Byrd Organization - Opposing Federal Laws

Opposing Federal Laws

With this structure in place, Byrd's Organization practically selected every governor from 1930 until 1970, even as Virginia became friendlier to Republicans. Many Virginia Democrats drifted away from the national party due to its strong support of organized labor during the New Deal. This only accelerated during the Civil Rights Movement, when Byrd drafted the Southern Manifesto in opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. As a result, well before the 1960s, ticket-splitting was a common practice in Virginia, with many conservative Democrats supporting Republicans at the national level.

Some Byrd Democrats, such as Governors John S. Battle and Thomas B. Stanley, were willing to take cautious steps toward racial integration. However, their efforts were short-circuited in 1956, when Byrd decreed a policy of "massive resistance" to integrating the state's public schools. He was joined by Virginia's other Senator, A. Willis Robertson, and most other members of the organization. Byrd had a powerful ally in the United States House of Representatives, where the powerful chairman of the House Rules Committee, Howard W. Smith, kept many civil rights bills from even coming to a vote on the floor. In time, Governor Stanley joined with Byrd to draft and pass a series of laws, known as the Stanley plan, to implement the "massive resistance" program.

State and federal courts struck down most of the "massive resistance" laws in 1960. The failure of "massive resistance" caused some of its leaders, such as future governor Mills Godwin, to moderate their views and even make some efforts to reach out to black voters. However, Byrd, Robertson, Smith and a few others continued to oppose any form of integration.