Robert Byrd: Iraq War Speech - Part 3 (2003)

March 13, 2003 Byrd worked as a gas-station attendant, a grocery-store clerk, a shipyard welder during World War II, and a butcher, before he won a seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1946, representing Raleigh County from 1947 to 1950. In 1950, he was elected to the West Virginia Senate, where he served from 1951 to 1952. After being elected to the United States House of Representatives, he began night classes at American University’s Washington College of Law in 1953, but did not receive his law degree from the University until a decade later by which time he was a US Senator; President John F. Kennedy spoke at the commencement ceremony in June 1963 and mentioned Byrd by name. Byrd also studied at The George Washington University Law School but would not, however, receive an undergraduate degree until 1994, when he graduated from Marshall University. In 1951, then--State Delegate Robert Byrd was among the official witnesses of the execution of Harry Burdette and Fred Painter, which was the first use of the electric chair in West Virginia. Capital punishment was later abolished in the state in 1965 with the last execution having occurred in 1959. In 1952, Byrd was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives for West Virginia's 6th Congressional District, succeeding EH Hedrick, who had decided to step down to run for Governor of West Virginia. He was reelected to the House twice, and served in the body from January 3, 1953 to 1959. Byrd ...

Channel: YouTube Video Length: 10m 53s Date Found: Tue, Jun 29 2010 12:59 AM Category: Home Video Date Produced: Tue, Jun 29 2010 12:11 AM View Count: 0