unless Republicans wrest control of the Senate after November, which would make Capito chair of the environment committee. That committee authorizes road and bridge projects, as well as water and wastewater infrastructure. Capito took a lead role in what became the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, which has brought billions of dollars in funding to the Mountain State. Manchin had a hand in it as well.

West Virginia has a long history of senators leveraging their seniority, up to and including Manchin and Capito. Capito says she’ll continue to leverage hers.

“Well, I will be the senior senator after this next election,” she said. “And that means that my clout is more powerful, and my voice will be more powerful.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Thursday he’d be stepping down as Republican leader in November. McConnell said he’d complete his term. Still, Political observers in Kentucky say that will diminish the influence the state has long enjoyed.

It’s similar to West Virginia’s longtime Sen. Robert C. Byrd. Byrd served in various leadership positions, including majority leader, and he spent more than 50 years in the chamber, using his influence on the state’s behalf. After Byrd’s death in 2010, Manchin took his place.

Capito took the place of Sen. Jay Rockefeller in 2015. By the time he retired, Rockefeller had been in the Senate for 30 years and was chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Robert C. Byrd's Name Removed From College Health Center

A private college in West Virginia said Wednesday it is removing the name of the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd from its health center, saying his name had caused “divisiveness and pain”without explicitly noting his complicated past on racial matters. 

Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s but subsequently denounced the organization. He served in the Senate for 51 years and died in 2010 at age 92. 

 

Bethany College President Tamara Rodenberg said on the school’s website that Byrd’s name will be removed from the college’s Robert C. Byrd Health Center “to demonstrate Bethany College’s capacity to change, to listen, and to learn.” 

 
 

Bethany’s statement did not specifically mention Byrd’s past ties to the Klan. 

 

“Our lives are marked by decisions, by actions, and by grace, and today we embrace all three in a tangible, visible way at our beloved Bethany College,” Rodenberg wrote.

 

Bethany College’s statement said the college recognized in the past few weeks that Byrd’s name attached to the health center “created divisiveness and pain for members of Bethany community, both past and present.”

 

While the college said it respects the Byrd family name, “we can no longer let it represent how we lead in today’s world.” 

 

Protests have erupted around the world since the death last month of George Floyd in Minnesota, a black man who died after a Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck as he pleaded for air. Much of the conversation has focused on systematic racism and police brutality against black people in the United States.

 

Byrd, a Democrat, brought billions of dollars to his home state as the powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. His name is attached to dozens of buildings, roads, schools, scholarships and other public works projects in West Virginia. 

 

In 2010, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton gave speeches at memorial service for Byrd at the state Capitol in Charleston.

 

His accomplishments followed a childhood of poverty in West Virginia, and his success on the national stage came despite a complicated past on racial issues. While supporting later civil rights bills, he opposed busing to integrate schools.

 
 

As a young man, he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan for a time, and he joined Southern Democrats in an unsuccessful filibuster against the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. He later apologized for both actions, saying intolerance has no place in America.

 

A private liberal arts college founded in 1840, Bethany is located about 45 miles (70 kilometers) southwest of Pittsburgh.

January 3, 1959: Robert C. Byrd Sworn into US Senate

On January 3, 1959, Democrat Robert C. Byrd was sworn in as a member of the U.S. Senate—in the presence of three future presidents: then-Vice President Richard Nixon and Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

Byrd was assigned to the powerful Appropriations Committee. He used his political skills to become Democratic majority whip in 1971, upsetting the incumbent, Ted Kennedy. Byrd’s mastery of the rules and popularity among fellow senators helped him defeat Hubert Humphrey to become majority leader in 1976.

In 1989, Byrd became chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and announced plans “to be West Virginia’s billion-dollar industry.” Over the next two decades, he more than fulfilled that promise.

With the assistance of Senate historian Richard Baker, he also wrote a two-volume history of the institution—first delivered as speeches on the Senate floor. And he staunchly defended Congress’s power of checks and balances—for instance, challenging the constitutionality of the line-item veto and of President George W. Bush’s call for war against Iraq.

Robert C. Byrd remained in the senate for 51 years, making him the longest-serving senator in American history.

November 18, 2009: Senator Robert C. Byrd Longest Serving Member of Congress

  

On November 18, 2009, Senator Robert C. Byrd became the nation’s longest-serving member of Congress.  He was first elected to public office in 1946.  After serving two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates and one in the state senate, he was elected to three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.  In 1958, voters sent him to the U.S. Senate, where he would remain from 1959 until his death in 2010 at age 92.

In his early years, Byrd primarily was a conservative. He notably led a filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Over time, he became more liberal and eventually became one of President George W. Bush’s staunchest critics.

He served as the Senate’s Democratic leader for 12 years. And in 1989, he became chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.  In this role, Byrd famously brought billions of federal dollars to West Virginia, including an FBI center in Clarksburg, IRS offices in Parkersburg, and a Fish and Wildlife Training Center in Shepherdstown. 

For Byrd’s career of service, Governor Bob Wise and the legislature named him West Virginian of the 20th Century.

Former Byrd Speechwriter to Discuss Late Senator

Author and former speechwriter for West Virginia’s late U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd plans to discuss the myths and reality of the influential Senate leader next Thursday in Charleston.

David Corbin, who worked for Byrd for 16 years and another decade for other Senate leaders, wrote “The Last Great Senator: Robert C. Byrd’s Encounters with Eleven U.S. Presidents”.

The West Virginia Division of Culture and History says he will appear in the Culture Center at the Capitol complex in a free evening program open to the public.

He holds a Ph.D. in labor history, and has taught for the University of Maryland.

He also authored books about the West Virginia’s southern coal fields from 1880 to 1922 and a history of the battles between unionists and coal companies.

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