Robert Byrd, longest serving senator

News

Robert Byrd, longest serving senator

Photos: Sen. Robert Byrd dies at 92.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-West Va.) died Monday at age 92 after being the longest serving U.S. senator in history. He's shown here in 1967.

Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd plays a tune on his fiddle in 1977, as he appears on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America." He's playing "Going Down the Crippled Creek."

In this July 13, 1976, file photo, Sen. Robert F. Byrd of West Virginia plays the fiddle with clapping accompaniment by his wife, Erma, and U.S. Sen. Jennings Randolph during a reception at the American Hotel in New York. Erma Byrd died in 2006 after the couple had been married almost 69 years.

A U.S. Secret Service member stands watch as a flag flies at half staff on the White House in Washington on Monday, June 27, 2010.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is embraced by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) in July 2004 at a bookstore in New York where they were launching his book "Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency." Just hours before Clinton was to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, she introduced Byrd as her mentor and told the audience that he was a champion of the U.S. Constitution.

President John Kennedy shakes hands with Sen. Robert Byrd at American University in Washington on June 10, 1963. The university gave Kennedy an honorary doctor of law degree. Byrd earned his bachelor of law degree, cum laude, through night school study.

In this Jan. 30, 2003, photo, Sen. Robert Byrd and Sen. Edward Kennedy talk to reporters on Capitol Hill to discuss the situation in Iraq.

Sen. Robert Byrd walks to his office on Capitol Hill using canes in 2006.

In an attempt to defeat the civil rights bill in January 1964, Robert Byrd kept the Senate in a round-the-clock session with a more than 15-hour speech. The 46-year-old foe of the bill said he made his marathon speech as a filibuster effort.

Sen. Robert Byrd walks to his office on Capitol Hill in 2008. He held his Senate seat for more than 50 years.

In this May 20, 2010, photo, Sen. Robert Byrd prepares to question panel members on Capitol Hill during the Senate Health and Human Services subcommittee hearing on mine safety.

1/11

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-West Va.) died Monday at age 92 after being the longest serving U.S. senator in history. He's shown here in 1967.

Today's Gallery Headlines

Georgia students organize protests against ICE after Minnesota killings

PHOTOS: Snellville's Brookwood High School students rally and march against ICE

Ice storm warning

PHOTOS: Scenes from icy winter storm in Metro Atlanta

As storm inches closer to Georgia, metro Atlanta braces for ice threat

PHOTOS: Georgia readies for incoming ice storm

01202026 day of protests

PHOTOS: Metro Atlanta ICE protest join national effort

More Galleries

PHOTOS: Georgia's first snowfall of the year

PHOTOS: Georgia's first snowfall of the year

Macon High School Restaurant

PHOTOS: The Compass Rose Cafe serves up quality food with heaping side dishes of life skills

Juwad Maynard holds a banner during a protest in Atlanta on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, against the U.S. military action in Venezuela. (Ben Gray for the AJC)

PHOTOS: People gather in downtown Atlanta to protest U.S. military action in Venezuela

People prepare to run the Polar Opposite Peachtree Road Race on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Atlanta. (Ben Gray for the AJC)

PHOTOS: Thousands run AJC Polar Opposite Peachtree Road Race