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David Duke (born July 1, 1950) is a White supremacist politician in the United States. He is also a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, Louisiana State Representative, and ran unsuccessfully for various offices including the Louisiana Senate, Governor of Louisiana, and twice for President of the United States.
David Duke was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma but his family moved at an early age and after a short period of living in the Netherlands, settled in Louisiana. He became interested in the white nationalist movement at an early age and in 1967 at the age of 17 joined the Ku Klux Klan. Duke went on to study at Louisiana State University and in 1970 formed a nationalist campus group known as the White Youth Alliance. He was involved in the campus ROTC and a year later he went to Laos and taught English to Laotian military officers. Duke returned to LSU and graduated in 1974. He was well known on campus for wearing a Nazi uniform and swastika paraphernalia, and holding parties on the anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler. The same year as his graduation he was elected to Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He became well known for trying to modernize the Klan and turn it into a modern nationalist political force. Some examples are changing the title of Grand Wizard to National Director and wearing a suit as opposed to the traditional white robe. In 1976, he sought a seat in the Louisiana state senate as a Democrat. In 1978 he left the Klan and two years later formed the National Association for the Advancement of White People. In 1988 he ran in the Democratic Party primary for candidate of the President of the United States. After a dismal showing in the Democratic primaries, he appeared on many state ballots as the nominee of the Populist Party, receiving approximately 25,000 votes in the 1988 general election.
In 1989, he ran as a Republican for a seat in the Louisiana State House of Representatives. He defeated fellow Republican John Treen, the brother of David Treen, the first post-Reconstruction Republican to be elected Governor of Louisiana, by a margin of 51-49 percent. Duke's victory came despite visits to the district in support of John Treen's candidancy by President George H.W. Bush, former President Ronald Reagan, and other GOP notables.
A year later he challenged incumbent Democratic Senator J. Bennett Johnston in the open pimary, receiving 44% of the vote (including over 65% of the White vote, according to exit polls). Sen. Johnston was able to win re-election (and thus avoid a direct run-off with Duke) by receiving 53% of the vote. The official candidate of the Republican Party, state senator Ben Baggert, won a mere 3% of the vote.
Duke ran for Governor as a Republican Party candidate, although never getting any official endorsement from that party. In the open primary, Duke was second to former governor Edwin Edwards in votes, thus he faced Edwards in a run-off. Duke received 32% of the vote in that intial round, pushing incumbent Republican Buddy Roemer down to third place, with 27% of the vote, effectively defeating Roemer's bid for re-election. The election got national attention. While Duke had a hard-core constituency of devoted admirers, many more in Louisiana voted for him as a "protest vote" to register dissatisfaction with Louisiana's mainstream politicians. Some dismissed the reports of Duke having ties to Nazi and KKK organizations as simple mud-slinging. In the time from placing in the primary and the run-off election Duke had his greatest national fame. White power and far-right organizations from around the country contributed to his campaign fund. At the same time, Duke tried to distance himself from his more extreme views in public appearances while never officially repudiating them. Whenever reporters asked about his Nazi and KKK ties, Duke gave an angry non-answer denouncing the reporters for trying to dig up dirt from the past. Meanwhile, a large anti-Duke coalition gave support to Edwards, about whom many were at best lukewarm, save in comparison to Duke. Edwards was largely perceived as corrupt, but the possibility of Duke as governor was widely seen as worse. A popular bumper-sticker read "Vote for the Crook. It's Important". Ads and documentaries aired on television showing footage of Duke from earlier years at Klan rallies and acting as a neo-Nazi spokesman. When a reporter asked Edwards what he needed to do to triumph over Duke, Edwards replied with a smile, "Stay alive". Duke lost the election by a wide margin, but claimed "I won my constituency. I won 55% of the white vote." His total share of the run-off popular vote was 39.5%, and exit polls actually showed he received approximately 60% of the White vote.
In 1998 he published his autobiography My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding. In 1999, he again ran as a Republican in a special election for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and received 19% of the vote, thus failing to make the run-off with his third place showing. In 2002, Duke traveled to eastern Europe to promote his book. In August he received a Diploma from the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management in Kiev, Ukraine, the former soviet-era All-Union Correspondence University of Personnel Management. Whether this entitles him to use the honorific 'Doctor' or not is a matter of dispute. The regional popularity of his allegedly anti-Semitic ideas have made him something of a literary celebrity throughout much of eastern and central Europe, as well as the Middle East.
In 2004 David Duke published his latest book: Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening on the Jewish Question. While the book's title leads one to believe it is a continuation of his first autobiographical work, the book instead purports to be a collection of historical documents that detail religious beliefs of Jewish Supremacism since antiquity. The book is dedicated to Dr. Israel Shahak, a late Israeli professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who was an ardent critic of supremacist religious teachings in modern Jewish culture. Duke denies the book is motivated by anti-semitism.
On May 29, 2004, David Duke brought together in New Orleans leaders of the "European Nationlist" movement to sign an agreement that would "mainstream our cause." The New Orleans Protocol signatories pledged to avoid violence and internecine attacks. It was immediately signed by eight nationalists, most representing organizations, including National Alliance, and Stormfront. Duke signed on behalf of his new organization, European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO).
In December 2002, David Duke pleaded guilty to tax and mail fraud. Four months later Duke was sentenced to 15 months in prison for his crimes. Duke was also fined US$10,000, fully cooperate with the IRS and pay money still owned for his 1998 taxes. Following his release in May of 2004, he claimed publicly that his decision to take the plea bargain was motivated by the bias that he perceived in the Federal court system instead of his guilt.
Duke was charged for what was described by prosecutors as a six-year scheme to mail thousands of his followers asking for donations. In the mail, Duke told supporters that he was about to lose his house and his life-savings. Duke raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in this campaign. However, prosecutors claim he had already sold his home, at a heft profit, had multiple investment accounts and spent much of his money gambling at casinos.
Duke has lived in a self-imposed exile since the late 1990s. He has spent most of his time in Eastern Europe going country to country to deliver his message. In 2005, Duke has teamed up with Don Black of Stormfront and now delivers a one-hour Internet show 6 days a week. Listeners of his show can ask their questions by other logging on to Stormfront's forums or sending Duke an e-mail.
Notable Quotes
- "What we really want to do is to be left alone. We don't want Negroes around. We don't need Negroes around. We're not asking you know, we don't want to have them, you know, for our culture. We simply want our own country and our own society. That's in no way exploitive at all. We want our own society, our own nation...."
Duke interview with doctoral student Evelyn Rich, who traveled around the country with Duke while conducting research for her dissertation on the KKK.
- "White people don't need a law against rape, but if you fill this room up with your normal black bucks, you would, because niggers are basically primitive animals."
"It's really the Jew Marxists who see the nigger as their instrument, as their bullets, by which to destroy our society."
"Of course you know the miracle of AIDS, we all do. It's the only disease that turns fruits into vegetables."
References
Bridges, Tyler. "The Rise of David Duke." Mississippi University Press, 1995. 300 pages. ISBN 0878056785
Zatarain, Michael. "David Duke: Evolution of a Klansman." Pelican Publishing Company, 1990: Gretna, Louisiana. 304 pages. ISBN 0882898175
External links
- David Duke's official web site
- European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), David Duke, President
- "The truth about David Duke" by one of Duke's European Friends
- "The Federal Persecution of David Duke" by Duke's childhood friend Don Black
- Federal Indictment of David Duke on mail fraud and filing false tax return.