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Byrd's KKK Alibi Comes Unraveled
NewsMax.com ^
| 1/22/03
| Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
Posted on 01/22/2003 4:18:26 PM PST by kattracks
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WV, has said repeatedly over the years that he joined the notorious anti-black hate group the Ku Klux Klan during World War II - not because he was a racist - but because the Klan had taken a strong stance against communism, a system of government that then existed only in the Soviet Union.
But Byrd's KKK alibi doesn't stand up to even the most cursory historical scrutiny, as a World War II veteran pointed out to NewsMax.com Wednesday.
"When Byrd said he joined the Klan, it couldn't have been famous for being anti-Communist, since in 1943 the Soviet Union was our crucial ally in World War II," said our source, who served in Air Force, then known as the Army Air Corps, in preparation for the Normandy invasion.
"In 1943 Franklin Roosevelt was still calling Stalin 'Uncle Joe'," he added. "And I remember U.S. military maps that showed the Red Army's advances toward Berlin, which was something we were all happy about."
Further puncturing Sen. Byrd's KKK alibi, the World War II vet recalled, "There would have been no reason for any patriotic American to have been anti-Communist in 1943 - because we were doing everything we could to help the Reds beat Hitler on the Eastern Front."
In fact, anti-communism didn't emerge as a genuine force in American politics until 1947, with the outbreak of the Cold War - four years after Byrd says he left the Klan. Two weeks ago the West Virginia Democrat's press secretary Tom Gavin said his boss had belonged to the Klan for only "a number of months."
It was during this period that Byrd - supposedly by then an EX-Klansman - was advising Grand Imperial Wizard Samuel Green on whom to appoint to important posts in the hierarchy of the hate group. In a letter to Green, Byrd urged, "the Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the Union."
A year later in 1948, Byrd opposed President Truman's initiative to integrate the Armed Forces - and he did so using the language of a very much active Klansman.
The powerful Senate Democrat vowed then that he would "never submit to fight beneath that banner (the American flag) with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."
"If Byrd said he thought the Klan's main job was fighting communism, he's either not being honest about why he joined - or he was a Klansman a lot longer than he now wants to admit," said the World War II vet.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
DNC
TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: West Virginia
KEYWORDS: california
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1
posted on
01/22/2003 4:18:26 PM PST
by
kattracks
To: **California
OK, Folks.....we're down to the wire. California has brought us ALL Ronald Reagan. California has brought us FREE REPUBLIC!!!! California has given us The Robinson's. LET'S END THIS NOW!!!! There's $5,000.00 left. I KNOW we're all cash strapped, as we also have The Dufus....but $5,000? LET'S BRING IT OVER THE TOP FOR JIM!!!!! We have WORK TO DO!
2
posted on
01/22/2003 4:19:12 PM PST
by
Brad’s Gramma
(Rid the country of the Clintons Donate $5 a month to Free Republic.)
To: kattracks
Maybe he was a Trotskyist
To: kattracks
"Sheets" Byrd has voted against Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas. One liberal, one conservative, one thing in common.
4
posted on
01/22/2003 4:22:26 PM PST
by
dogbyte12
To: All
5
posted on
01/22/2003 4:22:33 PM PST
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: kattracks
So he's a dem and he lied.
Not much of a story there.
6
posted on
01/22/2003 4:23:12 PM PST
by
South40
To: kattracks
The Klan may have toned down its anti-Communism while the Soviets were our allies in WWII, but I'm reasonably sure they had a long history of being against Communism.
To: spokeshave
Maybe he was a Trotskyist Good point.
8
posted on
01/22/2003 4:28:25 PM PST
by
Maedhros
(mpaa sux0r)
To: rdb3; Khepera; elwoodp; MAKnight; condolinda; mafree; Trueblackman; FRlurker; Teacher317; ...
Black conservative pingIf you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
9
posted on
01/22/2003 4:29:42 PM PST
by
mhking
To: South40
You get Jesse or Al Sharpton to admit that in public and you would have a story. As it is, this is huge in light of the Trent Lott race baiting exploitation by the despotic democrat party.
10
posted on
01/22/2003 4:30:41 PM PST
by
MHGinTN
(If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote Life Support for others.)
To: kattracks
Yep ! 'Twas Southern Democrats who favored segregation, and Northern Republicans who brought about de-segregation. I was around, back then, and remember it well.
De-segregation was NOT a particularly popular cause- North or South - and there WERE plenty of rascists in BOTH parties. One of the things that slowed progress down was the very active role the Communist Party took in de-segregation efforts : not that they really cared, one way or the other . The important thing to them was to LOOK good to "The Negros", and to make Mainstream America look BAD.
The Klan was pretty active in Northern states. In the small NY town I grew up in, KKK members ( hoods and all ) torched a Roman Catholic church - for being Roman Catholic, I guess. A relative of ours ran a KKK cell in a nearby State Prison- much to the chagrin of other family members. Many small town police departments or Sheriff's Offices had KKK cell members. ( In our area, the Klan was most focused on Jews; there being a shortage of Afro-Americans nearby.)
To: kattracks
To: kattracks
Has there been a careful scrutiny of what Byrd's Klan group was up to while he was a member?
Were they 'active'? Were they out in the woods lynching hapless Negroes who "sassed" them? Did they engage in kidnappings? In beatings? Did they burn crosses?
These Klan guys were, and are, hard-core terrorists, and Byrd admits that he was a member.
What's the scoop here?
13
posted on
01/22/2003 4:37:36 PM PST
by
DWSUWF
To: kattracks
Maybe during Black History Month PBS could schedule a 60th anniversary KKK tribute to Byrd.
To: kattracks
Big Byrd needs to come forward and be HONEST!
15
posted on
01/22/2003 4:47:11 PM PST
by
Arpege92
To: kattracks
His argument is pretty lame really. Especially compared to what Ronald Reagan accomplished at the same time in Hollywood fighting the union strikes, and commie influences.
If you believe that Byrd was in the KKK ONLY to do his part to stop Communism, raise your hand.
To: genefromjersey
So, how much Jersey Klan was Democrat, do you think? 90%, 99%, all?
To: South40
Does have a bit of a "dog bites man" flavor about it, doesn't it?
18
posted on
01/22/2003 4:58:11 PM PST
by
Cyber Liberty
(© 2003, Raving Lunatic LLC)
To: kattracks
Well shoot! Lester Maddox, Bull Conner, George Wallace, Orville Faubus, and a double handfull of Southern democrats, then called dixiecrats, voiced the same sentiments. That is, until the black man decided to vote. Then reelection became the moving force, described for the past four and a half decades as inclusion.
What a bunch of phony pols. They have happily worked hand in hand with race entrepeneurs like Jesse Jackson and the current version of the NAACP to keep the status quo.
Historians will very likely come to the conclusion that, while slavery was hideous, what a small group of self appointed and self described "leaders" did to their own race was even worse. There was a genuine contrition among a majority of whites many years ago that would have allowed a much more rapid recovery, had the preachers of hatred from both camps not used the situation to feather their nests.
That, of course, is just my opinion.
19
posted on
01/22/2003 5:07:16 PM PST
by
billhilly
(On fire for BIG AL)
To: kattracks
Well shoot! Lester Maddox, Bull Conner, George Wallace, Orville Faubus, and a double handfull of Southern democrats, then called dixiecrats, voiced the same sentiments. That is, until the black man decided to vote. Then reelection became the moving force, described for the past four and a half decades as inclusion.
What a bunch of phony pols. They have happily worked hand in hand with race entrepeneurs like Jesse Jackson and the current version of the NAACP to keep the status quo.
Historians will very likely come to the conclusion that, while slavery was hideous, what a small group of self appointed and self described "leaders" did to their own race was even worse. There was a genuine contrition among a majority of whites many years ago that would have allowed a much more rapid recovery, had the preachers of hatred from both camps not used the situation to feather their nests.
That, of course, is just my opinion.
20
posted on
01/22/2003 5:08:02 PM PST
by
billhilly
(On fire for BIG AL)
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