Tag: Senator Robert C. Byrd

March 9, 1965: President Johnson Signs Bill to Create Appalachian Regional Comission

On March 9, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed a bill creating the Appalachian Regional Commission, known as the ARC. The agency’s goal was to bring impoverished areas of Appalachia into the mainstream American economy. While the ARC serves parts of 13 states, West Virginia is the only one that lies entirely within the boundaries of Appalachia.

ARC programs fall into two main categories. An area development program provides funding to generate jobs and economic growth. Most West Virginians, though, are more familiar with the second category. The ARC’s Appalachian Development Highway System has built a network of roads to connect isolated areas that were bypassed by the interstate highway system. It originally featured 23 corridors, identified alphabetically. West Virginia’s road system includes Corridors D, E, G, H, L, and Q. The Corridor L project also produced the spectacular New River Gorge Bridge on U.S. 19 in Fayette County.

In addition, the ARC is linked to West Virginia through two longtime U.S. senators. Jennings Randolph helped created the commission, and Robert C. Byrd repeatedly found money to save the ARC when critics tried to defund it.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd Traveling Exhibit Opens to the Public

The exhibit titled, “Robert C. Byrd: Senator, Statesman, West Virginian,” is a two-year, traveling exhibit featuring the life and legacy of U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd.

Jody Brumage, the archivist and office manager at Shepherd University’s Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education, says this is the first narrative presentation of Byrd’s life and career since his passing in 2010.

“The exhibit runs all the way from his birth and his childhood in West Virginia’s coalfields, all the way up through his rise to both chambers of West Virginia’s state legislature into the House of Representatives and then into the U.S. Senate,” Brumage explained.

Senator Byrd holds the record as the longest-serving U.S. Senator in history.

Ray Smock, the Director of the Robert C. Byrd Center, explains how the exhibit is displayed on large, colorful panels.

“The exhibit itself is printed on a fabric,” Smock said, “and what it is, is it’s photographs and it’s documents from the Byrd Collection; some artifacts, photographs of artifacts and these [are] dramatically presented in a designed, graphic way.”

Smock says he hopes the exhibit starts a conversation among West Virginians – looking at the late senator’s accomplishments but also at the controversial aspects of his life.

Visitors will be able to read letters Byrd wrote, see artwork he did as a child, and other artifacts from his campaigns.

The exhibit will be open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. beginning Monday, May 2, 2016 at the Robert C. Byrd Center at Shepherd University. It will be available at this location through May 20, 2016.

The exhibit will then travel throughout the state, eventually making its way to Charleston in November 2017 – in time for the celebration of Byrd’s 100th birthday.

Traveling Exhibit on Sen. Robert C. Byrd Opens This Month

A traveling exhibit about the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd is opening later this month in Shepherdstown.

The exhibit features more than 100 photographs and documents from the archives of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education at Shepherd University.

It opens with a special event on April 29 at Erma Ora Byrd Hall at Shepherd. The exhibit will tour the state over the next two years, culminating in Charleston in November 2017 in celebration of the centennial of Sen. Byrd’s birth.

The Democrat died in 2010 at age 92.

Watch: Senator Robert C. Byrd's 2005 Speech on Constitution Day

This year, September 17th is designated as Constitution Day in the United States. The designation is a result of The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005. Senator Robert C. Byrd’s leadership was instrumental in the passage of the act and, as such, the designation of the event.

As C-SPAN’s website states: 

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005 states that educational institutions receiving federal funds shall hold an educational program for its students. The program is to be about the United States Constitution and held on September 17 each year or during the week before or after.

On September 16th, 2005, Sen. Byrd gave a speech on the importance of the United States Constitution at Shepherd University. His remarks begin near the 11:30 mark of the video.

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