David Duke: Encyclopedia II - David Duke - Youth the Klan and first campaigns

David Duke - Youth the Klan and first campaigns

David Duke was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but his family moved soon afterwards, and after a short period of living in the Netherlands settled in Louisiana. He became interested in the white nationalist movement at an early age and joined the Klan in 1967. Duke went on to study at Louisiana State University and in 1970 formed a white campus-group known as the White Youth Alliance. That same year, he made himself known even more by demonstrating in swastika regalia to protest William Kunstler's appearance at Tulane University, LA. He was involved in the campus ROTC, until he was kicked out due to his radical beliefs. In 1971, he went to Laos to teach English to Laotian military officers and serve on cargo flights for Air America over the coarse of ten weeks.

Duke returned to LSU, graduating in 1974. He became notorious on campus for once wearing a Nazi uniform and swastika paraphernalia while picketing and holding parties on the anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler. The same year as his graduation he was elected to Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. He attracted attention for trying to modernize the Klan and turn it into a modern nationalist political force. For example, he changed the title of Grand Wizard to National Director and sported a conservative suit as opposed to the traditional white robe.

In 1976, Duke sought a seat in the Louisiana State Senate as a Democrat. In 1978 he left the Klan, and two years later formed the National Association for the Advancement of White People. In 1987, he conducted a direct-mail appeal using the identity and mailing-list of the Forsyth County Defense League, in Georgia, without permission, which League officials described as a fund-raising "scam" (detailed in The Rise of David Duke by Tyler Bridges). In 1988 he ran in the Democratic Party primary for candidate of the President of the United States. After a dismal showing in the Democratic primaries, he appeared on many state ballots as the nominee of the Populist Party, this time receiving approximately 25,000 votes in the 1988 general election.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Youth the Klan and first campaigns", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki