Changes

According to Fleegler, "Bilbo’s racism did not seem to bother his fellow Democrats."<ref name=fleegler,pp.11-12/> When Bilbo had just won Democratic renomination in 1940 during the primary, he bolstered the party establishment nationwide, campaigning in fifteen states. Bilbo gave a keynote address to the Young Democrats of New York, and speeches in [[Pennsylvania]] received the praise from the state's New Deal senator Joe Guffey as being "tops among Southern statesman as a campaigner."<ref name=fleegler,pp.11-12/> In [[Missouri]], Bilbo campaigned for—and was thanked by—the state's U.S. senator and future president [[Harry S. Truman]], who wrote after being re-elected: "Can’t thank you enough for what you did in Missouri."

According to Fleegler, "Bilbo’s racism did not seem to bother his fellow Democrats."<ref name=fleegler,pp.11-12/> When Bilbo had just won Democratic renomination in 1940 during the primary, he bolstered the party establishment nationwide, campaigning in fifteen states. Bilbo gave a keynote address to the Young Democrats of New York, and speeches in [[Pennsylvania]] received the praise from the state's New Deal senator Joe Guffey as being "tops among Southern statesman as a campaigner."<ref name=fleegler,pp.11-12/> In [[Missouri]], Bilbo campaigned for—and was thanked by—the state's U.S. senator and future president [[Harry S. Truman]], who wrote after being re-elected: "Can’t thank you enough for what you did in Missouri."

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.

 

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.

Prior to dying of oral cancer at the age of 69 following decades of spouting hatred, bigotry, and inciting violence, the last weeks of Bilbo's life were spent writing a racist screed, ''Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization'', where he promoted fearmongering of "race-mixing" and called for the repatriation of black Americans to [[West Africa]]. (a relocation bill he sponsored in the Senate in 1938 had failed) Never having repudiated his lifelong legacy of white supremacist hatred, Bilbo remained a figurehead for segregationists in the South long after his death.

Prior to dying of oral cancer at the age of 69 following decades of spouting hatred, bigotry, and inciting violence, the last weeks of Bilbo's life were spent writing a racist screed, ''Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization'', where he promoted fearmongering of "race-mixing" and called for the repatriation of black Americans to [[West Africa]]. (a relocation bill he sponsored in the Senate in 1938 had failed) Never having repudiated his lifelong legacy of white supremacist hatred, Bilbo remained a figurehead for segregationists in the South long after his death.