Longest serving US Senator Byrd dies at 92

WASHINGTON - Senator Robert Byrd, the longest-serving member of US Congress ever, died early Monday at the age of 92 after an illness, his office said.

Byrd, who represented West Virginia for more than 57 years, had been admitted to the hospital suffering from exhaustion and dehydration and soon developed additional illnesses. He passed away

at 3 a.m. Monday, his office said.

Byrd, a Democrat, won election to the House of Representatives in 1952 and took a seat in the Senate in 1959, portraying himself as a fierce protector of the Constitution while backing both liberal and conservative causes.

He spent most of his final years on the Senate floor in a wheelchair and was increasingly weakened by older age. He was close friends with Ted Kennedy, another long-serving Democratic senator who died last year after a battle with brain cancer.

When Byrd took office, Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House, Winston Churchill lived on Downing Street and Joseph Stalin controlled the Kremlin. Stamps cost 3 cents compared to today’s price of 44 cents.

Byrd held several leadership positions over the years, including chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which allowed him to pump large sums of federal tax dollars into his home state. He voted in October 2002 against the authorisation of the use of military force in Iraq.

Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan as a young man, a decision he later expressed deep regret while urging young people to steer clear of the temptations of racist ideology.