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→1940s: re-election, furthered bigotry
===1940s: re-election, furthered bigotry===
===1940s: re-election, furthered bigotry===
Bilbo ran for re-election in 1940 and won renomination in the Democratic primary over former governor Hugh White. After winning the general election, a member of the Roosevelt Administration congratulated his victory and regarded him "a real friend of [[liberal]] [[government]]."<ref>Morgan, Chester M. (1985). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Redneck_Liberal/f8_t3_Ss0_MC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bilbo+real+friend+of+liberal+government&pg=PA229&printsec=frontcover Redneck Liberal: Theodore G. Bilbo and the New Deal], p. 229. ''Google Books''. Retrieved December 18, 2022.</ref> In return, Bilbo boasted of being "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> Despite his reputation as a notorious shrill demagogue, ''The New York Times'' referred to him as an "obscure member" of the Senate without mentioning his racial bigotry.<ref name=fleegler,pp.11-12>"Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism," pp. 11–12.</ref>
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.