RICHMOND, Va. — On Wednesday morning, workers demolished a monument of Harry F. Byrd Sr., a former Virginia governor, US senator, and strong segregationist, from the state’s Capitol Square.
Byrd, a Democrat, was the architect of the state’s racist “massive resistance” program against public school integration and oversaw the state’s most powerful political machine for decades until his death in 1966.
Byrd’s son, Harry Byrd Jr., a Democrat-turned-independent who began his political career as a segregationist, followed his father in the Senate and served until 1983.