The Byrd Machine in Virginia: The Rise and Fall of a Conservative Political Organization

This political organization rose to power during the era of Jim Crow, wielding power and influence over everything from who got the nod to be governor to how the state maintained racial segregation. Inheriting its tactics from two previous political machines, the Byrd organization operated with a pathological hatred of debt spending, crushing the power of labor unions and forcing its will on Black schoolchildren protesting ...