Cord Byrd: “tucked into a sheltered green valley in Southern West Virginia is a magical place, a place where fascinating history…”

“tucked into a sheltered green valley in Southern West Virginia is a magical place, a place where fascinating history, natural majesty, and sumptuous comfort have combined since the first days of our nation's founding to create a spot that is justly world-renowned. That place, Mr. President, is called The Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It has been a special place for several decades now, overflowing with game for the Shawnee Indians, a spa since colonial days, a place of high society idylls and balls, fought over during the Civil War, a World War II diplomatic internment site and then a rest and recuperation hospital for wounded soldiers, and a secret government relocation site--all cloaked behind the well-bred, white-columned face of a grand southern belle of a resort. Mr. President, in May, my wife Erma and I celebrated our 63rd anniversary. Erma is my childhood sweetheart, the former Erma Ora James. We have written a lot of history together over the past 63 years, and I could not ask for a better coauthor.”