Why Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican

Why Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican, from National Black Republican Association by Francis Rice

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 1860's, and continuing with the civil rights laws of the 1950's and 1960's.

During the civil rights era of the 1960's, 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 vs. 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 President 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 Senator Al Gore, Sr. And after he became president, John F. 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 Attorney General Robert Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated by the FBI on suspicion of being a Communist in order to undermine Dr. King. (continue reading)

Comments

[TA]

"Then I read some stuff about MLK and I could not find anything about him being connected with any political party. Rather it seemed he would approach any politician who would lend an ear to his cause and help him further his goal."

Well said Grouch. Interesting stats, too.

[Grouch at Right Truth]

Correction:

Robert Byrd was an exalted cyclops, not a grand wizard.

[Grouch at Right Truth]

I been thinking about this post quite a bit. First of all, Francis Rice is a member of the National Black Republican Association, and although she states that MLK was a Republican, I can find no sources or references that support her assertion.

Then I read some stuff about MLK and I could not find anything about him being connected with any political party. Rather it seemed he would approach any politician who would lend an ear to his cause and help him further his goal.

I did collect some statistics about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the number of votes in the House and Senate (got these from Wikipedia). The results are interesting to me:

Vote totals

Totals are in "Yes-No" format:

* The original House version: 290-130 (69%-31%)
* The Senate version: 73-27 (73%-27%)
* The Senate version, as voted on by the House: 289-126 (70%-30%)

[edit] By party

The original House version:

* Democratic Party: 153-96 (64%-39%)
* Republican Party: 138-34 (80%-20%)

The Senate version:

* Democratic Party: 46-22 (68%-32%)
* Republican Party: 27-6 (82%-18%)

The Senate version, voted on by the House:

* Democratic Party: 153-91 (63%-37%)
* Republican Party: 136-35 (80%-20%)

[edit] By party and region

Note: "Southern", as used in this section, refers to members of Congress from the eleven states that made up the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. "Northern" refers to members from the other 39 states, regardless of the geographic location of those states.

The original House version:

* Southern Democrats: 7-87 (7%-93%)
* Southern Republicans: 0-10 (0%-100%)

* Northern Democrats: 145-9 (94%-6%)
* Northern Republicans: 138-24 (85%-15%)

The Senate version:

* Southern Democrats: 1-20 (5%-95%) (only Senator Ralph Yarborough of Texas voted in favor)
* Southern Republicans: 0-1 (0%-100%) (this was Senator John Tower of Texas)
* Northern Democrats: 45-1 (98%-2%) (only Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia opposed the measure)
* Northern Republicans: 27-5 (84%-16%) (Senators Bourke Hickenlooper of Iowa, Barry Goldwater of Arizona, Edwin L. Mechem of New Mexico, Milward L. Simpson of Wyoming, and Norris H. Cotton of New Hampshire opposed the measure)

**************************

Looks to me like this divide was more of a north/south issue rather than Democrat/Republican issue. Interesting to note that Grand Wizard Byrd cast a nay vote as well as Senator Goldwater.....wonder if that is what made the south turn red in 1964?

At any rate, if MLK had depended on either southern Democrats or Republicans, I guess he would have been sorely disappointed.

I vaguely remember Jim Crow laws as a child. I remember white and colored water fountains. I also remember the medical clinic where my mother went had a white and colored waiting room, and I remember I would sneak around the corner to peek at the black people. I never thought much about it then, rather, that was just the way it was. In my senior year in high school (1970) our school was finally integrated. I remember that about 6 black kids came to our school that year. As I recall there was not any trouble and the black kids made friends rapidly with the white kids. I remember a couple of the black kids (both girls) were straight A students. The only people upset about the black kids being in the school were some of the adults and some people on TV.

It's hard to believe I graduated from high school a mere 37 years ago. I guess we all have come quite a way since then.

[Stormwarning]

Yes TA, that's true.

[TA]

MLK Jr. a Republican? What a joke. MLK, like Gandhi, transcended politics and even religion. Why don't you take some time to read their biographies instead of taking someone else's word (including mine).

[Stormwarning]

Grouch re: Pulaski, of course, you are right. I mistakenly typed Ky. instead of Tn. I am familiar with Pulaski County in Ky. and it sort of slipped out.

However, I stand by the remainder of my comment. That article was pure "agenda" and the entire point is in my opinion, disrespectful to Dr. King.

And you're right as well, Dr. King would have taken Sharpton and Jackson into the woodshed for a thrashing...but then again, it Dr. King had not been assassinated - and if RFK had not been assassinated - the history of American in the 2nd half of the 20th Century would have been quite different.

[Skunkfeathers]

I didn't know that MLK, Jr. was a Republican. I was 11 when he was assassinated. So I only know what I've read of him since.

Party labels aside, I surmise that MLK, Jr., would strongly disapprove of what Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and other like-minded characters have to done to his "dream". Of course, I can only surmise that. Only MLK, Jr., could speak for himself as to how he would view things today, were he able to.

[Grouch at Right Truth]

If you will investigate presidential elections before 1964, you will see that the majority of southern states voted for the Democrat (blue states). That all changed in 1964 when most of the south voted for Barry Goldwater. The south has been mostly red ever since with some defections in 1992 and 1996 when Clinton was elected.

I think it's hard to label one party as racist versus pro civil rights. Remember, in the beginning, Lincoln didn't care so much about freeing the slaves but rather keeping the Union together at all costs. Before the civil war there were abolitionists all over the country, north and south.

[Grouch at Right Truth]

"Did you know that the KKK started in Kentucky? The KKK was started by angry Southerners"

Actually the KKK was started in Pulaski, Tennessee by angry Confederate veterans, December 24, 1865.

[Angel]

Not sure bout this one Deb but thrilled bout Tancredo speaking out!:)

[Stormwarning]

I am not sure how to react to someone bringing Dr. King into the modern political fray. To start with, if one looks at the actual history of American politics, the roles of what we know as the Republican and Democratic parties have reversed over the last 150-160 years. Yes, it is a complicated history that our political landscape has.

Beyond that, considering that Senator Jesse Helms was a Republican I cannot fathom how anyone could believe that Dr. King would be of the same political sway. Frankly, the "Dixiecrats" of old were more like today's Neo-conservative Republican's than they are todays Democrats. Yes, RFK authorized the wiretapping, but it was J. Edgar Hoover's FBI that pursued Dr. King. J. Edgar Hoover became preoccupied with Dr. King's private life very early in the Civil Rights Movement, and this preoccupation was a significant factor in Hoover's pathological hatred of him and the movement.

WAIT! Are you suggesting the King, suspected of being a Communist (read that "Leftist") was actually a Republican? How about the fact that the cliams of Jack and Morris Childs (the sources of the rumors that Dr. King was a Communist), could never be proven. I am SO confused!

Civil Rights was [NOT] the "invention" of the Republican party, despite the fact that the racist Governor George Wallace was a Democrat...or that Robert Byrd is a racist old fool. "Dixiecrats!" Civil rights was the principal source of division between Northern and Southern Democrats. The Civil Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Act was actually a bipartisan act by politicians like Dirksen and Humphrey working together, long before all of this vituperative and polarizing language that is used today.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." -- John F. Kennedy, March 12, 1962

"Our Constitution is color blind," wrote Mr. Justice Harlan before the turn of the century, "and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." But the practices of the country do not always conform to the principles of the Constitution. And this Message is intended to examine how far we have come in achieving first-class citizenship for all citizens regardless of color, how far we have yet to go, and what further tasks remain to be carried out -- by the Executive and Legislative Branches of the Federal Government, as well as by state and local governments and private citizens and organizations." -- John F. Kennedy, February 28, 1963

According to http://tinyurl.com/yqlgw9 ... "On October 19, 1960, Dr. King was jailed because of a sit-in in an Atlanta department store. On hearing of this J. F. Kennedy called King’s wife, Corretta to reassure her. Later the same day Robert Kennedy called the judge presiding over the case, soon after King was released. As a result, Kennedy won the Negro vote.

After the 1960 election, the Kennedy administration began its attack on discrimination in the U.S. The attack would be directed from the Justice Department by Attorney General Robert Kennedy. He would be ably assisted by Burke Marshall, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division, and John Doar in the field."

Here's an example of how the Civil Rights Movement was alot more bi-partisan than this post would suggest: "Kennedy also ordered his cabinet members and top advisors to avoid segregated facilities, functions and clubs. Kennedy (as Eisenhower) tried to make his administration set an example for the rest of the country to follow."

While admittedly the following is from an "academic" paper and therefore "suspect" from a conservative POV, http://tinyurl.com/2axa8b it should be examined...

Again, one cannot say that because DDE was in favor of civil rights http://tinyurl.com/23xkgx that JFK was not.

Did you know that the KKK started in Kentucky? The KKK was started by angry Southerners...they weren't "R" or "D" they were Southerners angry that the Union had been saved and that slavery had been abolished.

And by the way, the NAACP was started by WEB DuBois in the early 1900's assisted by white liberals and abolitionists. How "%$!*& Batman," look at the picture of that white woman! http://tinyurl.com/ywugdd

Civil Rights is no more the property of the Democratic or Republican Party than Dr. King was a Republican.

A further discussion and analysis of Dr. King was done by a professor at U. Texas in 2001, http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/mlkday.htm is shown here:

"If King were alive today, it is difficult to imagine him participating in the triumphalism and jingoism that is so common, especially around questions of the “victory” of the United States in economic and foreign policy. I suspect King would offer a different analysis. Consider this statement from a 1967 speech:

“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

For the first time, I truly have a problem with a post. To suggest that Dr. King, as this article quotes, http://tinyurl.com/wlfee :

"To suggest that Martin could identify with a party that affirms preemptive, predatory war, and whose religious partners hint that God affirms war and favors the rich at the expense of the poor, is to revile Martin," said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which the slain civil rights leader helped establish.

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who marched with King in the 1960s, called the ads an "insult to the legacy and the memory of Martin Luther King Jr." and "an affront to all that he stood for."

Ms. Rice has an agenda. Her article represents that agenda and does a great disservice to the memory of Dr. King.

[ortho]

Such a lovely article. I'm sure if Dr. King was alive today, he would still be a proud Republican. After all, the Republican party has not changed many of its positions since the 1950s and '60s.

[Karen]

Thank you, Debbie, for posting this article. I so loved it when I first read it, I printed it out to use later. Then I promptly lost it somewhere around here! So, imagine how happy I am to read it here. I loved it. Still do.