Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia

by Dorothy Margaret Torpey

In August 1933, a special session of the Virginia legislature was held to select delegates for a special convention to vote on the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Although Governor Pollard at first refused to summon the extra session, he was forced by petition of two-thirds of both houses of the General Assembly to do so. Subsequently, the delegates favored the repeal of the amendment by a vote of 96 to 54. The vote by the people was actually a referendum vote, but ballots for repeal automatically elected a slate of thirty delegates-at-large who were pledged to a repeal vote. Later, at a special convention, the delegates voted to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment by favoring the Twenty-First Amendment. The General Assembly then created its own regulations for the sale of liquor and provided for the establishment of Alcoholic Beverage Control Boards throughout the Commonwealth.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Claude A. Swanson of Virginia as the first Secretary of the Navy in his cabinet, ex-Governor Harry F. Byrd was appointed to succeed Swanson as United States Senator. Harry F. Byrd was elected United States Senator at the next national election. Thus, in 1933, Senator Byrd began one of the longest periods of continuous service in the United States Senate.

In 1935, the first national park in Virginia and the second national park east of the Mississippi River was established. It was called the Shenandoah National Park and was dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This very scenic park, which now includes the famous Skyline Drive, was made possible by the combined efforts of many people: Governor E. Lee Trinkle who publicly advocated the establishment of parks, numerous citizens who willingly donated property (because Virginia had been informed by the federal government that it would have to furnish the land), the state which also contributed land after it had purchased it or condemned it and the federal government which helped financially with appropriations and with physical labor furnished by the Civilian Conservation Corps. This park has attracted tourists from throughout the nation with its breath-taking mountain scenery and diversity of trees and wild flowers.

Virginia made a very significant contribution to World War II. When the nation began to mobilize for war, Governor James H. Price created the Virginia Defense Council. Dr. Douglas Southall Freeman, a noted author, was appointed chairman of this council, the first in the United States. As in previous wars, the Hampton Roads area became strategically important; navy activities increased rapidly in this area; various camps including Camp Lee and Langley Field were re-opened; and production, transportation and consumption activities created new records in quantity and speed. Activities at Camp A. P. Hill, Camp Pickett, Newport News, Norfolk, Alexandria, Williamsburg, Quantico and Hampton Roads reflected much of the war effort of Virginians in this conflict. The Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond was consigned again to make munitions for the armed conflict. Richmond along with Madison, Wisconsin, was selected as a test city for a scrap aluminum drive. The test proved most successful, and the scrap aluminum drives were soon extended throughout the nation. Various federal government offices were temporarily moved to Virginia, such as the United States Patent Office which was moved from Washington to Richmond. Since Richmond is located within a one hundred mile radius of the national capital and is geographically and strategically situated from a military viewpoint, it was designated as a "critical area." During the 1940-1945 period, Virginia furnished 137,000 men and 3,757 women to the Army (including the Air Force) and 71,091 men and 2,055 women to the Navy (including the Marines). Civilians in Virginia, as in all other states, contributed much physical, mental and financial effort during the war in their desire to bring peace again to the world.

VIRGINIA STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Shrine of Memory: Virginia War Memorial

One impact of World War II upon state government was action during Governor Colgate W. Darden's term to modify the poll tax requirement as applied to Virginia members of the armed forces on active duty. A special session of the Virginia legislature in 1944 attempted to exempt those persons from poll tax requirements but the judiciary nullified this measure as contrary to constitutional provision. Subsequently, by referendum, the voters of the state favored the calling of a limited constitutional convention to accomplish the objective. A condition of the referendum restricted the delegates to this convention to act solely upon the soldier vote and to agree not to consider, adopt or propose any other law, amendment or revision. The constitutional convention approved a measure which became the seventeenth article of the Virginia State Constitution: this new article allowed service men and women on active duty, otherwise eligible to vote, to vote without payment of a poll tax or without fulfillment of the registration requirement.

Since the end of World War II, war memorials have been erected in various communities as an expression of appreciation for war sacrifices. The most famous such memorial constructed through state or local action has been the state memorial erected in Richmond. A million dollar white marble edifice known as the "Shrine of Memory" consists of a structure twenty-two feet high and includes the names, etched on glass panels and marble columns, of approximately 10,340 Virginians who died in combat in World War II or in the Korean conflict. The memorial, located on a four-acre site overlooking the James River near the north end of the Robert E. Lee Bridge, is also a tribute to the 360,000 Virginians who participated in the armed forces during these two conflicts and to the 100,000 Virginia volunteer civilian workers who contributed much in their various types of activities. At the base of the statue to "Memory" is a gas-fed torch, called the "Torch of Liberty," which burns perpetually. Embedded in the floor of the "Shrine of Memory" are memorial coffers which contain authentic, labeled ground and sea battle mementos from battleground areas. The leading sculptor for this unusually beautiful memorial was Leo Friedlander.