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71-647: The first incarnation of what is now the Virginia Living Museum was the Junior Nature Museum and Planetarium, opened in 1966 under Virginia Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr. and cofounded by the Junior League of Hampton Roads and the Warwick Rotary Club . In 1976, the facility was expanded and a new focus on physical and applied sciences was added to the existing natural sciences; at this time it

142-582: A Republican . He was the last Virginia governor elected as a part of the Byrd Machine , the conservative Democratic establishment that dominated the state's politics for over three decades. He was succeeded by Linwood Holton , the first non-Democratic governor in over 80 years. By 1973, when he ran for a second term, Godwin had become a Republican, as the dominance of the Democrats in Virginia politics receded and

213-418: A 1971 special election, against Democratic and Republican opposition; he ran as an independent for governor in 1973, as the Democrats failed to put up a candidate. Howell was a self-styled " populist ," but many conservatives saw him simply as a liberal whose push to the governor's office they believed had to be stopped. Former governor Godwin was persuaded to run again by conservative Republicans who saw him as

284-427: A chance of winning the presidential nomination. Roosevelt won on the fourth ballot. Although Byrd never again formally sought the presidency nor became his party's candidate, Southern Democrats drafted him in several campaigns between 1944 and 1960. At the 1944 Democratic National Convention , Southern delegates opposed to Roosevelt's New Deal and racial policies nominated Byrd as the party's presidential candidate. He

355-636: A coma for four months. He was 79 years of age and had been a senator for over 32 years. He was interred in Mount Hebron Cemetery in Winchester. Byrd worked in public service for almost fifty years, becoming an influential figure in U.S. politics, and through his Byrd machine , the most powerful force in Virginia politics for much of the 20th century. His leading role in defying the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) by devising

426-480: A family-owned orchard, and they moved there. The cabin was constructed from chestnut logs and remains one of the few examples of natural chestnut bark existing in the United States due to the chestnut blight . The Byrds had three sons: Harry F. Byrd Jr. , Bradshaw Beverley Byrd, and Richard Byrd, and one daughter, Westwood Beverly Byrd. In 1926, Byrd purchased Rosemont Manor, an estate outside Berryville, adjacent to

497-536: A federal judgeship in Virginia in 1939. Byrd broke with Roosevelt and became an opponent of the New Deal , but he was an internationalist and strongly supported Roosevelt's foreign policy. As war loomed in 1941 Congress approved his proposal for a joint House–Senate committee to look into ways of eliminating nonessential expenditures. By late September, the Joint Committee on Reduction of Non-essential Federal Expenditures

568-507: A fifty-year political career, no statement of Byrd's ever more succinctly spelled out his view of government. In 1907, he founded The Evening Journal in nearby Martinsburg, West Virginia . He sold the paper in 1912 to associate Max von Schlegell. In 1908, at the age of 21, he became president of The Valley Turnpike Company , overseeing the Valley Turnpike, a 93-mile (150-km) toll road between Winchester and Staunton . Earning $ 33

639-475: A gallery of nocturnal life. Outdoors, the museum features a 5,500-square-foot (510 m) aviary , a waterfall trail, a butterfly garden , and a 3/4 mile boardwalk with animals living in their natural habitats, including bobcats , river otters , beavers, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, deer and red wolves . 37°03′17″N 76°29′19″W  /  37.0546°N 76.4887°W  / 37.0546; -76.4887 This Virginia museum–related article

710-614: A man got into debt, there was small chance of getting out of it." Even worse in Byrd's eyes was the dilemma of the state itself, which was also heavily in debt during Byrd's youth. Before the Civil War, Virginia had taken on debt to help finance many internal public improvements (canals, turnpikes, and railroads) through the Virginia Board of Public Works . Most had been destroyed during the War, although

781-467: A month, he was required to drive the entire route at least twice a month to inspect it and arrange any repairs. As automobile traffic increased, he ensured road conditions were maintained within the available revenues. He held that office for seven years until his election to state office. Byrd also owned extensive apple orchards in the Shenandoah Valley and an apple-packing operation which was among

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852-475: A presidential candidate, he received votes in the 1956 presidential election and 15 electoral votes in the 1960 election . Harry Flood Byrd was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia , in 1887 (just two weeks after future fellow U.S. senator Absalom Willis Robertson was born in the same community). His parents, Eleanor Bolling (Flood) and Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. , moved the young family to Winchester, Virginia ,

923-808: A series of laws, known as the Stanley Plan , to implement his "massive resistance" policy. This led to closure of some public school systems in Virginia between 1959 and 1964, most notably a five-year gap in public education in Prince Edward County, Virginia . In 1933 Byrd was appointed to fill a vacancy in the United States Senate ; he won reelection as a Democrat in 1933, 1934, 1940, 1946, 1952, 1958, and 1964. Byrd and his colleague Carter Glass invoked senatorial courtesy to stop President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's nomination of Floyd H. Roberts to

994-454: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mills E. Godwin, Jr. Mills Edwin Godwin Jr. (November 19, 1914 – January 30, 1999) was an American politician who was the 60th and 62nd governor of Virginia for two non-consecutive terms, from 1966 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1978. Godwin was the first person to be elected governor of any state as a Democrat and

1065-607: The Antietam Paper Company . The company refused to ship more newsprint on credit, so Byrd cut a deal to make daily cash payments in return for ownership. As Byrd would later say, "when you have to hunt for them that way, you get to know how many cents there really are in a dollar." He eventually bought the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record and several other papers in the Shenandoah Valley. His family operated these papers until April 1, 2018, when they were sold to

1136-507: The Byrd Organization . Byrd served as Virginia's governor from 1926 until 1930, then represented the state as a U.S. senator from 1933 until 1965. He came to lead the conservative coalition in the Senate, and opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt , largely blocking most liberal legislation after 1937. His son Harry Jr. succeeded him as U.S. senator, but ran as an Independent following

1207-477: The Electoral College : eight unpledged electors from Mississippi (all of that state's electoral votes), six unpledged electors from Alabama (the other 5 electoral votes from that state went to John F. Kennedy ), and a faithless elector from Oklahoma (the other 7 electoral votes from that state went to Richard Nixon ). Shortly after leaving office, Byrd died in 1966 from a brain tumor; he had been in

1278-587: The Interstate Highway System , and played a key role in the passing of the 1964 Revenue Act . He had blocked the bill until President Lyndon Johnson agreed to decrease the total budget to under $ 100 billion. Subsequently, he helped push the Act through. Byrd retired from the Senate for health reasons in November 1965. His son, Harry F. Byrd Jr. , was appointed his successor. Having supported Al Smith ,

1349-504: The NAACP and the AFL–CIO . Despite the third-party challenge, Godwin defeated Republican Linwood Holton (who would succeed him as governor in 1970) by a 48%-36% margin, with Story winning 13 percent of the vote. ( American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell , running as an independent, won 1.02 percent of the vote.) After his first term ended in 1970, Godwin began to separate himself from

1420-499: The Ogden Newspapers Inc. of Wheeling, West Virginia. Thus started what would become Byrd's famous "pay-as-you-go" policy. He developed a lifelong aversion to borrowing money and any indebtedness. "I stand for strict economy in governmental affairs," Byrd proclaimed. "The State of Virginia is similar to a great business corporation ... and should be conducted with the same efficiency and economy as any private business." In

1491-642: The Skyline Drive , the Blue Ridge Parkway , and the Virginia state park system. Byrd's influence kept Shenandoah National Park segregated during its construction by the CCC, at its initial establishment, and even a year after the Truman Administration mandated full desegregation in all National Parks. Shenandoah National Park's main visitor center is named in his honor. The Blue Ridge Parkway bridge over

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1562-679: The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1915 that West Virginia owed Virginia $ 12,393,929.50. After the Reconstruction period, most of Virginia's governors insisted upon paying state bondholders, rather than pay for public education (newly added in Virginia Constitution of 1869) or other government services. The Readjuster Party , which briefly challenged the Conservative Party of Virginia (the latter of which became

1633-452: The massive resistance strategy has come to dominate public memory of his career, leading to a mixed legacy. The author of the most comprehensive biography of Byrd (as of 2024), Dr. Ronald L. Heinemann, Squires Professor of History at Hampden-Sydney College from 1969 to 2007, assessed Byrd's life and career in Harry Byrd of Virginia (published in 1996). Heinemann concluded that although Byrd

1704-667: The Becky Godwin Memorial Award is given annually to a senior selected by classmates, and Godwin Middle School in Prince William County . Amid much controversy in 2016. Godwin was a leader of the "massive resistance" movement, which used state laws to close schools rather than comply with federal orders to open them to black students. Godwin died in 1999, when he was 84, and never publicly apologized for his support of segregated schools. However, Godwin Middle School

1775-603: The Byrd family's once vast fortune through gambling and bad investments. One younger brother was Naval aviator and polar explorer Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888–1957). His other younger brother, Thomas Bolling Byrd (1890–1968), became an infantry captain during World War I . Their uncle Henry De La Warr Flood served in the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress from Appomattox County from 1901 to 1921. Another uncle from Appomattox County, Joel West Flood , served as that county's Commonwealth Attorney (1919 to 1932), in

1846-611: The Byrd political machine had disintegrated. Godwin was born in the town of Chuckatuck in Nansemond County (now a neighborhood of Suffolk, Virginia ), the son of Otelia Margaret (Darden) and Mills Edwin Godwin. He was educated at Old Dominion University and also received an LL.B. degree at the University of Virginia . Godwin served in the Senate of Virginia between 1952 and 1962 and

1917-477: The Byrd statue was subsequently removed in 2021. In 2016, forty-five years after its 1971 founding, Harry F. Byrd Middle School, a National Blue Ribbon School in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia , was renamed to Quioccasin Middle School . In response to a campaign in the local community, the Henrico County School Board agreed that "having a school named after a man who supported school segregation

1988-512: The Coastal Plain Aviary in 2001 and a 62,000-square-foot (5,800 m) museum building in 2004. The main building features animals living in several exhibits that depict the many environments of Virginia, including the coastal plain , a 30,000 US gallons (110,000 L) Chesapeake Bay exhibit, the Piedmont , an Appalachian Mountain cove , a cypress swamp, and underground, as well as

2059-617: The Democratic Party. He managed the U.S. Senate campaign of Harry F. Byrd Jr. , who was running as an independent candidate. Godwin was denied a seat at the Democratic state convention in 1972, and he was a member in the Texas organization of " Democrats for Nixon ," supporting Republican Richard Nixon over the Democratic presidential nominee, George McGovern . Lieutenant Governor Henry Howell had been elected to his office as an independent in

2130-680: The Democratic governor of New York , in the 1928 U.S. presidential campaign , Byrd was selected by the Virginia Democratic Convention as a favorite son for the 1932 presidential nomination. According to the American political historian Steve Neal , at one point during the Democratic National Convention Byrd was offered the vice-presidential slot in exchange for instructing his 24 delegates to vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt , but declined because he believed he had

2201-415: The Democratic nomination for governor unopposed, without a primary election . His support of President Johnson the previous year, however, lost him the support of the most die-hard segregationists, who bolted from the Democratic Party to support William J. Story Jr., the candidate of the short-lived Conservative Party of Virginia . Godwin's bid for governor in 1965 was endorsed by the local affiliates of both

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2272-647: The James River in Big Island, Virginia was named and dedicated to him in 1985. On November 26, 1968, the Virginia State Highway Commission named Virginia State Route 7 , a historic road which travels from Alexandria past Berryville to Winchester, as "Harry Flood Byrd Highway" between Alexandria and Winchester. In 2021, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to rename Route 7 within

2343-447: The U.S. A New York Times editorial following Byrd's retirement from the U.S. Senate in 1965 gave a similar assessment: "A talented man, Byrd chose to stand outside the broad currents of his time and to set his face against the future... He began as a force and ended as an anachronism." Possibly Byrd's greatest and most enduring achievement in public life was his strong advocacy for the creation of Shenandoah National Park , as well as

2414-645: The U.S. Congress (beginning in 1932 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry St. George Tucker ), and as a state appellate Judge (of the Virginia Fifth Circuit, based in Richmond, from 1940 to 1964). Born only twenty-two years after the end of the American Civil War , Byrd grew up in an era when "the Shenandoah Valley was still a place of genteel poverty  ... Harry Byrd never lacked food, but he had no money for luxuries. No one had any money. If

2485-529: The Virginia Democratic Party), advocated adjusting the terms of the prewar bonds, but had a relatively brief lifespan. Thus, the issue of Virginia's public debt was far from resolved during Byrd's formative years. Byrd married Anne Douglas Beverley, a childhood friend, on October 7, 1913. They lived with her parents in Winchester until 1916, when he built a log cabin, named Westwood, in Berryville at

2556-505: The bid of President Gerald R. Ford Jr. , for the Republican presidential nomination, against challenger Ronald Reagan . The Virginia Republican Party convention of that year, however, elected a largely pro-Reagan delegation to the 1976 Republican National Convention , although as a courtesy Godwin was designated as co-chairman of the delegation (but was required to share the co-chairmanship with Reagan supporter Richard D. Obenshain ). After

2627-473: The campus of James Madison University was completed in 1972 and was dedicated in honor of Godwin and his wife Katherine, who was a graduate of the university. Harry F. Byrd Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that became known as

2698-623: The consent of either. The slate got 17,205 votes nationwide. In 1956 , the year that Byrd initiated the "massive resistance" campaign, the States' Rights Party of Kentucky named Byrd as a presidential candidate. He received 2,657 votes in that state; in South Carolina, in the same election, he received 88,509 votes as the choice of an independent (i.e. unpledged ) slate of electors with the endorsement of former governor James Byrnes and Senator Strom Thurmond . In 1960 , Byrd received 15 votes in

2769-452: The debt remained and the infrastructure needed to be rebuilt to get crops and goods to market. Virginia's first postwar legislature had affirmed those debts at original terms (highly favorable to bondholders, which by then were mostly out-of-state purchasers at rates a small fraction of par value). Some related to improvements in the area that separated during the war to form the new State of West Virginia ; those were litigated for decades until

2840-571: The decline of the Byrd Organization. Byrd succeeded to what had been the Virginia Democratic Party organization of U.S. senator Thomas Staples Martin , who died in 1919. Elected the 50th governor of Virginia in 1925, initially Byrd reorganized and modernized Virginia's government. His political machine dominated state politics for much of the first half of the 20th century. Byrd was vehemently opposed to racial desegregation of

2911-854: The end of his second gubernatorial term, Godwin worked behind the scenes in the Virginia Republican Party until shortly before his death. His personal papers, including papers from his time as governor, are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary . His executive papers from his time as governor are held by the Library of Virginia . He married Katherine Thomas Beale of Holland , also in Nansemond County. They adopted one child, Becky Godwin (1954–1968). In August 1968, while Governor Godwin

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2982-467: The extreme positions of Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. and concluded that obstinate resistance to integration could not continue. With an eye to the 1965 gubernatorial race, Godwin reached out to African American voters during the 1964 presidential campaign by campaigning for President Lyndon B. Johnson , who had led the movement for enactment of the Civil Rights Act of that year. In 1965, Godwin took

3053-539: The family apple orchards. The family moved into the antebellum mansion in 1929, at the end of Byrd's term as governor, after some renovations. As a businessman, Byrd had several operations: publishing newspapers, running a local turnpike, and selling apples and apple products. In 1903, Harry Byrd took over his father's newspaper, the Winchester Star . Under his father's ownership, it came to owe $ 2500 ( equivalent to $ 85,000 in 2023 ) to its newsprint supplier,

3124-595: The general election. In 1923, he became a member of the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution . As governor, serving a term from 1926 to 1930, Byrd pushed through constitutional amendments that streamlined the state government and allowed for more efficient use of tax dollars. He also made property taxes solely a county responsibility. When it was obvious that increased spending on road construction

3195-559: The largest on the East Coast. He later pointed out that he paid his African-American workers the same wages as his white farm workers. In the 1950s, Edward P. Morgan 's assistant visited Byrd's Northern Virginia farm during the apple harvest and was outraged by the living conditions of the migrant workers . This prompted Morgan to take up the issue of migrant labor in his CBS Radio Network commentaries. Producer Fred W. Friendly then prompted his close associate Edward R. Murrow to produce

3266-415: The late 1960s. Byrd became one of the most vocal proponents of maintaining policies of racial segregation . Byrd authored and signed the " Southern Manifesto " condemning the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education . His call for " massive resistance " against desegregation of public schools led to many Virginia schools closing rather than be forced to integrate. He helped draft

3337-766: The modern city of Suffolk. It was the last of the cities of Hampton Roads to take their current form during a wave of political consolidations which began in 1952. Godwin died in 1999 of pneumonia and is buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery in Suffolk. His boyhood home, the Godwin–Knight House , was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Two schools in Virginia were named for him, including Mills E. Godwin High School in suburban Henrico , where

3408-478: The most likely candidate to beat Howell. Although Godwin sought and won the Republican nomination, he did not declare that he had personally switched his party affiliation until his speech to the Republican convention in which he accepted his nomination "as one of you." Godwin narrowly defeated Howell by a margin of 15,000 votes, a 50.7% to 49.3% margin, to win his second term. Virginia law prohibits incumbent governors for running for consecutive reelection; Godwin became

3479-512: The only Virginia governor to be elected to two terms in the 20th century. In another historic note, Godwin became the last governor of Virginia for 40 years whose party held the Presidency at the time of election, a distinction that ended with the election of Democrat Terry McAuliffe as governor in 2013. As governor, Godwin abandoned the state's "pay as you go" fiscal policy, which Virginia had followed since Harry F. Byrd 's governorship, by having

3550-495: The public schools, and was the leader of massive resistance , a campaign of opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Brown v. Board of Education that led to closure of some public schools in Virginia in the 1950s. Students who were denied their education in several Virginia counties became known as the "lost generation". According to Clarence M. Dunnaville Jr. , Byrd was a racist and avowed white separatist . Although Byrd paid his black and white workers similarly, he

3621-584: The public schools, but received most of his education from the private Shenandoah Valley Academy in Winchester. Byrd's ancestors included the First Families of Virginia . His paternal ancestors included Col Benjamin Harrison of Brandon Plantation , William Byrd II of Westover Plantation (who established Richmond ) and Robert "King" Carter of Corotoman . His maternal ancestors included John Rolfe and Pocahontas . His ancestor William Byrd III squandered

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3692-401: The road system could be completed within ten years through such cooperation... A tour of the highway system convinced him of the progress being made in extending the arterial network. Indeed, over 2,000 miles would be added to the system during Byrd's governorship, 1,787 of these miles in 1928. Road building was one way to keep the voters happy and prove the efficacy of pay-as-you-go." While he

3763-637: The same year. Young Harry Byrd's father became wealthy as an apple grower in the Shenandoah Valley , and publisher of the Winchester Star newspaper. He represented Winchester in the Virginia House of Delegates , and served as that body's Speaker from 1908 until 1914. He was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 1914 until 1920. Harry initially attended

3834-461: The state issue bonds to pay for capital projects. In December 1975, Governor Godwin ordered the James River and its tributaries closed to fishing from Richmond to the Chesapeake Bay. This order was the result of the improper handling and dumping of kepone into the James. Kepone is a chemical pesticide that was produced by Allied Signal Company in Hopewell, Virginia and caused a nationwide pollution controversy. In 1976, Governor Godwin supported

3905-517: The state would sacrifice future flexibility by committing too many resources to paying off construction debt. In 1923, Byrd was sued by the Virginia Highway Contractors Association because he said their activities "by combination and agreements may be very detrimental" to the State. The court dismissed the suit, stating the criticism was legal, imposing all costs upon the association. The publicity helped him to be elected Governor of Virginia in November 1925, easily defeating Republican Samuel H. Hoge in

3976-444: The television documentary Harvest of Shame on this issue. In 1915, while still heading the Valley Turnpike Company, at the age of 28, Byrd was elected to the Virginia Senate . That election was to begin his 50 years of service in various roles in the state and federal government. At the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond , as a new state senator, Byrd was initially a progressive with an early interest in road improvements. He

4047-513: The unincorporated areas of Loudoun County, "Leesburg Pike". Byrd's home from 1926 until his death, Rosemont Manor, still exists and is surrounded by about 60 acres. Although many acres of Byrd's former orchards are now commercial and residential properties, Rosemont is now open to the public as a bed and breakfast, as well as event venue. A statue of Byrd was installed in Richmond's Capitol Square in 1976. The statue became controversial after Virginia began to reconsider its historical monuments, and

4118-420: Was a greatly-talented and intelligent politician, one who came to dominate Virginia politics and substantially impact U.S. politics for decades, he frequently overlooked many other issues he could have helped address in favor of defending white supremacist policies and resisting the changing of the times, consequently squandering his long-term reputation on a doomed battle to preserve de jure racial segregation in

4189-416: Was a member of the Senate Committee on Roads, the Finance Committee, the Steering Committee, the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and the Committee of Schools and Colleges. He advocated a tax on gasoline as a fair method of raising revenue for road construction. However, he first came to prominence in 1922, when he led a fight against using bonded indebtedness as a method to pay for new roads. He feared

4260-432: Was attending the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, Becky and her mother were vacationing at the Oceanfront area of Virginia Beach when Becky was killed in a lightning accident. The family resided in Godwin's hometown of Chuckatuck. In 1972, Nansemond County, including Chuckatuck, became the independent city of Nansemond . Only two years later, in 1974, Nansemond merged with neighboring Suffolk to form

4331-432: Was demolished in early 2010 as a modern student center opened on campus. The Godwin Building on the Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale campus is also named for him. A Becky Godwin Memorial Scholarship is also given to college students at Godwin's former church, Oakland Christian Church, in Chuckatuck, Virginia. The church also dedicated a section of the church to Godwin known as the Godwin Building. Godwin Hall on

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4402-584: Was governor, Byrd built up contacts with the "courthouse cliques" in most of Virginia's counties. He curried support from the five constitutional officers in those counties (sheriff, Commonwealth's attorney, clerk of the court, county treasurer, and commissioner of revenue). This formed the basis of the Byrd Organization , which dominated Virginia politics well into the 1960s. They carefully vetted candidates for statewide office, and Byrd only made an endorsement, or "nod," after consulting with them. Without his "nod," no one could win statewide office in Virginia. While he

4473-441: Was governor, he shortened the ballot so that only three officials ran statewide: the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. This limited opportunities to challenge the candidates that he wanted to run. His secondary roads bill in 1932, which became known as the Byrd Road Act , did not apply to the state's independent cities . Education was not on his agenda, and state spending for public schools remained very low until

4544-505: Was in operation with Senator Byrd as chairman; it built his national reputation as an economizer. By the 1950s Byrd was one of the most influential senators, serving on the Armed Services Committee , and later as chairman of the Finance Committee . He often broke with the Democratic Party line, going so far as to refuse to endorse the re-election of liberal President Harry S. Truman in 1948. He also refused to endorse Adlai Stevenson in 1952. He voted against public works bills, including

4615-464: Was nominated by Ruth Nooney of Florida, who said she did so without his knowledge or consent. He won 89 delegate votes to Roosevelt's 1,086 ( James Farley of New York got one vote). All the convention delegates from Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia, and 12 of the 36 delegates from Texas voted for Byrd. In 1952 , both the Constitution Party and the America First Party nominated Byrd for vice president, and Douglas MacArthur for president, without

4686-424: Was not enough to "get Virginia out of the mud," he pushed through a secondary roads bill that gave the state responsibility for maintaining county roads. These measures made Byrd seem like a New South progressive at first. However, many of his measures were more to the benefit of rural areas more interested in low taxes than better services. He instituted a "pay as you go" approach to spending, in which no state money

4757-438: Was renamed George Hampton Middle School. Godwin Drive is located in the city of Manassas, Virginia . The administration building at Virginia Wesleyan University is named Katherine B. & Mills E. Godwin, Jr. Hall. The Psychology/Biology building on the campus of Old Dominion University is named Mills Godwin Life Science Building. The former student center at Norfolk State University was also named in his honor. The building

4828-415: Was renamed the Peninsula Nature and Science Center. The museum began its transformation to a "living museum", incorporating living exhibits and preservation land together with traditional exhibits, in 1983, following the example of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum . It reopened as the Virginia Living Museum in 1987 under Virginia governor Gerald L. Baliles . The museum expanded throughout the 1990s, opening

4899-429: Was spent until enough taxes and fees came in to pay for it. Highways and tourism were his primary pursuits, says his biographer. "He advocated building roads to state shrines such as Jamestown and Monticello and called for historical markers along roadways, the first of which appeared in Fredericksburg . He held regional meetings to bring about closer cooperation between state and county road officials, prophesying that

4970-453: Was the lieutenant governor between 1962 and 1966. In the state senate, Godwin was one of the leaders of the segregationist policy of " massive resistance ", which aimed to prevent the implementation of federal court decisions under Brown v. Board of Education requiring that black students be admitted to white schools. However, during Virginia's cultural transition in the 1960s, he was one of many Byrd Democrats who distanced themselves from

5041-689: Was vehemently opposed to racial desegregation even early in the New Deal , and later opposed Presidents Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy as well as losing presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson , despite their all being fellow Democrats, because unlike Byrd they opposed racial discrimination within the federal workforce. The Byrd Organization also benefited from limiting the political participation of blacks and poor whites in Virginia by means of poll taxes and literacy tests , but managed to defeat opposition ranging from New Deal governor James H. Price to gubernatorial and senatorial candidate Francis Pickens Miller . Although Byrd never announced himself as

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