Why Martin Luther King Was Republican

Human Events ^ | 08/16/2006 | Frances Rice

[coffee260]

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: slavery, secession, segregation and now socialism.

 

It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan to lynch and terrorize blacks. The Democrats fought to prevent the passage of every civil rights law beginning with the civil rights laws of the 1860s, and continuing with the civil rights laws of the 1950s and 1960s.

 

During the civil rights era of the 1960s, Dr. King was fighting the Democrats who stood in the school house doors, turned skin-burning fire hoses on blacks and let loose vicious dogs. It was Republican President Dwight Eisenhower who pushed to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools. President Eisenhower also appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court, which resulted in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation. Much is made of Democrat President Harry Truman's issuing an Executive Order in 1948 to desegregate the military. Not mentioned is the fact that it was Eisenhower who actually took action to effectively end segregation in the military.

 

Democrat President John F. Kennedy is lauded as a proponent of civil rights. However, Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Act while he was a senator, as did Democrat Sen. Al Gore Sr. And after he became President, Kennedy was opposed to the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King that was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, who was a black Republican. President Kennedy, through his brother Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated by the FBI on suspicion of being a Communist in order to undermine Dr. King.

 

In March of 1968, while referring to Dr. King's leaving Memphis, Tenn., after riots broke out where a teenager was killed, Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd (W.Va.), a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, called Dr. King a "trouble-maker" who starts trouble, but runs like a coward after trouble is ignited. A few weeks later, Dr. King returned to Memphis and was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

 

Given the circumstances of that era, it is understandable why Dr. King was a Republican. It was the Republicans who fought to free blacks from slavery and amended the Constitution to grant blacks freedom (13th Amendment), citizenship (14th Amendment) and the right to vote (15th Amendment). Republicans passed the civil rights laws of the 1860s, including the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Reconstruction Act of 1867 that was designed to establish a new government system in the Democrat-controlled South, one that was fair to blacks. Republicans also started the NAACP and affirmative action with Republican President Richard Nixon's 1969 Philadelphia Plan (crafted by black Republican Art Fletcher) that set the nation's fist goals and timetables. Although affirmative action now has been turned by the Democrats into an unfair quota system, affirmative action was begun by Nixon to counter the harm caused to blacks when Democrat President Woodrow Wilson in 1912 kicked all of the blacks out of federal government jobs.

 

Few black Americans know that it was Republicans who founded the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Unknown also is the fact that Republican Sen. Everett Dirksen from Illinois was key to the passage of civil rights legislation in 1957, 1960, 1964 and 1965. Not mentioned in recent media stories about extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is the fact that Dirksen wrote the language for the bill. Dirksen also crafted the language for the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which prohibited discrimination in housing. President Lyndon Johnson could not have achieved passage of civil rights legislation without the support of Republicans.

 

Critics of Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater, who ran for President against Johnson in 1964, ignore the fact that Goldwater wanted to force the Democrats in the South to stop passing discriminatory laws and thus end the need to continuously enact federal civil rights legislation.

 

Those who wrongly criticize Goldwater also ignore the fact that Johnson, in his 4,500 State of the Union Address delivered on Jan. 4, 1965, mentioned scores of topics for federal action, but only 35 words were devoted to civil rights. He did not mention one word about voting rights. Then in 1967, showing his anger with Dr. King's protest against the Vietnam War, Johnson referred to Dr. King as "that Nigger preacher."

 

Contrary to the false assertions by Democrats, the racist "Dixiecrats" did not all migrate to the Republican Party. "Dixiecrats" declared that they would rather vote for a "yellow dog" than vote for a Republican because the Republican Party was know as the party for blacks. Today, some of those "Dixiecrats" continue their political careers as Democrats, including Robert Byrd, who is well known for having been a "Keagle" in the Ku Klux Klan.

 

Another former "Dixiecrat" is former Democrat Sen. Ernest Hollings, who put up the Confederate flag over the state Capitol when he was the governor of South Carolina. There was no public outcry when Democrat Sen. Christopher Dodd praised Byrd as someone who would have been "a great senator for any moment," including the Civil War. Yet Democrats denounced then-Senate GOP leader Trent Lott for his remarks about Sen. Strom Thurmond (R.-S.C.). Thurmond was never in the Ku Klux Klan and defended blacks against lynching and the discriminatory poll taxes imposed on blacks by Democrats. If Byrd and Thurmond were alive during the Civil War, and Byrd had his way, Thurmond would have been lynched.

 

The 30-year odyssey of the South switching to the Republican Party began in the 1970s with President Richard Nixon's "Southern Strategy," which was an effort on the part of Nixon to get Christians in the South to stop voting for Democrats who did not share their values and were still discriminating against their fellow Christians who happened to be black. Georgia did not switch until 2002, and some Southern states, including Louisiana, are still controlled by Democrats.

 

Today, Democrats, in pursuit of their socialist agenda, are fighting to keep blacks poor, angry and voting for Democrats. Examples of how egregiously Democrats act to keep blacks in poverty are numerous.

 

After wrongly convincing black Americans that a minimum wage increase was a good thing, the Democrats on August 3 kept their promise and killed the minimum wage bill passed by House Republicans on July 29. The blockage of the minimum wage bill was the second time in as many years that Democrats stuck a legislative finger in the eye of black Americans. Senate Democrats on April 1, 2004, blocked passage of a bill to renew the 1996 welfare reform law that was pushed by Republicans and vetoed twice by President Clinton before he finally signed it. Since the welfare reform law expired in September 2002, Congress had passed six extensions, and the latest expired on June 30, 2004. Opposed by the Democrats are school choice opportunity scholarships that would help black children get out of failing schools and Social Security reform, even though blacks on average lose $10,000 in the current system because of a shorter life expectancy than whites (72.2 years for blacks vs. 77.5 years for whites).

 

Democrats have been running our inner-cities for the past 30 to 40 years, and blacks are still complaining about the same problems. More than $7 trillion dollars have been spent on poverty programs since Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty with little, if any, impact on poverty. Diabolically, every election cycle, Democrats blame Republicans for the deplorable conditions in the inner-cities, then incite blacks to cast a protest vote against Republicans.

 

In order to break the Democrats' stranglehold on the black vote and free black Americans from the Democrat Party's economic plantation, we must shed the light of truth on the Democrats. We must demonstrate that the Democrat Party policies of socialism and dependency on government handouts offer the pathway to poverty, while Republican Party principles of hard work, personal responsibility, getting a good education and ownership of homes and small businesses offer the pathway to prosperity.

 

[Ms. Rice is chairman of the National Black Republican Association (NBRA) and may be contacted at www.NBRA.info.]

[SolidWood]

The Democrat Party:
A proud history of Secession, Slavery, Segregation, Sedition and Socialism.

African-Americans and Jews voting Democrat are masochists.

[yldstrk]

Democrats have been using mirrors and smoke to trick people for a long time.

[reefdiver]

As a party, We can be proud of our past, and present. Even if it hasn’t helped our current situation

[fieldmarshaldj]

"It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican."

It should. He wasn't, at least not after the election season of 1960. I hate to see intelligent people not paying attention to history.

[RKV]

Please add “sodomy” to your list. Also, given MLK’s a) plagiarism of his doctoral thesis b) known associations with commies and comsymps and c) serial inability to remain faithful to his wife - I wouldn’t say he’s the best poster boy for the Republican Party.

[Nextrush]

In 1960 JFK called Coretta Scott King when MLK got hauled off to the chain gang because a Georgia judge wouldn’t grant bail.

His campaign manager, RFK, even called the judge in the case to ask why Martin Luther King wasn’t given bail.

The pressure worked to get King out of prison.

The Nixon campaign had no comment on the matter.

Daddy King was thankful enough to vote for JFK.

Kennedy operatives handed out fliers at black churches the Sunday before election day to remind people what JFK did when MLK got put in the slammer.

60 percent of black voters went JFK in 1960 reversing the 60 percent who went for Eisenhower in 1956.

And yes, Robert “Sheets” Byrd, was a big critic of King in 1968.

There’s old newsfilm of him blasting away at MLK that I saw some years ago when MSNBC ran programs from the news archives.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"organized by A. Phillip Randolph, who was a black Republican."

Randolph was a Socialist. He and his wife had both run for Congress from New York as Socialists.

[Nextrush]

Note my comment #7 to clarify that matter.

This looks like a propaganda post from GOP headquarters more than the facts of the matter.

But as I noted “Sheets” Byrd has some great quotes on file about Martin Luther King that would be worth watching again and putting on You Tube.

[Eagle of Liberty]

In order to break the Democrats' stranglehold on the black vote and free black Americans from the Democrat Party's economic plantation, we must shed the light of truth on the Democrats. We must demonstrate that the Democrat Party policies of socialism and dependency on government handouts offer the pathway to poverty, while Republican Party principles of hard work, personal responsibility, getting a good education and ownership of homes and small businesses offer the pathway to prosperity.

What a GREAT last paragraph. Needs repeating.

[Nextrush]

The FBI files about MLK’s sex life are sealed by a federal judge until 2027 but liberal author Taylor Branch got some Naderite help to pick up FBI files on the surveillance of MLK’s lawyer in 1963.

That’s when the FBI found out according to the files that MLK had women other than his wife.

Associates of MLK told Branch he was remorseful about his “sin” but that King visited quite a few mistresses in New York right before the famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

[L98Fiero]

I’m not sure I see the purpose of this year-old propaganda piece.

[usmcobra]

Most of the Charges against King have been “discovered” By Democrats and Even Coretta Scott King herself or those working for her.

For instance the Plagiarism King is accused of, uncovered by a team reviewing and sorting King’s papers for Coretta Scott King.

The stories of adultery leaked by RFK’s Justice department and the FBI.

The takeover of the republican lead civil rights movement by the socialists in the democrat party is a textbook case of how the best of men can be forced to do turn their backs on their own beliefs if you play dirty enough.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I’m just disturbed at this kind of stuff being put out. The author of this piece is not a moron, but let’s make no mistake here, MLK, Jr. was a big believer in big-government based solutions to the problems of the Black community. His father was a big booster and supporter of Jimmy Carter’s.

[L98Fiero]

“In order to break the Democrats’ stranglehold on the black vote and free black Americans from the Democrat Party’s economic plantation, we must shed the light of truth on the Democrats.”

When will you people realize that black people are not stupid, helpless slaves to the Democratic party? Do you even realize how insulting that line of reasoning is?

“We must demonstrate that the Democrat Party policies of socialism and dependency on government handouts..”

When will you people realize that blacks, like whites, vote for exactly what they want? Black people are not stupid little monkeys that are waiting in despair for a Republican night in shining armor. They know good and well what they want when they vote and that is Socialism.

For the love of GOD, enough with the “Black people are too stupid to know what’s good for them” BS. It’s degrading, insulting and far from accurate. They vote Democrat because they believe in the platform. Deal with it and move on.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Neither do I.

[RKV]

We don’t celebrate MLK day in casa RKV.

[RockinRight]

MLK did some great things. He also had some personal problems and later on began to seem to be a Commie sympathizer. He started life as a Republican IIRC but, as you said, became a Dem later on.

[Thunder Pig]

I heard Jim Quinn read that piece Tuesday morning on the radio, and the response was so overwhelming he read it again this morning.

Earlier this year, Frances spoke on a local radio station before speaking at at a local GOP fund raising dinner, and the Democrats are still up in arms over her statements and a local GOP activist was denied by a local TV Station from running a commercial highlighting a race riot initiated by Democrats in Wilmington, NC in 1898.

You can see the two commercials they refused to run here.

This is one place we need to hit them. Exposing the racist past of the Democrats, and educating people on conservatism as the alternative to what the Democrats are "giving" them.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I was talking to my father about this piece, and he was laughing (”MLK was a Socialist”). My father was getting his MBA at Berkeley in the late ‘60s and was present when MLK came to give a speech. When he started to talk about Civil Rights, the audience stood there in stony silence. Thinking about how to get the audience revved up, he mentioned Vietnam. The crowd went predictably nuts. By the time of his death, MLK was struggling to remain relavant, and he was hunting for issues (in Memphis, he got himself in the middle of a garbage workers strike — quite a step down from sitting next to LBJ when the CRA was signed). I think if he had made it into the ‘70s and ‘80s, he would’ve been little different than Je$$e Jack$on and Al Sharpton.