The Byrd Family

From left: Harry F. Byrd Sr.; Gretchen Byrd, his daughter-in-law; Thomas Byrd, Harry's grandson; and Harry Byrd Jr., Gretchen's husband and Thomas's father. Harry Byrd Jr. took over his father's seat in the U.S. Senate and held it for seventeen years. His father, at left, served as governor of Virginia from 1926 to 1930, and was at the helm of a vast statewide political machine most closely associated with resisting school desegregation.