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:
They were called Nazis
He seems to be a person who likes to be in charge. I don't think he'd be very happy with being on a lower rung.
Isolation of blacks was one of the goals of the klan in Byrd's day, so maybe that was one of his crimes.
Here's the LINK
In my readings, the Klan was not especially anti Commie in the 1920s-50s. Their focus was anti Black, anti-Jew and anti-Catholic. They likely were involved with the pre-Pearl Harbor, America First movement which opposed America involvement in the war, but the American Communiust party also took a lead in that movement until Hitler invaded Russia in June of 41.
What I found incredibly ridiculous was the credibility of the story attached. One of my obsessions is American history, less of what we were taught in our textbooks and more of what really happens behind the scenes. Namely historically documented secretive and/or selective elite societies and fraternities, etc. Lets look at this dissect this sophomoric and factually irrelavent article.
“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,
Uhhhh...........Karl Mark and Friedrich Engals, were spouting communist rhetoric that rocked eastern Europe immediately following the conclusion of WWI. by the late 20’s to early 30’s communism (or some incarnation or variation) was rampant and at the doorstep of westrern Europe.
Their “source”, uhhh........”some guy” that was in the Air Force? Excellent credentials for your “expert.” Hey my Grandfather was in the Army Air Corps too. When he was alive I don’ty think I ever heard him testify that Communism was a “good” thing just because we allied with Russia.
Quote:
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.” 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.”
Let me assure you that regardless of when our own national media propaganda began trying to scare your average joe about communism, that era of the klan was way ahead of the curve. Although being an organization with ideals of American national sovereignty and superiority, they closely watched what was happening with other racially based belief systems developing in Europe, specifically the British Union who supported fascism, and in Germanic societies, the Thule Society, Black Sun Society, and eventually, the NSDAP. The Klan was worried about communism early on, as were the Germans. Also don’t forget that at the time of the outbreak of the war probably 60% of the caucasian population of this country were of German decsent, and many supported the German- American Bund which was also WELL aware of the perilous situation of the “old country”.
Why can’t the guy just admit he was in the Klan and say “Hey it was a different time”. Did you know that we had AT LEAST one president who was a Klansman. Did you know that almost every president was a Mason. Hell we even had a president that saw Bigfoot. Societies change and morph. Enough said. But come on, nobody joins the Klan just because it is anti-communist. It was only anti communist because communism directly threatened it’s primary objective. “Homogenous society comprised of people of only Western European decsent who are Christian but NOT Catholic, living under the framework of the original Constitution as interpreted by the persons who drafted the Confederate Constitution”. Now isn’t that simple?
I had a FB war today with various liberal relatives over Byrd, the Klan and its ties to the American German Bund and the left’s dirty little secret—Eugenics. Awful stuff to fight with liberals. They smugly resort to ad hominems.
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