The Byrd Organization (usually known as just "the Organization") was a political machine led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. (1887–1966) that dominated Virginia politics for much of the middle portion of the 20th century. From the mid 1920s until the late 1960s, the Byrd Organization effectively controlled the politics of the state through a network of courthouse cliques of local constitutional officers in most of the state's counties.
"The Organization" had its greatest strength in rural areas. It was never able to gain a significant foothold in the growing urban areas of Virginia's many independent cities, which are not located within counties, nor with the emerging suburban middle-class of Virginians after World War II. Byrd's vehement opposition to racial integration of the state's public schools including a policy of massive resistance which ultimately failed in 1960 after rulings it was unconstitutional by both state and federal courts could be described as its "last stand," although the remnants of the Organization continued to wield power for a few years longer.
When the Senator resigned in 1965, he was replaced by his son Harry F. Byrd, Jr. in the U.S. Senate. However, the heyday of the Byrd Organization was clearly in the past, ending 80 years of domination of Virginia politics by conservative Democrats with the election of a Republican governor in 1969 for the first time in the 20th century.
Read more about Byrd Organization: Background, Structure, Fiscally Conservative, Poll Taxes, Opposing Federal Laws, Demise
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“I will never accept that I got a free ride. It wasn’t free at all. My ancestors were brought here against their will. They were made to work and help build the country. I worked in the cotton fields from the age of seven. I worked in the laundry for twenty- three years. I worked for the national organization for nine years. I just retired from city government after twelve-and-a- half years.”
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