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- Feb 22, 2005
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“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”
Robert Byrd.
Of the record-setting 18,500-plus Senate votes Byrd cast, he said his biggest regret was opposing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a landmark law that brought down barriers for black Americans.
He said his views changed most dramatically after his teenage grandson was killed in a 1982 traffic accident. "The death of my grandson caused me to stop and think," Byrd said. "I came to realise that black people love their children as much as I do mine."
Also Robert Byrd.