Changes

{{Officeholder

{{Officeholder

|name=Theodore G. Bilbo

|name=Theodore Gilmore Bilbo

|image=Bilbo.png

|image=Bilbo.png

|party=[[Democrat]]

|party=[[Democrat]]

While governor of Mississippi, Bilbo instituted a statewide [[sales tax]]{{fact}} and caused the state to become bankrupt after failing to negotiate a tax bill with the legislature.

While governor of Mississippi, Bilbo instituted a statewide [[sales tax]]{{fact}} and caused the state to become bankrupt after failing to negotiate a tax bill with the legislature.

Bilbo was a leader among other [[racist]] Democrats, such as the [[Exalted Cyclops]] [[Robert Byrd]] and [[President]] [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], the latter of which called him "a real friend of [[liberal]] [[government]]."<ref>[https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/new-deal-democrats-republican-party/ New Deal . . . Conservatives?] ''National Review''. Retrieved September 14th, 2020.</ref> He claimed himself to be "100 percent for Roosevelt...and the [[New Deal]]."<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/a-history-of-liberal-white-racism-cont/275129/ A History of Liberal White Racism, Cont.] ''The Atlantic''. Retrieved September 14th, 2020.</ref>  In a 1938 filibuster against anti-[[lynching]] legislation, Bilbo said on the [[Senate]] floor that the bill would “open the floodgates of [[hell]] in [[the South]]” by encouraging [[Black]] men to rape white women.

Bilbo was a leader among other [[racist]] Democrats, including the [[Exalted Cyclops]] [[Robert Byrd]] and [[President]] [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], the latter of which called him "a real friend of [[liberal]] [[government]]."<ref>[https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/new-deal-democrats-republican-party/ New Deal . . . Conservatives?] ''National Review''. Retrieved September 14th, 2020.</ref> He claimed himself to be "100 percent for Roosevelt...and the [[New Deal]]."<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/a-history-of-liberal-white-racism-cont/275129/ A History of Liberal White Racism, Cont.] ''The Atlantic''. Retrieved September 14th, 2020.</ref>  In a 1938 filibuster against anti-[[lynching]] legislation, Bilbo said on the [[Senate]] floor that the bill would “open the floodgates of [[hell]] in [[the South]]” by encouraging [[Black]] men to rape white women.

In his book When ''Jim Crow Met John Bull'',  Graham Smith referred to a letter Bilbo received from the Exalted Cyclops Robert Byrd when on the 1945 controversy raging over the idea of racially integrating the military.  

In his book When ''Jim Crow Met John Bull'',  Graham Smith referred to a letter Bilbo received from the Exalted Cyclops Robert Byrd when on the 1945 controversy raging over the idea of racially integrating the military.  

{{Cquote|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.}} He had earlier written Bilbo:  

{{Cquote|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.}} He had earlier written Bilbo:  

{{Cquote|I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side}} Bilbo  told ''[[Meet the Press]]'' in an August 9th, 1946 interview: {{Cquote|No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux.<ref>[http://mdah.state.ms.us/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bilbo.pdf Robert L. Fleegler, "Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism, 1938–1947"],''The Journal of Mississippi History'', Spring 2006.</ref>}}

{{Cquote|I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side}} Bilbo  told ''[[Meet the Press]]'' in an August 9th, 1946 interview: {{Cquote|No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux.<ref>[http://mdah.state.ms.us/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bilbo.pdf Robert L. Fleegler, "Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism, 1938–1947"],''The Journal of Mississippi History'', Spring 2006.</ref>}}

In 1946, after four white men beat a Black Army veteran for attempting to register to vote, Senator Bilbo delivered a radio address urging every “red-blooded Anglo-Saxon man in Mississippi to resort to any means to keep hundreds of Negroes from the polls in the July 2nd primary.” He continued, “And if you don’t know what that means, you are just not up on your persuasive measures.” Southern senators successfully defended Bilbo against an NAACP-led effort to remove him from office for inciting violence against Black voters. Despite having been re-elected, he was blocked from taking office.<ref name=pdf/>

In 1946, after four white men beat a Black Army veteran for attempting to register to vote, Senator Bilbo delivered a radio address urging every “red-blooded Anglo-Saxon man in Mississippi to resort to any means to keep hundreds of Negroes from the polls in the July 2nd primary.” He continued, “And if you don’t know what that means, you are just not up on your persuasive measures.” Southern senators successfully defended Bilbo against an [[NAACP]]-led effort to remove him from office for inciting violence against Black voters. Despite having been re-elected, he was blocked from taking office.<ref name=pdf/>

Before succumbing to cancer at age 69, Bilbo spent the last weeks of his life writing a book, ''Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization'', in which he outlined his fears of “race-mixing” and advocated for the relocation of [[African American]]s to [[West Africa]]. (He had proposed a relocation bill in the Senate in 1938, but it failed.) Bilbo never repudiated his racist views and remained an influential figure among leading segregationists in the South long after his death.

Before succumbing to cancer at age 69, Bilbo spent the last weeks of his life writing a book, ''Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization'', in which he outlined his fears of “race-mixing” and advocated for the relocation of [[African American]]s to [[West Africa]]. (He had proposed a relocation bill in the Senate in 1938, but it failed.) Bilbo never repudiated his racist views and remained an influential figure among leading segregationists in the South long after his death.

==References==

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilbo, Theodore}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilbo, Theodore}}

[[Category:New Deal]]

[[Category:New Deal]]

[[Category:Leftists]]

[[Category:Leftists]]

[[Category:Racism]]

[[Category:Racism]]

[[Category:Bigotry]]

[[Category:Bigotry]]

{{Democrat establishment}}

{{Democrat establishment}}