"There are those who end life feeling the future will nourish their cause. There are those also whose causes pass with themselves. Harry Byrd's cause belonged to the latter category. In the nation a more positive role for federal government was fast becoming an American political axiom; likewise, Harry Byrd's Virginia would soon seem but yesteryear's quaint and curious memento. But Byrd's personal cause- his honesty, courtesy, in short, his humanity- was not tied to time. The greatest men have often urged dated or debatable specifics. George Washington urged against foreign alliances; Thomas Jefferson dreamed of an agrarian utopia; Woodrow Wilson warred against bigness in American life; Robert E. Lee struggled valiantly for a divided nation. History values men as much for what they are for as for what they espouse. Let not its view of balanced budgets determine its judgment of Harry Byrd."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Democratic Party (United States) politiciansMembers of the United States SenatePublishers from the United StatesPeople from West VirginiaGovernors of Virginia
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Harry Byrd and the Changing Face of Virginia Politics (1968), Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, first edition hardcover, p. 351
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_F._Byrd
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Harry F. Byrd
Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization. Byrd served as Virginia's governor from 1926 until 1930, then represented it as a United States Senator from 1933 until 1965. He came to lead the "[[w:conservative coalition|conserv
23 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Harry F. Byrd →
Related Quotes
"I favor a strong military but, if wartime spending is to be made a part of our budget in peacetime, and continued for…"
"If we can organize the Southern states for massive resistance to this order... the rest of the country will realize t…"
"At the dedication of the Shenandoah National Park [July 3, 1936], President Roosevelt, [Secretary of the Interior] Ha…"
"There are gentle men in whom gentility finally destroys whatever of iron there was in their souls. There are iron men…"
"Byrd evinced no particular proclivity to endorse a state antilynching law in the wake of Raymond Bird’s death. But wh…"
"Senator Byrd's final year in Congress would be 1965. His final battle was against the Voting Rights Bill of 1965. The…"
"Finally, on January 16, 1928, Byrd asked the Virginia General Assembly to declare lynching “a specific State offense”…"
"Incontestably what runs Virginia is the Byrd machine, the most urbane and genteel dictatorship in America. A real mac…"
"Senator Harry F. Byrd incarnates the cavalier-First-Family-of-Virginia tradition, except in one important particular.…"
"I construe my election as a mandate to me as a businessman to institute the best methods of efficiency and economy in…"