Harry Flood Byrd (1887- 1966) received the most votes from survey participants as the most influential Virginian of the 20th century; participants concentrated on his lasting influence on state government and politics.

Byrd served for 10 years in the Virginia Senate, for four years as governor, and for 32 years he represented the commonwealth in the U.S. Senate. He was a masterful political organizer, and for nearly the whole of that time was the acknowledged leader of the dominant faction of the state's Democratic Party. That was when the Democratic Party controlled nearly all levels of government in Virginia and in almost all parts of the state.

Byrd's organization, as it was known, endorsed white supremacy, opposed women's suffrage, and employed the poll tax and complicated voting and registration processes specifically designed to discourage widespread public participation in politics. In that, it was systematically undemocratic, even if it was free of the outright graft and corruption found in other states.

Many forget Byrd's record as governor -- lost in the later battles over school desegregation -- was surprisingly progressive for a Virginia conservative of the 1920s: He revised the tax system, streamlined the state bureaucracy, reformed the ballot structure, initiated a campaign to attract business, and helped pass the Anti-Lynch Act of 1927, which was so tough that no lynchings in fact took place in the commonwealth following its enactment -- a record many Southern states cannot claim. Byrd was an effective and consequential governor, who left the commonwealth better than he found it.

"In tax policy, transportation funding, and government reform," historian James Sweeney wrote, "Gov. Harry Byrd laid the foundation for modern Virginia. Subsequently he served 32 years in the U.S. Senate, gaining a reputation as a fiscal watchdog, defender of state's rights, and opponent of big government.

"At times his stance was overly rigid, and he opposed needed programs. However, he also counseled against excessive U.S. commitments in the world during the early Cold War years, advice that went unheeded, but which proved to be sound."

"Unfortunately," Sweeney concluded, "much of the good that Harry Byrd accomplished during his long political career is obscured by his support for the misguided policy of Massive Resistance to public school desegregation. There is no way to defend or minimize his tragic failure of leadership in this regard."

Historian Jennifer Loux wrote that Byrd "orchestrated the entrenchment of a political culture that was neither progressive nor dynamic. His influence reached deep into county governments. He oversaw an era of low voter participation . . . poor schools, and few public services, and he promoted Massive Resistance and opposed civil rights legislation.

"Until the end of his life," Loux concluded, "when external forces of change began to erode his power, Virginians had to live within the confines of the policies he established and maintained. Traces of his approach to government still survive."

Historian James Hershman wrote, "the historical judgment on Byrd's legacy has to be mixed. As governor and dominant political leader, he established a tradition of honest, efficient, and frugal government and a political culture that emphasized orderliness and decorum. It was a frugality, however, that gave little support to public services such as education."

"Unquestionably," Hershman went on, "Byrd's reaction to the Brown decision and the civil rights movement must be seen as a negative. He was the animating spirit behind Virginia's Massive Resistance (his phrase) and a leading figure in the segregationist bloc in the U.S. Senate."

Byrd's leadership of the opposition to racial desegregation, according to historian Bland Whitley, encouraged "a recalcitrance that other Southern states were quick to emulate."

Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and historian and editor John Deal agreed. Deal took the long view and reflected on Byrd's fiscal and social philosophy, which "had a tremendously negative effect on the state with a lack of growth or innovation in economics, education, transportation, etc., which still affects the lives of every Virginian, whether they realize it or not."

Tragically wrong on civil rights, tremendously influential even today. Harry Flood Byrd Sr. left a 20th-century legacy that cannot and should not be ignored. -- Brent Tarter and Cordel Faulk