Original sentence: After the decline of his family’s political machine, due to its infamous support of massive resistance, he abandoned the Democratic Party in 1970, citing concern about its leftward tilt.In a 1982 interview with the Washington Post, Byrd maintained that his earlier resistance to school desegregation, including the closure of schools, was justified and helped prevent racial violence
Edited sentence: "Unlike many Southern politicians of his generation, Mr.After the decline of his family’s political machine, due to his support of massive resistance against desegregation, he abandoned the Democratic Party in 1970, citing concern about its leftward tilt.Byrd rarely went out of his way to improve relations with African American constituents," the Post article noted.He never disavowed segregation and, in his last year in the Senate, continued to oppose the Voting Rights Act.In a 1982 interview cited in his Washington Post obituary, Byrd maintained that his support for "massive resistance" to school desegregation, including the closure of schools, was justified and helped prevent racial violence