Name: 1946 Arlington: The First Crack in the Byrd Machine
Start: 2026-01-08T19:00:00-05:00
Location: Marymount University

1946 Arlington: The First Crack in the Byrd Machine

In 1946, after four years of a world war, the citizens of Arlington focused on local challenges, highlighted in the fall by an aggressive County Board campaign from a political newcomer who challenged the local Byrd Machine in Arlington. The story includes a controversy over our governance structure, extreme unhappiness with the school system, and an election that eventually led to the creation of a new non-partisan political machine that would control Arlington politics for decades.
This is a timely topic as the county board discusses changes in its governance structure. Find out for yourself, its historical foundations.
Bill Fogarty is a retired attorney who has lived and worked in Arlington for more than 40 years. He has taken up a new avocation of writing and teaching about Arlington history, contributing to the Arlington Historical Society both as a presenter and writer. Bill also writes the “Our Man in Arlington” column for the Falls Church News Press.
We are back this month at the Marymount University Library Auditorium.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS and FREE PARKING: Attendees planning to attend the event in-person should enter the Marymount University campus at the library gate on N. 26th Street. From Glebe Road going north, take a right onto 26th Street. Pass the intersection with Yorktown Road and then enter the campus through the next gate on your left. The library is to your left as you enter the campus. Free garage parking is just past the library at the bottom of the small incline. (Handicapped parking is immediately to your right as you enter through the gate onto campus.)
If the university has lowered the garage gates, push the button and let them know you’re here for an Arlington Historical Society event in the library. To leave, push the button and they’ll raise the gate.
ZOOM AVAILABLE: If you can’t be there in person, you can zoom in, but you must register by the end of Wednesday, January 7, 2026 to get the zoom information. Click here to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe4GrBjd3h9nX94KQJI8PGVvJIMWQo9CD7RrKUn_-MeiH_lsQ/viewform You’ll get an email on the morning of the event (Jan 8, 2026) with Zoom details.