'''Theodore Gilmore Bilbo''' (October 13, 1877 – August 21, 1947) was a [[Democrat]] [[Senator]] and [[Klansman]] from [[Mississippi]]. Bilbo served as a governor of Mississippi from 1916 to 1920 and 1928 to 1932, and as a U.S. senator from 1935 to 1947. A towering figure among [[white supremacist]] and [[segregation]]ist politicians, Bilbo praised [[Nazi]] racial philosophy and was famous for his extreme and inflammatory rhetoric. 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. | '''Theodore Gilmore Bilbo''' (October 13, 1877 – August 21, 1947) was a [[Democrat]] [[Senator]] and [[Klansman]] from [[Mississippi]]. Bilbo served as a governor of Mississippi from 1916 to 1920 and 1928 to 1932, and as a U.S. senator from 1935 to 1947. A towering figure among [[white supremacist]] and [[segregation]]ist politicians, Bilbo praised [[Nazi]] racial philosophy and was famous for his extreme and inflammatory rhetoric. 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. |