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In 1988,
David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...
unsuccessfully ran for the presidency of the United States. Duke, a perennial Democratic candidate and Grand Wizard in the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...
announced his intention to seek Democratic nomination for 1988 presidential election on June 8, 1987. Duke faced opposition from the Democratic Party and appeared on the primary ballot only in a few states. Duke was excluded from the primary debates and lost multiple lawsuits regarding his debate inclusion. His best performance in the Democratic primaries was 3.74% of the popular vote in the Louisiana primary although he did win the New Hampshire vice-presidential primary, but he had mistakenly filed for the vice-presidential primary believing that it had binding delegates. Duke switched parties and became the presidential candidate for the Populist Party after former Representative
George V. Hansen George Vernon Hansen (September 14, 1930 – August 14, 2014) was a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Idaho. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years, representing Idaho's 2nd district from 1965 to 1969 and again fr ...
had rejected the party's nomination.
Bo Gritz James Gordon "Bo" Gritz (; born January 18, 1939) is an American former United States Army Special Forces officer and presidential candidate. After serving in the Vietnam War and retiring from the military, Gritz has worked on attempted POW res ...
was initially selected to serve as his vice-presidential running mate, but withdrew as he had been told that Representative James Traficant was given the presidential nomination not Duke. Floyd Parker was selected to replace Gritz as Duke's running mate. Duke received 47,047 votes in the general election worth 0.05% of the popular vote. After his presidential campaign Duke joined the
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...
and was elected to the
Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 rep ...
. He ran for
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
as a Republican in
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
,
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...
, and
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
. He also ran in the 1991 gubernatorial election and in the 1999 special election in
Louisiana's 1st congressional district Louisiana's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district comprises land from the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain south to the Mississippi River delta. It covers most of New Orleans' su ...
. Duke later ran for president again in the
1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...
Republican primary.


Campaign


Background

David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...
became the Grand Wizard of the white supremacist Knights of the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Cat ...
in 1974 and held the position until 1980. He ran for a seat in the
Louisiana State Senate The Louisiana State Senate (french: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned to multiple committees. Composition The Louisiana State Senate is compose ...
in 1975 and 1979, but lost both times. He left the Ku Klux Klan in 1980, after he was accused of trying to sell the organization's mailing list for $35,000. He founded the
National Association for the Advancement of White People The National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP) is a white supremacist organization established in 1979 by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, deriving its name from the National Association for the Advancement o ...
and served as its president after leaving the Klan. He ran for the Democratic
presidential nomination In United States politics and government, the term presidential nominee has two different meanings: # A candidate for president of the United States who has been selected by the delegates of a political party at the party's national convention ...
during the 1980 presidential election. Despite being six years younger than the required 35 years of age to run for president, Duke attempted to place his name onto the ballot in twelve states stating that he wanted to be a power broker who could "select issues and form a platform representing the majority of this country" at the
Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...
.


Announcement

On June 8, 1987, Duke, standing beside around thirty supporters, announced on the steps of the
Georgia State Capitol The Georgia State Capitol is an architecturally and historically significant building in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building has been named a National Historic Landmark which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As ...
in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, that he would run for the Democratic nomination for president. Duke had attempted to announce his campaign at two Atlanta hotels, but his reservation at both were cancelled as the hotel management stated that his appearance posed a threat to their safety. His candidacy was attacked with
Paul G. Kirk Paul Grattan Kirk Jr. (born January 18, 1938) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 2009 to 2010, having been appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of Ted Kennedy. From 19 ...
, the
Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well ...
chairman, stating that Duke's attempt at the party's nomination was "fraud on the process and the public", and that they would attempt to prevent him from gaining primary ballot access. Kirk compared Duke's candidacy to that of
Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspira ...
's many attempts at the Democratic nomination and how the Democratic Party had fought against LaRouche during his presidential campaigns as well.


Democratic primaries

Shortly after his announcement Duke appeared on an Atlanta WSGT radio station which caused multiple protests around the station and call-ins meant to disrupt the radio station. A week later he pleaded
no contest ' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant ne ...
to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of a roadway from when he was involved in an incident during a civil rights march in Forsyth County in January. Duke and Representative
Pat Schroeder Patricia Nell Scott Schroeder (born July 30, 1940) is an American politician who represented Colorado in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Schroeder was the first female U.S. Represe ...
were excluded from a primary debate hosted on Firing Line and sponsored by PBS. He filed a lawsuit in
US district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
claiming that he was unfairly excluded from the debate, but it was rejected by Judge
Gabrielle Kirk McDonald Gabrielle Anne Kirk McDonald (née Kirk; born April 12, 1942) is an American lawyer and jurist who, until her retirement in October 2013, served as an American arbitrator on the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal seated in The Hague. She is a ...
who stated that Duke had failed to pursue his lawsuit after filing it. When he was excluded from a debate hosted at
Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...
, he filed a lawsuit, but lost in two federal court cases and the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stop the debate until Duke pressed his lawsuit further. He filed another lawsuit against the Democratic Party for not allowing him to participate at the debate at Tulane University stating that his right to freedom of speech was violated which was worth $100 million due to his demands of $10,000 for every registered Democratic voter in Louisiana, $1 million for his presidential committee, and $10,000 for each day he was denied "his candidacy equal rights". However, it was dismissed by a New Orleans federal judge in March 1988. When Duke registered to appear on the New Hampshire presidential primary ballot, he attempted to hold two press conferences at the
New Hampshire State House The New Hampshire State House, located in Concord at 107 North Main Street, is the state capitol building of New Hampshire. The capitol houses the New Hampshire General Court, Governor, and Executive Council. The building was constructed on a ...
, but both failed due to a lack of media coverage. Republican presidential candidate
Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician and a professional football player. A member of the Republican Party from New York, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. B ...
registered to appear on the ballot, becoming the first major candidate to do so, and held a press conference. Duke yelled "What are you going to do to end the massive racial discrimination against white people in America? When are you going to end affirmative action, which is a racial program discriminating against white people?" at Kemp while he was attempting to leave the room. Kemp told Duke that "I'm not a racist and I don't appreciate you asking!". Afterwards Duke held another press conference which received media coverage. Duke attempted to speak before the
Oklahoma Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.Robert V. Cullison stated that Duke needed to be a bona fide candidate, which Cullison stated he was, have a senator sponsor him, and receive unanimous consent to speak. Senator
Vicki Miles-LaGrange Vicki Miles-LaGrange (born September 30, 1953) is an inactive United States federal judge, Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. She was the first African-American woman to be ...
, one of two black members of the Oklahoma Senate, stated that Duke could probably find a sponsor in the Senate, but would not receive unanimous consent. Another presidential candidate, Stephen Koczak, attempted to speak before the Oklahoma Senate, but did not receive unanimous consent as multiple senators mistook Koczak for Duke. Koczak later spoke before the
Oklahoma House of Representatives The Oklahoma House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its members introduce and vote on bills and resolutions, provide legislative oversight for state agencies, and help to craft the state's ...
. He appeared on the Democratic primary ballot in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia. Duke appeared on the ballot in both the New Hampshire presidential and vice-presidential
primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...
which he paid $2,000 for. He placed twelfth in the presidential primary with 264 votes, behind
Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history ...
' winning 44,112 votes, but won the vice-presidential primary with 10,531 votes for 99.69% of the popular vote. He had been the only candidate to file for the vice-presidential primary and did so by mistake as he believed the vice-presidential primary had binding delegates. Duke did not appear on the ballot in Florida due to the Presidential selection Committee and Charles Whitehead, the chair of the
Florida Democratic Party The Florida Democratic Party (FDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Florida, headquartered in Tallahassee. Former mayor of Miami Manny Diaz Sr. is the current chair. Andrew Jackson, the first territorial governo ...
, stating that he was a frivolous candidate. His campaign manager Ralph Forbes attempted to pay the $2,000 filing fee for Duke to appear on the Alabama primary ballot, but arrived at the Alabama Democratic Party's headquarters at 5:15 p.m. which was fifteen minutes after the deadline. Duke, a white supremacist, opposed civil rights activist
Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senato ...
and led a Sunshine Coalition in opposition to Jackson's Rainbow Coalition. Duke lost in his home state of Louisiana to Jackson where he only received 4% of the vote. Jackson stated that "it would be devastating for the United States if he became president."


Populist Party

On March 7, 1987, Duke gave a speech at the Populist Party National Committee in Sewickly, Pennsylvania, in which he said "This was the largest pro-white demonstration I've ever seen," in regards to the 3,000 people there and "There are going to be tremendous opportunities to take this country back for the founding majority". On September 6, 1987, twenty-five state delegations met at the Populist Party's national convention and selected former Representative
George V. Hansen George Vernon Hansen (September 14, 1930 – August 14, 2014) was a Republican politician from the U.S. state of Idaho. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years, representing Idaho's 2nd district from 1965 to 1969 and again fr ...
, who was serving a prison sentence until October 1987, to serve as their presidential nominee and Hubert Patty to serve as their vice-presidential nominee. However, Hansen stated on August 31, that he would not accept the nomination. He stated that he wouldn't seek the presidency outside of the major parties and that there was no honor in running "some kind of abortive effort". Hansen rejected the party's presidential nomination on November 11. On March 13, Duke won the presidential nomination of the Populist Party and the party gave its vice-presidential nomination to
Bo Gritz James Gordon "Bo" Gritz (; born January 18, 1939) is an American former United States Army Special Forces officer and presidential candidate. After serving in the Vietnam War and retiring from the military, Gritz has worked on attempted POW res ...
. However, Gritz would later withdraw on March 31, stating that he had been told that Representative James Traficant had been given the presidential nomination. Gritz was replaced as the vice-presidential nominee by Floyd Parker. Duke had managed to take the nomination due to the Populist Party's financial and organizational failures at the time which caused him to run unopposed after all of his opponents had already withdrawn from the race. Arkansas initially refused to allow Duke onto the general election ballot due to sore loser laws as he had run in the Arkansas Democratic primary, but later allowed him onto the ballot. On September 27, 1988, he was removed from a Paramus restaurant by its owner after making an unannounced campaign event where he was to debate a Libertarian Party member at it after another restaurant cancelled his event after learning about him.


Platform


Economics

The platform of the Populist Party called for the repealing of the
income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Ta ...
and the abolition of the
Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...
. Duke supported mandatory birth control for welfare recipients as it would give them incentive to have less children. He supported the creation of a flat tax of 10% and supported the abolition of the
Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory t ...
.


Foreign policy

Duke supported
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
stating that "even the blacks there have infinitely more rights than the blacks on the rest of the African continent" and that he believed that apartheid was the only system in that could be used in South Africa for the country to "still operate, to function, to survive". He also wanted to end all sanctions against South Africa. Duke believed that the United States should be neutral towards Israel, asserting that the United States' alliance with Israel had "damaged our country terribly" and that the alliance had "pushed the Arabs into the arms of the communists". Duke supported the blockade to
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...
and the aid to the
Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 foll ...
. He also supported the
Strategic Defense Initiative The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the "''Star Wars'' program", was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons ( intercontinental ballist ...
.


Racism and equality

Duke opposed affirmative action stating that "white people face the most intensive racial discrimination literally in the last 100 years". He also opposed
desegregation busing Race-integration busing in the United States (also known simply as busing, Integrated busing or by its critics as forced busing) was the practice of assigning and transporting students to schools within or outside their local school districts in ...
stating that "we have white children sent to these crime-filled, racist, drug-laden environments". Duke stated about racism that "if you define a racist as a person who simply loves his own people and wants to preserve his own heritage and his own values, then I would say that I was one". Duke also stated that desegregation busing and affirmative action caused a "terrible decline" in America's educational system. The platform of the Populist Party called for the rejection of the
Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...
and opposed rights for gay people. The platform also called for repealing the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, is a federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The ...
. Duke stated that illegal immigrants brought 40-60% of illegal drugs to the United States. Duke stated that "the homosexual lobby is preventing a frank discussion of
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
and appropriate steps to suppress the epidemic".


Aftermath

On December 5, 1988, Duke changed his political affiliation to Republican and ran in a special election for a seat in the
Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 rep ...
, which he won on February 18, 1989. Duke later ran for
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...
as a Republican in Louisiana in the
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
,
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...
, and
2016 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2016. Africa Benin Republic * 2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 ...
. He also ran in the
1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election The 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election resulted in the election of Edwin Edwards to his fourth non-consecutive term as governor of Louisiana. The election received national and international attention due to the unexpectedly strong showing o ...
and in the 1999 special election in
Louisiana's 1st congressional district Louisiana's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The district comprises land from the northern shore of Lake Pontchartrain south to the Mississippi River delta. It covers most of New Orleans' su ...
to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Representative
Bob Livingston Robert Linlithgow Livingston Jr. (born April 30, 1943) is an American lobbyist and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana from 1977 to 1999. A Republican, he was chosen as Newt Gingrich's successor as Speaker of the U.S. ...
. On December 4, 1991, Duke announced that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination against incumbent President George H. W. Bush during the 1992 presidential election. He initially considered launching an independent third-party presidential campaign using the Republican primary as a springboard, but chose not to continue his campaign after he dropped out of the Republican primaries on April 19, 1992, stating that " Perot's candidacy would preclude other third-party candidacies". During the primary campaign he had won 119,115 votes worth 0.94% of the popular vote.


Campaign finance


Results

Duke received 47,047 votes from twenty states with his best results coming from the southern states. He came third in place in states like Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi.


References

{{Reflist Populist Party (United States, 1984) politicians 1988 United States presidential campaigns Discrimination against LGBT people in the United States History of racism in the United States Ku Klux Klan Right-wing populism in the United States