With the passing of Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, we have heard much about the Senator - his failings, his great moments, and - most of all - his longevity and service to his constituents.
But, the bridge of that longevity - I think that is the most important thing to remember about Senator Byrd.
In 1917, when Byrd was born, it was barely 50 years after the end of the Civil War. America, especially Southern America was still a place of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination. The labor movement, if not in its infancy, was in its childhood.
And the Democratic party was still pretty much the party it was in the Civil War. Not a party of civil rights, workers' rights, or equal rights. It was a rural party, an agrarian party, and a party that was extremely conservative.
Although Woodrow Wilson was making some strides away from this definition of the Democratic party, it was the Republican Party - at the time - that housed the progressive movement in America - typified by Wisconsin Governor Robert LaFollette, and then former President Teddy Roosevelt. This was even at the same time it was home to the oligarchical corporatists like former President William Howard Taft, and soon-to-be President Warren Harding.
By the time Byrd was first elected to the House, in 1952, he was a typical Southern Democrat for the time: Anti Civil Rights. But times were changing, and as the Civil Rights movement grew in the Democratic party, the Republican party became more and more the home for pro-segregationists.
And as this new Democratic party evolved, so did Senator Byrd. He could have switched to the GOP (like many former Southern Democrats). But he didn't. And by the time he was in his twilight, his politics had truly evolved. The Senator that vitriolically opposed desegregation a Senator that openly supported all sorts of civil rights legislation and health care reform. The Senator who once forcefully supported US intervention in Vietnam, then took to the floor of the Senate to give the most empassioned speech of his career in opposition to the invasion of Iraq.
To be sure, Robert Byrd was a Senatorial giant - and this analysis is not to take away from a thing that he accomplished in all his time in Washington. No, it is a reminder that all of those accomplishments, and all of the humanity that was Robert Byrd leaves a legacy that shows us where the Democratic Party was and how it has gotten to where it is.
A remarkable transformation shown through the eyes - and the words - of a remarkable man.