Posted on 06/18/2005 10:16:26 PM PDT by T-Bird45
In the early 1940s, a politically ambitious butcher from West Virginia named Bob Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to form a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. After Byrd had collected the $10 joining fee and $3 charge for a robe and hood from every applicant, the "Grand Dragon" for the mid-Atlantic states came down to tiny Crab Orchard, W.Va., to officially organize the chapter.
As Byrd recalls now, the Klan official, Joel L. Baskin of Arlington, Va., was so impressed with the young Byrd's organizational skills that he urged him to go into politics. "The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation," Baskin said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
According to his book, Byrd wrote to Samuel Green, an Atlanta doctor and "Imperial Wizard" of the Ku Klux Klan, in late 1941 or early 1942, expressing interest in joining. Some time later, he received the letter from Baskin, the "Grand Dragon" of mid-Atlantic states, saying he would come to Byrd's home in Crab Orchard whenever Byrd had rounded up 150 recruits for the Klan.
When Baskin finally arrived, the group gathered at the home of C.M. "Clyde" Goodwin, a former local law enforcement official. When it came time to choose the "Exalted Cyclops," the top officer in the local Klan unit, Byrd won unanimously.
Cyclops!!! LOL. A new nickname for the old racist.
bttt
How many crossburnings and lynchings did the democrat senator KKK Byrd and his 150 recruits conduct? Senator Byrd needs to come clean about the acts of terror he and his recruits committed as a klansman.
Gee .. he didn't mention that on Thursday when he was telling about his daddy giving him crayons
The other poster didn't say anything about who started the Klan or where it was started.
Interestingly enough, one of the largest and most active memberships in later years was in INDIANA, which, last time I checked, was NOT in the south.
The point was, and is, that left-wing anti-southern, anti-white, anti-Christian, (largely) YANKEE rabble-rousers continue to try and remove all traditional and historical symbols and vestiges of the Confederacy because they SUPPOSEDLY have a link to slavery, racism, blah blah blah.
As one of the posted photos of the KKK shows, the flag of the US was flown at KKK rallies too. If we're gonna get rid of the Confederate battle flag, we might as well get rid of Old Glory to, huh?
Either would be, and IS, LUDICROUS, since, of the 200+ years of slavery in this country, only 4 years were under the Confederacy.
Those that love to whine and complain about the South (mainly Yankee democrats), should focus their whining and complaining towards the real racists (mainly democrats like "Sheets" Byrd), and they should STFU about our honorable Southern symbols, history, and traditions.
And how daddy dearest "Saved the cake... But always ate it!"
It is a shame that we are not capitalizing on all this. He states lies in his book, and will 100% get away with it. There is no doubt that if a republican lied about KKK service in a book, he would be hung by the media. What a shame.
Well, I pray for Shelly Capito
Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Actually, anti-Communism, as a political movement began in the early 1920s, spurred on by Wilson's AG, Mitchell Palmer.
Of course it didn't take on real significance until the Cold War, but there were several "Red Scares" in between 1917 and 1946
The reason the Nazi government was initially not objected to by anybody is that everyone thought Hitler was going to be a useful bulwark to Stalin.
Also of note, in the Presidential Election of 1928, the election results in Alachua County, Florida are kind of telling.
Smith (Democrat)- 35%
Thomas (Socialist)- 32%
Foster (Communist)- 30%
Smith (Republican)- 3%
The Communist candidate also recieved (somehow) 5% of the vote in adjoining Gilchrist County
The fear of Communism existed in the 20s, and for very good reason.
Once again, the Confederate flag is not a racist symbol, and as I so stated on another thread, if every person who revered the Southern cause, who owned a Rebel flag, who believes the war was not about slavery, had decided not to vote last year, John Kerry would be President right now.
When you insult Southern heritage, the Rebel flag, etc, and you say that it is racist, pro-slavery, etc, you are insulting a very large part of the conservative base.
Yeah, just like a rotary club meeting...but with hoods and masks.
Yeah, and that's the reason many counties in Southern Indiana have voted straight democratic for years. Ours being one of them*. However, the neighboring county (which has several Underground Railroad stations) is a strong Republican county.
*(Things are changing. We now have Mike Sodrel R in US Congress)...
In the early 1940s, the communists were our allies - remember Russia in WWII? How can he claim his KKK buddies were "fighting communism" during that time? Also, Rush Limbaugh played Sheets' 1968 (?) diatribe against Martin Luther King on Friday - Sheets claimed MLK was a troublemaker who stirred things up and then ran and hid and let his supporters take the heat. Sheets' autobiography is going to be another doorstop just like "My Lie."
So according to you, the only real conservatives are in pick up trucks, waving rebel flags, screaming about their 'lost cause'?
The 'neo-confederate' movement is a total embarrassment to everything conservative, the GOP and American values.
I think this is the truest sentence in the article.
Thanks for posting the article.
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