Talk:Harry F. Byrd

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The segregation statement seems unusual when juxtaposed with the following paragraph from Civil Rights Act of 1957:

However, by 1957, many Southern senators were willing to see a voting rights bill passed in a weaker form. This was largely in an effort to quell the desires of minorities and integrationists, and to preserve the Democratic majority in the Senate at that time (through capturing of the integrationist vote while still maintaining a stranglehold on Southern voting policies). Along with the majority of Southern senators who allowed the bill for that reason, there were some (such as Harry Byrd) who were of the opinion that voting for minorities should be federally protected, while others wished to propel Senate leader Lyndon Johnson to greater power, and for these reasons were supporters of a bill protecting (albeit weak) voting rights in the late 1950s.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge of Byrd can comment?

It seems to me there isn't much of a contradiction, as the act he supported did not deal with the issue of segregation, but rather voting rights. While one could certainly say they are connected, they are not the same. I would suppose that that Byrd was not against blacks voting, as long as he didn't have to sit at the same lunch counter with them. The article seems to say that he only supported the act to reinforce the Democrats in the south, and to prevent a more substantial civil rights bill from being proposed. That's my take on it. -R. fiend 13:44, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)