http://encyclopediavirginia.org http://encyclopediavirginia.org/img/EV_Logo_sm.gif This is the url http://encyclopediavirginia.org The first and ultimate online reference work about the Commonwealth /Tyler_John_1790-1862 Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:41:44 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Tyler_John_1790-1862 Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:41:44 EST]]> /Daniel_John_Warwick_1842-1910 Tue, 14 May 2013 10:41:22 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Daniel_John_Warwick_1842-1910 Tue, 14 May 2013 10:41:22 EST]]> /Burch_Thomas_Granville_1869-1951 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:46:49 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Burch_Thomas_Granville_1869-1951 Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:46:49 EST]]> /Carlile_John_S_1817-1878 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:04:55 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Carlile_John_S_1817-1878 Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:04:55 EST]]> /Mahone_William_1826-1895 Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:57:08 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Mahone_William_1826-1895 Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:57:08 EST]]> /Swanson_Claude_A_1862-1939 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:42:18 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Swanson_Claude_A_1862-1939 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:42:18 EST]]> /Members_of_the_United_States_Senate_from_Virginia Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:31:04 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Members_of_the_United_States_Senate_from_Virginia Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:31:04 EST]]> /Lee_Richard_Henry_1732-1794 Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:27:01 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Lee_Richard_Henry_1732-1794 Richard Henry Lee was a planter, merchant, politician, and a member of the prominent Lee family of Virginia. Son of Thomas Lee, Richard Henry Lee pursued his father's interest in westward expansion and was a key political figure during the American Revolution (1775–1783): it was Lee who, at the Second Continental Congress in 1776, made the motion to declare independence from Britain. Lee began his career as a justice of the peace for Westmoreland County (1757); he later served as a member of the House of Burgesses (1758–1775), the House of Delegates (1777, 1780, 1785), and the United States Senate (1789–1792). He also represented Virginia at the two Continental Congresses (1774–1779, 1784–1787) and served as president of Congress in 1784. In 1792 Lee retired from public service, citing his poor health. He passed away two years later at Chantilly-on-the-Potomac, his estate in the Northern Neck of Virginia. Lee was mired in controversy throughout his political career, and his legacy has been influenced in part by his enemies. But Lee's prominent role in the events that shaped Virginia and the nation in the mid- to late seventeenth century cannot be denied; it places him high on the list of America's forgotten founders.
Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:27:01 EST]]> /Robertson_A_Willis_1887-1971 Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:33:51 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Robertson_A_Willis_1887-1971 A. Willis Robertson served in the Senate of Virginia (1916–1922), the United States House of Representatives (1933–1946), and the United States Senate (1946–1966). His career closely paralleled that of his friend and mentor, Harry F. Byrd, the leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia. They were born within two weeks of each other and only a few streets apart in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in 1887. They began their service in the Virginia state senate on the same day in 1916, and arrived at the United States Congress—Byrd to the Senate, Robertson to the House—on the same day in 1933. Though he stood with Byrd on many issues, including civil rights, Robertson asserted his independence from Byrd's political machine, the Byrd Organization, throughout his twenty-year senatorial career. Robertson differed from Byrd in his views on foreign policy and in his support of Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956; in addition, Robertson was not a strong supporter of Byrd's Massive Resistance policy. In 1966 Robertson lost his Senate seat to William B. Spong, a more liberal Democrat from Portsmouth.
Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:33:51 EST]]> /Spong_William_Belser_Jr_1920-1997 Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:15:52 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Spong_William_Belser_Jr_1920-1997 William Belser Spong Jr. was a Virginia lawyer and politician who served in the House of Delegates (1954–1955), the Senate of Virginia (1956–1966), and the United States Senate (1966–1973). He was born in Portsmouth on September 29, 1920, to William Belser Spong and Emily Nichols Spong. He attended public schools in Portsmouth and attended Hampden-Sydney College before receiving a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1947. Spong served in the 93rd Bomber Group of the Eighth Air Force during World War II (1939–1945). He was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1947 and practiced law in Portsmouth. At the same time he lectured in law and government at the College of William and Mary.
Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:15:52 EST]]> /Byrd_Harry_Flood_Jr_1914- Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:21:18 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Byrd_Harry_Flood_Jr_1914- Harry F. Byrd Jr. represented Virginia in the United States Senate from 1965 to 1983 after serving seventeen years in the Senate of Virginia. A member of one of Virginia's most powerful political families, Byrd took over the Senate seat from his father in 1965. Byrd, however, was also something of a dissident, quitting the Democratic Party in 1970 to run as an Independent. In addition to his career in politics, Byrd followed his father into journalism as well, serving as editor and publisher of the Winchester Star from 1935 to 1981 and as publisher of the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record from 1939 to 2001.
Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:21:18 EST]]> /Byrd_Harry_Flood_Sr_1887-1966 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:47:14 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Byrd_Harry_Flood_Sr_1887-1966 Harry F. Byrd served as a Virginia state senator (1915–1925), governor (1926–1930), and United States senator (1933–1965), was the father of a U.S. senator, and for forty years led the Democratic political machine known as the Byrd Organization. By virtue of both his service and power, he was one of the most prominent Virginians of the twentieth century. But much of that power was wielded in mostly vain opposition to the New Deal's big-government programs and the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. As governor he instituted a popular downsizing of state government that increased efficiency, but the end of his career was marked by his now-infamous "massive resistance" to federally mandated school desegregation.
Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:47:14 EST]]> /Willey_Waitman_T_1811-1900 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:19:22 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Willey_Waitman_T_1811-1900 Waitman T. Willey was a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850–1851, a delegate to the Virginia Convention of 1861 that voted to secede from the Union, a United States senator from the Restored government of Virginia (1861–1863), and, alongside Peter G. Van Winkle, one of the first two United States senators from West Virginia (1863–1871). A native of western Virginia, he was instrumental in the formation of the new state of West Virginia during the American Civil War (1861–1865). As a member of the U.S. Senate, he authored the Willey Amendment in 1863—a compromise on the question of the freedom of the state's African Americans that extinguished his hopes for compensated emancipation. Instead, it decreed that slaves younger than twenty-one years old on July 4, 1863, would become free once they reached that age. The compromise assured West Virginia's acceptance into the Union.
Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:19:22 EST]]> /Robb_Charles_S_1939- Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:12:29 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Robb_Charles_S_1939- Charles S. "Chuck" Robb served as lieutenant governor (1978–1982) and governor of Virginia (1982–1986) and for two terms as U.S. senator (1989–2001). The son-in-law of U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson, Robb entered Virginia politics as a "celebrity" without the customary résumé of serving in lower office. A Democrat, Robb was instrumental in reviving his party's fortunes in the state after a period of Republican dominance. His election in 1981 ushered in the first of three consecutive Democratic governorships. A moderate, Robb also played a role in national politics, moving his party to the center but never seeking national office himself. His promising career was tarnished by a series of scandals and he was ultimately defeated for reelection in 2000.
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:12:29 EST]]> /Martin_Thomas_Staples_1847-1919 Thu, 20 May 2010 15:12:58 EST http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Martin_Thomas_Staples_1847-1919 Thomas Staples Martin was a railroad attorney, a longtime U.S. senator from Virginia (serving from 1895 until 1919), and an architect of the state Democratic Party machine that during his time was known as the Martin Organization. A quiet, behind-the-scenes political player, Martin rose through the party ranks largely due to his influence with powerful railroad interests. Under the leadership of Martin's mentor, John S. Barbour Jr., Democrats reestablished control of state politics that, since Reconstruction (1865–1877), had been in the hands of Republicans and Readjusters. Then, in 1893, in a huge and unexpected upset, Martin defeated former Confederate general and Virginia governor Fitzhugh Lee for election to Barbour's U.S. Senate seat, allowing him to take control of the party and, to a large extent, the state. Accused by his critics of bribery and corruption, Martin stayed in power and managed to rise to the position of Senate Majority Leader at least in part because of his pragmatic willingness to forge coalitions between the competing conservative and progressive wings of the Democratic Party. As a result, Martin's political machine and its successor, the Byrd Organization, dominated Virginia politics until the 1960s.
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