Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields

This autobiography follows United States Senator Robert C. Byrd’s experiences from his boyhood in the early 1920s to his election in 2000, which won him an unprecedented eighth term in the Senate. Along the way, Senator Byrd offers commentary on national and international events that occurred throughout his long life in public service. Senator Byrd’s journey from the hardscrabble coalfields to the marbled halls of Congress has inspired generations of people in West Virginia and throughout the nation. From reading the stories of the Founding Fathers as a young boy by the light of a kerosene lamp to the swearing of an oath for more than a half-century to guard the United States Constitution, Senator Byrd’s life is legendary. Byrd always stands by his principles, earning the affection of the people of his home state and the respect of Americans from all walks of life. With his beloved Erma ever by his side, Robert C. Byrd has never forgotten his roots, harkening back to those early lessons that he learned as a child of the Appalachian coalfields.

"Senator Byrd's political career spans the period from 1946 to the present, a period which has indelibly shaped the history of the world, and his career in Washington, D.C., which began in 1953, continues unabated. This book is his story - the autobiography of one of America's greatest U.S. Senators." "From a Lincolnesque beginning, to an adolescence forged in the Great Depression; from a marriage to his high-school sweetheart, Erma James, to more than fifty years of service as one of America's preeminent lawmakers, the life of Senator Robert C. Byrd is a true Horatio Alger story." Now 87 years old, Senator Byrd looks back at this journey, producing an autobiography not likely to be paralleled by those coming behind him. He narrates the incredible opportunities for leadership he has exercised, but he also reminds us of the ordinary events that have made up the texture of his American experience. He cites details of his first trip abroad, where he went out of his way to visit the cities he knew from the Bible. He notes with sadness the death of his first teacher, who taught him to read and write in a two-room schoolhouse in Mercer County, West Virginia. And he takes joy in exhorting everyone to read history and great literature. Often enough, he lists the books he reads himself during the August recesses of the Senate.