| − | Time and time again, liberals claim that MLK was a [[Democrat]]. Liberals point to the people he associated with or that he opposed [[Barry Goldwater]] as proof that MLK was a Democrat. There is considerable evidence that he was not a Democrat. Martin Luther King Sr. was a [[Republican]], that would almost certainly make his son a Republican. Only after his son was arrested did King Sr. plead to [[President Kennedy]] for his safe release. It is noted at that point MLK Sr. switched parties to support Kennedy. This despite Kennedy voting against the 1957 [[Civil Rights Act]] and being initially opposed to the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King. The March on Washington was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, who was a black Republican. In addition, [[Attorney General]] [[Robert Kennedy]] authorized the [[FBI]] to wiretap MLK Jr's phone due to suspicion that Dr. King's associates were [[Communist]] and pry into his personal life; this was later expanded during Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency; which undermined King.<ref>[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16500 Why Martin Luther King Was Republican, Human Events, August 16, 2006]</ref><ref>Herst, Burton (2007). ''Bobby and J. Edger''. pp. 372–74</ref> | + | Time and time again, liberals claim that MLK was a [[Democrat]]. Liberals point to the people he associated with or that he opposed [[Barry Goldwater]] as proof that MLK was a Democrat. There is considerable evidence that he was not a Democrat. Martin Luther King Sr. was a [[Republican]], that would almost certainly make his son a Republican. Only after his son was arrested did King Sr. plead to [[President Kennedy]] for his safe release. It is noted at that point MLK Sr. switched parties to support Kennedy. This despite Kennedy voting for the [[jury trial amendment]] weakening the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]] and being initially opposed to the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King. The March on Washington was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, who was a black Republican. In addition, [[Attorney General]] [[Robert Kennedy]] authorized the [[FBI]] to wiretap MLK Jr's phone due to suspicion that Dr. King's associates were [[Communist]] and pry into his personal life; this was later expanded during Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency; which undermined King.<ref>[http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16500 Why Martin Luther King Was Republican, Human Events, August 16, 2006]</ref><ref>Herst, Burton (2007). ''Bobby and J. Edger''. pp. 372–74</ref> |
| | It was the Republicans who led the way to free the slaves nearly one-hundred years earlier; that fact was not lost on his generation. Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association said, [he] "absolutely was a Republican," and "We were all Republicans in those days. The Democrats were training fire hoses on us, siccing dogs on us."<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801754.html Controversial Ad Links MLK, GOP, Washington Post, October 19, 2006]</ref> In the 1960s, King would have witnessed the Democrat parties position on pro-[[segregation]], against the Civil Rights Act. King was most likely aware of high-profile Democrats such as [[Al Gore]] Sr. and the [[Exalted Cyclops]] [[Robert Byrd]] voting against repealing segregation. Southern Democrats rallied around [[Jim Crow]] laws and Black Codes which were targeted against King's message. [[Dixiecrat]]s blocked the social and political progress of black Southerners for decades. Was King unaware? Doubtful. It was Republican [[President Eisenhower]] who began the push for integrating all-white schools and the desegregation of the military. To think King was a witness to all the upheaval Democrats caused and then became a champion of Democrats is a stretch. King also said in 1968 that he would take Republicans [[George Romney]] and [[Nelson Rockefeller]] over any Democrat nominated for the presidency that year if one of them were to win the GOP nomination. | | It was the Republicans who led the way to free the slaves nearly one-hundred years earlier; that fact was not lost on his generation. Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association said, [he] "absolutely was a Republican," and "We were all Republicans in those days. The Democrats were training fire hoses on us, siccing dogs on us."<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801754.html Controversial Ad Links MLK, GOP, Washington Post, October 19, 2006]</ref> In the 1960s, King would have witnessed the Democrat parties position on pro-[[segregation]], against the Civil Rights Act. King was most likely aware of high-profile Democrats such as [[Al Gore]] Sr. and the [[Exalted Cyclops]] [[Robert Byrd]] voting against repealing segregation. Southern Democrats rallied around [[Jim Crow]] laws and Black Codes which were targeted against King's message. [[Dixiecrat]]s blocked the social and political progress of black Southerners for decades. Was King unaware? Doubtful. It was Republican [[President Eisenhower]] who began the push for integrating all-white schools and the desegregation of the military. To think King was a witness to all the upheaval Democrats caused and then became a champion of Democrats is a stretch. King also said in 1968 that he would take Republicans [[George Romney]] and [[Nelson Rockefeller]] over any Democrat nominated for the presidency that year if one of them were to win the GOP nomination. |