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"Economize, Balance, Reduce." The Virginian's philosophy of government was blunt and uncompromising: "Economize, balance the budget, make some substantial debt payments, and eventually reduce taxes in all the individual brackets and on business." Yet after he became chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in 1955, practically no one in Government heeded his homilies. For his part, Byrd used the powers of his position to slow down or distort legislation that he found distasteful.
He repeatedly delayed proposals for tax revisions, for increasing social security, and for instituting Medicare. His greatest anathema was civil rights legislation, which he condemned as "usurpation" of the states' prerogatives. Byrd masterminded—and named—Virginia's "massive resistance" to the Supreme Court's school-desegregation ruling; he denounced the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "unconstitutional and unworkable." Two years ago, Byrd was persuaded by his old friend, Lyndon Johnson, to stand aside and allow the President's income tax cut to go through. Thereafter, Harry Byrd continued to oppose the Administration with his vote, but not with his committee. "That," he said ruefully, "is how I help my President."
The Organization. While decrying federal "paternalism," Byrd ruled his own domain with a feudalistic hand. It was velvet-gloved, but his Virginia autocracy, known simply as "the Organization," was one of the most powerful the U.S. had ever seen. Year after year, its candidates were elected without opposition. Yet Harry Byrd was more patriarch than demagogue, and his organization gave Virginia vigorously honest, thrifty government for decades.
Byrd's machine stubbornly retained the poll tax to discourage voter registration; in 1961, only 17% of Virginia's voting-age population cast ballots in the gubernatorial election. The Organization—once described as "a molecular attraction of 18th century thinkers"—could never adjust to the complex needs of an increasingly urbanized state where Negroes in time became fully enfranchised, and the suburbs of Washington spread an ever-creeping tide of sophistication into the body politic.
The exigencies of change were clear to younger men. When Byrd retired and had his son, Harry Jr., 51, named to fill his Senate seat, he was criticized by Virginians for perpetuating his political dynasty. Young Harry markedly tempered his philosophy, is campaigning as a moderate, modern Democrat. He is considered a slight favorite to win on Nov. 8. And such is the continuing magnetism of the Byrd name that Harry Jr. will undoubtedly attract thousands of votes from Virginians who proudly uphold the memory, if not all the convictions, of Rosemont's old squire.