Harry F. Byrd Jr.

"At VMI integrity subconsciously becomes a way of life."

"VMI has a long and enviable tradition, of which the intrepid charge of its cadets at New Market is one of the most glorious chapters. Although only about 15 percent of the graduates pursue military careers, the mass of them have served well- many with great distinction- as citizen-soldiers in every conflict in which their country has been involved, beginning with the Mexican War. Foremost among them was General of the Army George C. Marshall, the chief of staff throughout World War II, who late served in two cabinet posts and became the one military figure ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Each of the diverse curricula in engineering, the physical sciences, and the liberal arts has prepared its cadet-students well to follow civil callings in peacetime, which most alumni do."

"There are gentle men in whom gentility finally destroys whatever of iron there was in their souls. There are iron men in whom the iron corroded whatever gentility they possessed. There are men—not many to be sure—in whom the gentility and the iron were preserved in proper balance, each of these attributes to be summoned up as the occasion requires. Such a man was Harry Byrd."

"Nevertheless, there was merit in the manner of the man and the portent of his prognostications. His major contribution as a senator was his repeated warning about the dangers of excessive federal spending, a warning that had more substance twenty years after his retirement than it did during the prosperous post-World War II years. There are limits to what government can accomplish, dangers in long-term unbalanced budgets, and liabilities in dependence on the welfare state- for rich and poor alike. Byrd's flaw was that he did not translate these forebodings into imaginative solutions to the problems of modern society but instead fell back on old clichés and a narrow individualistic ethic that was no longer serviceable, a sterile legacy to show for thirty years of service. Harry Byrd's retirement was short-lived. A few months later, as his condition deteriorated, he was diagnosed as having an inoperable brain tumor. He spent his remaining days at Rosemont, mostly bedridden, but not without having one last small impact on Virginia politics. On the eve of his son's reelection bid, he lapsed into a coma, and out of respect for him, the campaign was halted. Days later, Harry Jr. won a narrow victory over Armistead Boothe in the Democratic primary, but Willis Robertson and Howard Smith went down to defeat. The Old Guard had passed. On October 20, 1966, Harry Flood Byrd died in the same room where his wife had died two years earlier. He was buried next to her on a hill overlooking Winchester and the Valley and mountains he loved so much."