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David Duke
Occupation(s)Politician, writer

David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is a former Louisiana Republican State Representative and former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Duke is a self-styled white nationalist, though is often labelled a white supremacist by critics. Duke says he does not think of himself as a racist, stating that he is a "racial realist" and that he believes "all people have a basic human right to preserve their own heritage."

Duke has made a number of unsuccessful political bids for higher office, including run for the Louisiana State House, Louisiana State Senate, United States Senate, United States House, governor of Louisiana and twice for president of the United States. In 2002 he pled guilty to tax evasion and fraud charges. He is a long-time New Orleans resident and the father of two.

Youth and early adulthood

David Duke was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma to David H. and Maxine Duke. As a Shell Oil engineer, his father frequently moved the family to numerious locations around the world. The Dukes spent a short period of living in the Netherlands before they settled in Louisiana. Young David became interested in the white nationalist movement at an early age and joined the Klan in 1967. Duke went on to study at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and in 1970, he formed a White student group known as the White Youth Alliance. That same year, he made himself known even more by demonstrating in swastika regalia to protest William Kunstler's appearance at Tulane University.

He was involved in the campus ROTC, until he was kicked out due to his radical beliefs. In 1971, he went to Laos to teach English to Laotian military officers and serve on cargo flights for Air America over the course of ten weeks.

Duke returned to LSU, graduating in 1974. He became notorious on campus for wearing a Nazi uniform while picketing and holding parties on the anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler. The year of his graduation, he formed the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He attracted attention for trying to modernize the Klan and turn it into a modern nationalist political force. For example, he changed the title of "Grand Wizard" to "National Director" and sported a conservative suit as opposed to the traditional white robe.

While working in the White Youth Alliance, Duke met Chloe Hardin, who also became active in the group. The two remained companions throughout college, and married in 1974. Hardin is the mother of Duke's two daughters, Erika and Kristin. The couple divorced in 1984, and Hardin then moved to West Palm Beach, Florida to be closer to her family. There she became involved with Duke's childhood friend, Don Black, whom she married several years later.

Political career

In 1976, Duke sought a seat in the Louisiana State Senate as a Democrat. In 1988, he ran in the Democratic Party primary for 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 and received 47,047 votes in the 1988 general election. Trenton Stokes of Arkansas was Duke's running mate.

  • Challenging John Treen

In 1989, he ran as a Republican for a seat representing Metairie in the Louisiana State House of Representatives. He defeated fellow Republican John Treen, the brother of David Treen, the first Republican to be elected governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction, by a narrow margin of 51-49 percent. Duke's victory came despite visits to the district in support of John Treen's candidacy by President George H.W. Bush, former President Ronald Reagan, and other GOP notables.

  • Challenging Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.

In 1990, Duke challenged incumbent Democratic Senator Bennett Johnston in the open primary as a Republican and received 44 percent of the vote, including more than 60 percent of the white vote, according to exit polls. Johnston was able to win re-election (and thus avoid a direct run-off with Duke) by receiving 53 percent of the vote. The endorsed Republican party candidate, State Senator Ben Baggert of New Orleans, who had been supported by the Virginia Republican leader Oliver North, withdrew from the race two days before the vote. Distressed national Republican officials had anticipated Baggert losing and fragmenting Johnston's support; so funding for Baggert's campaign was halted, and he dropped out though his name remained on the ballot. Republican Senator John C. Danforth of Missouri openly endorsed Democrat Johnston.

  • Challenging Edwin Edwards and Buddy Roemer

Duke ran for Louisiana governor in 1991 as a Republican Party candidate, despite getting an official reproval (letter expressing the GOP's disdain for Duke's activities) from that party. In the open primary, Duke was second to former governor Edwin Washington Edwards in votes; thus he faced Edwards in a runoff. Duke received 32 percent of the vote in that initial round, pushing incumbent Republican Buddy Roemer down to third place with 27 percent of the vote, effectively defeating Roemer's bid for re-election. While Duke had a small hard-core constituency of devoted admirers, many others in Louisiana voted for him as a "protest vote", in order to register dissatisfaction with Louisiana's establishment politicians. Duke portrayed himself as a spokesman for the disaffected White majority and took a strong anti-establishment stance.

Between the primary and the runoff, technically called the "general election" under Louisiana's primary (in which all candidates run on one ballot, regardless of party), Duke enjoyed the peak of his notoriety. White supremacist and far-right organizations from around the country contributed to his campaign fund.

Duke's success garnered nation-wide media attention. A massive campaign was launched against him, with celebrities and organizations donating thousands to Edwards's campaign in order to defeat Duke. A popular bumper sticker read, "Vote for the Crook. It's Important." 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. Edwards polled 1,057,031 (61.2 percent). Duke's 671,009 votes represented 38.8 percent of the total. Duke claimed victory, saying, "I won my constituency. I won 55 percent of the white vote," which he had, as exit polls confirmed. In actuality, Duke had done little better in percent terms than the first major Republican gubernatorial candidate in modern Louisiana history, Charlton Lyons, had done in 1964.

  • Challenging Mary Landrieu

In 1996, Duke ran again for the U.S. Senate, when Johnston announced his retirement. He polled 141,489 votes (11.5 percent). Republican former state representative Louis Woody Jenkins of Baton Rouge and Democrat Mary Landrieu of New Orleans, the former state treasurer, went into the general election contest. Landrieu was declared the winner by some 4,000 votes. Duke's supporters are believed to have supported Jenkins.

  • Seeking to succeed Bob Livingston

Due to the sudden resignation-in-disgrace of powerful, long time Republican incumbent Robert Livingston in 1999, a Special Election was held in Louisiana's First Congressional District later that year. Duke sought the seat as a Republican, receiving 19% of the vote and finshing a close third, thus failing to make the run-off. Republican state representative David Vitters (now a U.S. Senator) went on to defeat Republican ex-Governor David Treen.

  • Challenging Bobby Jindal as a campaign manager

In 2004 Duke's bodyguard, roommate, and longtime associate by the name of Roy Armstrong made a bid for the United States House of Representatives to serve Louisiana's First Congressional District. Armstrong lost the election to Bobby Jindal, an Indian-American. Duke was acting as the head advisor of the campaign.

Scandal

Using the pseudonym Dorothy Vanderbilt, Duke published a self-help book for women titled Finders-Keepers in 1976. The publication gives advice to women regarding vaginal exercises, fellatio, and anal sex. The manual is no longer in print and hard to find; however, the Times-Picayune, a New Orleans newspaper, managed to find a copy and trace the trail of its proceeds to the original author via the publisher. Duke compiled information from various women's self-help magazines, and published the book to raise money for his activities, though the book turned out to be a flop.

In the early 1980s, he was heavily involved in gambling and stock market investments, which were covered by the Times-Picayune, as well as by others.

In the latter years of the 1980s, Duke sought to revamp his appearance by undergoing plastic surgery, and also shaved off his moustache following his election to the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Duke also conducted a direct-mail appeal in 1987 using the identity and mailing-list of the Forsyth County Defense League, in Georgia, without permission, which League officials described as a fund-raising "scam" (detailed in The Rise of David Duke by Tyler Bridges).

Affiliations

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

In 1974 David Duke founded the Louisiana-based Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, shortly after graduating from LSU. He first received broad public attention during this time, as he successfully marketed himself in the mid-1970s as a new brand of Klansman — well-groomed, engaged, and professional. Duke also reformed the organization, as for the first time in the Klan's history, women were accepted as equal members and Catholics were encouraged to apply for membership.

NAAWP v. NAACP

In 1978, Duke left the Klan and two years later formed the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP).

On May 20 2004, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People became outraged when it discovered that David Duke had chosen New Orleans to host his International NAAWP Conference during the NAACP's Big Easy Rally to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

E.U.R.O.

Duke is the president of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization and remains a political activist against affirmative action, Zionist interests, hate crime laws, and non-European immigration into the United States. Duke has gained an audience in Ukraine and the Arab world for his opposition to Jews and Zionism. EURO was previously titled N.O.F.E.A.R., the National Organization for European-American Rights, but faced legal challenges by fashion company No Fear Inc.. This forced Duke to find a name for his organization without a preexisting copyright.

File:David Duke doctorate.jpg
David Duke receiving his History doctorate from MAUP.

Ernst Zündel and the Zundelsite

Duke has expressed his support for Ernst Zündel and his Holocaust denial campaign. Duke himself is sometimes described as a Holocaust denier as well. Currently, Duke expresses concern for the aging Zündel on his website calling him a "political prisoner" after Zündel was deported from Canada to Germany. Zündel is being held in a German prision on charges of defaming the dead, in this case, the victims of the Holocaust.

Interregional Academy of Personnel Management

In September 2005 Duke received a Ph.D. title in History from the Ukrainian Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP). His doctoral thesis was titled "Zionism as a Form of Ethnic Supremacism". MAUP is a large university (with over 50,000 students) accredited by Ukraine's Ministry of Education, and is where Duke had previously received a honorary doctorate. It is regarded by its critics as the main source of anti-Semitic activity and publishing in Ukraine, and its "anti-Semitic actions" were "strongly condemned" by Foreign Minister of Ukraine Borys Tarasyuk and various Jewish interest and anti-racist organizations. , Allegedly Duke has been allowed to teach an international relations and a history course at MAUP.

Publications

My Awakening

In 1998, Duke published his autobiography My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding. The book details Duke's life and his social philosophies, especially his reasoning behind racial separation. The Anti-Defamation League review of the book refers to it as containing racist, anti-Semitic, sexist and homophobic views.

Jewish Supremacism

In 2000 David Duke published in Russia his latest controversial book: Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening on the Jewish Question. The book eschews the layout of his first autobiographical work, and instead purports to be a collection of historical documents that, according to Duke, demonstrate supremacism in religious beliefs and philosophies of the Jewish community from antiquity till modern times. The book is dedicated to Israel Shahak, a controversial writer, who was an ardent critic of what he saw as supremacist religious teachings in modern Jewish culture. Duke denies the book is motivated by anti-Semitism.

At one time, the book was being sold in the main lobby of the building of Russian State Duma (congress). The first printing of 5,000 copies was almost sold out in several weeks. Reacting to this, ADL office in Moscow urged the Moscow Prosecutor to open an investigation of Boris Mironov, the former Yeltsin's administration official and a prominent far-right politician, who wrote an introduction for the Russian edition of Jewish Supremacism, called The Jewish Question Through the Eyes of an American. The ADL office also initiated a letter from a prominent Duma member to Russia’s Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, urging that a criminal case be opened against the author and the Russian publisher of Duke’s book. The letter by Alexander Fedulov described the book as anti-Semitic and as violating Russian anti-hate crime laws. In December 2001, Prosecutor's office closed the investigation of Boris Mironov and Jewish Supremacism. In a public letter, Yuri Biryukov, First Deputy of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, stated that a socially-psychological examination, which was conducted as a part of the investigation, concluded that the book and the actions of Boris Mironov did not break Russian hate-crime laws.

In 2002, Duke traveled to eastern Europe to promote his book and in 2004 Jewish Supremacism was published in the USA. Presently, Duke claims that the book has been translated in 8 languages. It is also sometimes alleged in far-right sources that the book has sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide.

Comments on Internet websites

Stormfront.org

In 1995, Don Black and Chloe Hardin, Duke's ex-wife, began a small bulletin board service or BBS by the name Stormfront. Today, Stormfront has become the premier online forum for white supremacy and white nationalism. Duke has an account on Stormfront which he uses to post articles from his own website, davidduke.com, as well as polling forum members for opinions and questions, in particular during his internet broadcasts. David Duke has worked with Don Black on numerous projects including Operation Red Dog in 1980.

Davidduke.com

On February 5 2002, Duke claimed on his Internet radio show that Ariel Sharon was "the world's worst terrorist" and that Mossad was involved in the 9/11 attacks. The broadcast claimed that Zionists were behind the 9/11 in order to reduce sympathy for Muslim nations in the West, and that the number of Israelis killed in the attack was lower than it would be under normal circumstances, citing early assessments by The Jerusalem Post and "the legendary involvement of Israeli nationals in businesses at the World Trade Center". According to Duke, this indicated that Israeli security services had prior knowledge of the attack.

Public appearances

Public address in Damascus

On November 24, 2005, Duke visited Syria, addressing a rally, which was broadcast on Syrian television, and later giving an interview. During the rally, he referred to Israel as a "war-mongering country", adding that "Washington, New York and London and many other capitals of the world" are "occupied by the Zionists."

After speaking to the Syrian people, Duke was interviewed where he remarked that Israel "makes the Nazi state look very, very moderate." Syrian parliament member Muhammad Habash replied that Duke's visit gave Syrians a "new and very positive view of the average American."

Comments in the media

Since 2005 Duke has appeared three times on "Current Issues," a Lafayette, Louisiana–based television show hosted and produced by Palestinian-American Hesham Tillawi, which has recently been picked up by Bridges TV. Tillawi afforded Duke the opportunity to discourse at length about his beliefs about Jewish supremacism. On the show in October 2005, Duke claimed that Jewish extremists are responsible for undermining the morality of America and are attempting to "wash the world in blood."

After John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's paper on The Israel Lobby appeared in March 2006, Duke praised the paper in a number of articles on his website, on his March 18 Live Web Radio Broadcast, and on MSNBC's March 21 Scarborough Country program. According to the New York Sun, Duke said in an email, "It is quite satisfying to see a body in the premier American University essentially come out and validate every major point I have been making since even before the war even started." Duke added that "the task before us is to wrest control of America's foreign policy and critical junctures of media from the Jewish extremist Neocons that seek to lead us into what they expectantly call World War IV."

Walt responded: "I have always found Mr. Duke's views reprehensible, and I am sorry he sees this article as consistent with his view of the world."

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit requestadding to it .

Conferences

Duke organized a gathering of "European Nationalists" who signed the New Orleans Protocol on May 29, 2004. The signatories agreed to avoid infighting among far-right racialists.

On June 3 2005, Duke co-chaired a conference named "Zionism As the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization" in Ukraine, sponsored by the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP). The conference was attended by several notable Ukrainian public figures and politicians, and writer Israel Shamir (accused of anti-Semitism by critics).

According to Duke, Swedish police thwarted an attempted assassination against him in August 2005 while Duke was speaking in Sweden. An anonymous tip to a Swedish radio station led police to the discovery of a powerful explosive device hidden near the podium where Duke was to address a group of Swedish nationalists.

On the weekend of June 8-10, 2006, Duke attended as a speaker at the international "White World's Future" conference in Moscow, which was coordinated and hosted by Pavel Tulaev.

Guilty plea and incarceration

David Duke pleaded guilty to tax evasion and mail fraud in December 2002. Four months later Duke was sentenced to 15 months in prison, and he served the time in Big Spring, Texas. He was also fined US $10,000, ordered to cooperate fully with the IRS, and to pay money still owed for his 1998 taxes. Following his release in May 2004, he stated publicly that his decision to take the plea bargain was motivated by the bias that he perceived in the United States federal court system and not his guilt. He claimed he felt the charges were contrived to derail his political career and discredit him to his followers, and that he took the safe route by pleading guilty and receiving a mitigated sentence, rather than pleading not guilty and potentially receiving the full sentence.

Duke was charged for what was described by prosecutors as a six-year scheme to dupe thousands of his followers by asking for donations. Through snail-mail, Duke later appealed to his supporters that he was about to lose his house and his life savings. Allegedly, Duke raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in this campaign. However, prosecutors claim he had already sold his home at a hefty profit, had multiple investment accounts, and spent much of his money gambling at casinos.

The entire file of court documents related to this case can be found at The Smoking Gun, a sister site of Court TV. It details the December 12, 2002 guilty plea to federal charges that he filed a false tax return and committed mail fraud.

References

  1. Duke, David (2005-03-12). "David Duke answers an email about whether he is a racist". Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  2. ^ "David Duke". Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  3. Duke, David. "Political Victory". My Awakening. SolarGeneral. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  4. Kim, T. K. (2005). "Electronic Storm". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  5. "Louisiana Republican Quits, Reducing Duke's Chances". Washington Post. 1990-10-05.
  6. Lee, Martin A. (2003). "Detailing David Duke". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  7. "David Duke: In His Own Words". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  8. ^ Bridges, Tyler (1995). The Rise of David Duke. University of Mississippi Press. ISBN 0-87805-678-5.
  11. ^ Columbia Journalism Review, THE PICAYUNE CATCHES UP WITH DAVID DUKE
  34. Republicanizing the Race Card (The Nation)
  37. David Duke in Russia, ADL
  38. "Закрыто "дело Миронова"". Русский вестник. 2001-12-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Template:Ru icon
  40. Review of Jewish Supremacism by Edgar Johnston at the far-right Spearhead Books
  44. "American White Supremacist David Duke: Israel Makes the Nazi State Look Very Moderate", interview with David Duke on Syrian television, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), November 25, 2005. Clip of the interview and of Duke's speech to a Syrian rally can be viewed here.
  50. 'Scarborough Country' for March 21, show transcript, MSNBC, March 21 2006.
  51. Eli Lake, David Duke Claims to Be Vindicated By a Harvard Dean, New York Sun, March 20, 2006.

Works, filmography, and further reading

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