David Duke

David Ernest Duke is an American neo-Nazi, anti-semitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Duke unsuccessfully stood as Democratic candidate for state legislature during the 1970s and 1980s, culminating in his campaign for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. In December 1988, he became a Republican and claimed to have become a born-again Christian, renouncing antisemitism and racism. During the 1990s, Duke defrauded his political supporters by pretending to be in dire financial straits and soliciting money for basic necessities.

About David Duke in brief

Summary David DukeDavid Ernest Duke is an American neo-Nazi, anti-semitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. His publications and politics are largely devoted to promoting conspiracy theories about Jews, such as Holocaust denial and Jewish control of academia, the press, and the financial system. Duke unsuccessfully stood as Democratic candidate for state legislature during the 1970s and 1980s, culminating in his campaign for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. In December 1988, he became a Republican and claimed to have become a born-again Christian, renouncing antisemitism and racism. During the 1990s, Duke defrauded his political supporters by pretending to be in dire financial straits and soliciting money for basic necessities. Duke pleaded guilty to felony fraud and subsequently served a 15-month sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Big Spring in Texas. He mounted a minor challenge to President Bush in 1992 and has continued to run for public office through 2016. Duke advocates the preservation of what he considers to be Western culture and traditionalist Christian family values, as well as voluntary racial segregation. He also claims to have gone on a road trip to Laotian military officers, from which he was dismissed after he drew a Molotov cocktail on the black officer’s cocktail board. He has been described by the Anti-Defamation League as ‘perhaps America’s most well-known racist and anti-Semite’ and as a ‘vile, hateful, and dangerous racist’ Duke is a member of the American Nazi Party, which he helped gain a job teaching English to black students in 1971.

He is also known for holding parties on the 7th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s birth and holding a Nazi uniform on the anniversary of Hitler’s death. In 1970, Duke appeared at a demonstration in Nazi uniform carrying a sign reading ‘Gas the Chicago Jew’ and ‘Gas. The Chicago Jew is a Communist Jew’ In 1970. Duke traveled on a trip to Virginia with white supremacists Joseph Paul Franklin and Don Paul Franklin. He was also known on the LSU campus for wearing a Nazi. uniform while a student at LSU. Duke says that he spent nine months in Laos, calling it a tour of duty, and had asked his son to visit during the summer of 1971, when he was asked to visit his father, who remained working there and remained working with his son. Duke joined the KKK in 1967 and became a grand wizard in 1973. Duke is married to former Louisiana Gov. Mary Landrieu and has two adult children. He lives in New Orleans with his wife and two step-children. Duke has a son who is a former U.S. Air Force officer and a daughter who served in the Air Force as a special operations helicopter pilot. Duke also has a step-son who served as a Special Operations helicopter pilot and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Duke and his wife have three adult children who were born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and now live in Louisiana.