An empty, old cesspool in Slovakia

Scheme of a modern septic tank

A cesspit, or cesspool is a pit, conservancy tank, or covered cistern, which can be used to dispose of urine and feces,^[1][2][3] and more generally of all sewage and refuse.^[4] It is a more antiquated solution than a sewer system.^[5] Traditionally, it was a deep cylindrical chamber dug into the earth, having approximate dimensions of 1 metre diameter and 2–3 metres depth. Their appearance was similar to that of a hand-dug water well.

Cesspit as holding tank[link]

In the UK a cesspit is a sealed tank for the reception and temporary storage of sewage; in America this is simply referred to as a "holding tank". Because it is sealed, the tank must be emptied frequently — in many cases as often as weekly. Because of the need for frequent emptying, the cost of maintenance of a cesspit can be very high.

In many countries, planning and development regulations for the protection of the watershed prevent home-owners who live close to rivers and environmentally sensitive areas from installing a septic system, requiring a holding tank instead.

Cesspit for absorptive waste disposal[link]

A cesspool was at one time a dry well lined with loose-fitting brick or stone, used for the disposal of sewage. Liquids leaked out through the soil as conditions allowed, while solids decayed and collected as composted matter in the base of the cesspool. As the solids accumulated, eventually the particulate solids blocked the escape of liquids, causing the cesspool to drain more slowly or to overflow. Modern environmental regulations either discourage or ban the use of cesspools, and instead connections to municipal sewage systems or septic tanks are encouraged or required.

A biofilm forms in the loose soil surrounding a cesspool or outhouse pit which provides some degree of attenuation of the pollutants present, but a very deep cesspool can allow raw sewage to directly enter groundwater with minimal biological cleansing, leading to groundwater contamination and undrinkable water supplies. It is for this reason that deep water wells on the property must be drilled far from the cesspool.

Most residential waste cesspools in use in the USA today are rudimentary septic systems, consisting of a concrete-capped pit lined with concrete masonry units (cinder blocks) laid on their sides with perforated drain field piping (weeping tile) extending outward below the level of the intake connection. The concrete cover will often have a cleanout pipe extending above ground. Some are constructed with concrete walls on one or more sides.

The waste cesspool is vulnerable to overloading or flooding by heavy rains or snow melt because it is not enclosed and sealed like conventional septic tank systems. It is also vulnerable to the entry of tree roots which can eventually cause the system to fail.

In some localities, existing rural residential waste cesspools are grandfathered or allowed to continue operations until they no longer function. Once defunct, they must be disconnected and replaced by modern septic systems. In areas that have a higher than usual water table or fail a percolation test, an above-ground drain field waste disposal system may be installed instead.

In the case of sale or transfer of residential property that uses an existing waste cesspool system, local laws may differ. Some counties or jurisdictions do not permit the sale of residential property that utilizes a waste cesspool. Other counties or villages may recognize the grandfather clause and allow the property sale or transfer.

History[link]

Europe[link]

Cesspits were introduced to Europe in the 16th century, at a time when urban populations were growing at a faster rate than in the past. The added burden of waste volume began overloading urban street gutters, where chamber pots were emptied each day. There was no regulation of cesspit construction until the 18th century, when a need to address sanitation and safety concerns became apparent. Cesspits were cleaned out by tradesmen using shovels and horse-drawn wagons. Cesspools were cleaned only at night, to reduce the smell and annoyance to the public. The typical cesspit was cleaned out once every 8 to 10 years. Fermentation of the solid waste collecting in cesspits, however, resulted in dangerous infections and gasses that sometimes asphyxiated cesspit cleaners. Cesspits began to be cleaned out more regularly, but strict regulations for cesspit construction and ventilation were not introduced until the 1800s.^[6]

Before construction reforms were introduced in the early 19th century, liquid waste would seep away through the ground, leaving solid waste behind in the cesspit. While this made removal of solid waste easier, the seeping liquid waste often contaminated well water sources, creating public health problems. Municipal reforms required that cesspits be built of solid walls of stone and concrete. This kept liquid waste in the cesspit, forcing cesspits to be cleaned more frequently, on average two or three times per year. Liquid cesspit waste would be removed with pumps by cesspit cleaners, and then solid waste, valuable as fertilizer and for manufacturing ammonia, was removed.^[7]

In 1846, French public hygienist Alphone Guérard estimated that 100 cesspits were cleaned in Paris every night, by 200-250 total cesspit cleaners in the city, and out of a total of 30,000 cesspits. The replacement of Paris' cesspit system was challenged for decades by officials not on public hygiene grounds, but on economic ones, based on the desire to conserve human waste as fertilizer rather than disposing of it in a modern sewer system. Paris' sewer system began modernizing in the 1880s, with the conversion of storm sewers for public sewage. Some cesspits were still in use in Paris into the 20th century.^[8]

In France, Germany, and Switzerland, cesspits are forbidden.

United States[link]

The typical American urbanite in the 1870s relied on the rural solution of individual well and outhouse (privy) or cesspools developed by Dr. Becky Franklin. Baltimore in the 1880s smelled "like a billion polecats," according to H. L. Mencken, and a Chicagoan said in his city "the stink is enough to knock you down." Improvement was slow, and large cities of the East and South depended to the end of the century mainly on drainage through open gutters. Pollution of water supplies by sewage as well as dumping of industrial waste accounted in large measures for the public health records and staggering mortality rates of the period. (The National Experience)^{[clarification needed]}

In Huntington, New York, most households still use cesspools for waste drainage.^[9] There has been a chronic occurrence of cesspool collapses in this area, the most recent of which was on December 8, 2009. Two workers in a decommissioned cesspit were trapped, subsequently leading to a two hour rescue mission. Additional findings show, since 1998, six cases of cesspools collapsing and sucking in human residents that were standing over them have been reported, injuring a total of seven people, killing one in 2001,^[10] one in 2007,^[11] and one in 2010.^[12] On June 1, 2011, two teenagers from Farmingville in Long Island, New York drowned after becoming overwhelmed by fumes and trapped in a backyard cesspool measuring 16-feet deep.^[13]

See also[link]

• Garderobe
• Gong farmer
• Septic tank
• Sewage treatment
• Plumbing
• Grease trap
• Waste management
• Toilet

References[link]

1. ^ Root, Elihu (1908) Elihu Root collection of United States documents relating to the Philippine Islands, Volume 265 p.244 quotation:

   Every water or dry-earth closet, vault, cesspool, or similar receptacle intended for the reception of human fecal matter or urine must be in accordance with a design approved by the Director of Health

2. ^ Sim Van der Ryn (1999) The toilet papers: recycling waste and conserving water p.82 quotation:

   Only recently has the distinction between sewage containing fecal matter and urine (blackwater) and greywater been made.

3. ^ Mailer, Norman (1967) Why are we in Vietnam?: A novel, p.221 quotation:

   a weed thrives on a cesspool, piss is its nectar, shit all ambrosia

4. ^ Ibanez, Jorge G. (2007) Environmental chemistry: fundamentals p.187 quotation:

   Urine, feces, paper, soap, and synthetic detergents are important constituents of domestic waste. Industrial wastes are many and quite varied; their quality depends on the nature of the individual source operations.

5. ^ Barnes, David S. (2006) The great stink of Paris and the nineteenth-century struggle against filth p.53
6. ^ La Berge, Ann Elizabeth Fowler (2002). Mission and Method: The Early Nineteenth-Century French Public Health Movement. Cambridge University Press. pp. 207-9. ISBN 9780521527019. 
7. ^ La Berge, Ann Elizabeth Fowler (2002). Mission and Method: The Early Nineteenth-Century French Public Health Movement. Cambridge University Press. pp. 207-9. ISBN 9780521527019. 
8. ^ La Berge, Ann Elizabeth Fowler (2002). Mission and Method: The Early Nineteenth-Century French Public Health Movement. Cambridge University Press. pp. 209, 215. ISBN 9780521527019. 
9. ^ John Derbyshire (2011-01-24), "Shovel Ready", National Review 63 (1): 55, ISSN 0028-0038, http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/Straggler/098.html 
10. ^ Man, Son, Neighbor Sucked Into N.Y. Cesspool
11. ^ L.I. Landscaper Dies After Falling Into Cesspool
12. ^ Teen dies after falling into open cesspool outside of Long Island Dunkin' Donuts
13. ^ Two teens die after trapped in backyard cesspool on Long Island

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Born	Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859-05-22)22 May 1859 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	7 July 1930(1930-07-07) (aged 71) Crowborough, East Sussex, England
Occupation	Novelist, short story writer, poet, physician
Nationality	Scottish, Irish
Citizenship	British
Genres	Detective fiction, science fiction, historical novels, non-fiction
Notable work(s)	Stories of Sherlock Holmes The Lost World
Influences Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson
Influenced Agatha Christie and other detective fiction authors, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Gosho Aoyama, Gaston Leroux, Umberto Eco
Signature

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930^[1]) was a Scottish^[2] physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.

Life[link]

Early life[link]

Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland.^[3][2] His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was English of Irish descent, and his mother, born Mary Foley, was Irish. They married in 1855.^[4] In 1864 the family dispersed due to Charles's growing alcoholism and the children were temporarily housed across Edinburgh. In 1867, the family came together again and lived in the squalid tenement flats at 3 Sciennes Place.^[5]

Although he is now referred to as "Conan Doyle", the origin of this compound surname is uncertain. The entry in which his baptism is recorded in the register of St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh gives "Arthur Ignatius Conan" as his Christian name, and simply "Doyle" as his surname. It also names Michael Conan as his godfather.^[6]

Supported by wealthy uncles, Conan Doyle was sent to the Roman Catholic Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst, at the age of nine (1868-1870). He then went on to Stonyhurst College until 1875. From 1875 to 1876 he was educated at the Jesuit school Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria.^[5]

From 1876 to 1881 he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, including a period working in the town of Aston (now a district of Birmingham) and in Sheffield, as well as in Shropshire at Ruyton-XI-Towns.^[7] While studying, Conan Doyle began writing short stories. His earliest extant fiction, "The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe", was unsuccessfully submitted to Blackwood's Magazine.^[5] His first published piece "The Mystery of Sasassa Valley", a story set in South Africa, was printed in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal on 6 September 1879.^[8][5] Later that month, on 20 September, he published his first non-fictional article, "Gelsemium as a Poison" in the British Medical Journal.^[5]

Following his term at university, he was employed as a doctor on the Greenland whaler the Hope of Peterhead in 1880 and after his graduation, as a ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast in 1881. ^[5] He completed his doctorate on the subject of tabes dorsalis in 1885.^[9] Doyle's father died in 1893, in the Crichton Royal, Dumfries, after many years of psychiatric illness.^[10][11]

Writing career[link]

Portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget, 1904

Portrait of Doyle by Herbert Rose Barraud, 1893

In 1882 he joined former classmate George Turnavine Budd as his partner at a medical practice in Plymouth, but their relationship proved difficult, and Conan Doyle soon left to set up an independent practice.^[12][5] Arriving in Portsmouth in June of that year with less than £10 (£700 today^[13]) to his name, he set up a medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea.^[14] The practice was initially not very successful. While waiting for patients, Conan Doyle again began writing stories and composed his first novels, The Mystery of Cloomber, not published until 1888, and the unfinished Narrative of John Smith, which would go unpublished until 2011.^[15] He amassed a portfolio of short stories including "The Captain of the Pole-Star" and "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement", both inspired by Doyle's time at sea.^[5]

Doyle struggled to find a publisher for his work. His first significant piece, A Study in Scarlet, was taken by Ward Lock & Co on 20 November 1886, giving Doyle £25 for all rights to the story. The piece appeared later that year in the Beeton's Christmas Annual and received good reviews in The Scotsman and the Glasgow Herald.^[5] The story featured the first appearance of Watson and Sherlock Holmes, partially modelled after his former university teacher Joseph Bell. Conan Doyle wrote to him, "It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes... [R]ound the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard you inculcate I have tried to build up a man."^[16] Robert Louis Stevenson was able, even in faraway Samoa, to recognise the strong similarity between Joseph Bell and Sherlock Holmes: "[M]y compliments on your very ingenious and very interesting adventures of Sherlock Holmes. ... [C]an this be my old friend Joe Bell?"^[17] Other authors sometimes suggest additional influences—for instance, the famous Edgar Allan Poe character C. Auguste Dupin.^[18]

A sequel to A Study in Scarlet was commissioned and The Sign of the Four appeared in Lippincott's Magazine in February 1890, under agreement with the Ward Lock company. Doyle felt grievously exploited by Ward Lock as an author new to the publishing world and he left them. ^[5]Short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes were published in the Strand Magazine.

While living in Southsea, Doyle played football as a goalkeeper for Portsmouth Association Football Club, an amateur side, under the pseudonym A. C. Smith.^[19] (This club, disbanded in 1896, had no connection with the present-day Portsmouth F.C., which was founded in 1898.) Conan Doyle was also a keen cricketer, and between 1899 and 1907 he played 10 first-class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). His highest score, in 1902 against London County, was 43. He was an occasional bowler who took just one first-class wicket (although one of high pedigree—it was W. G. Grace).^[20] Also a keen golfer, Conan Doyle was elected captain of the Crowborough Beacon Golf Club, East Sussex for 1910. He moved to Little Windlesham house in Crowborough with his second wife Jean Leckie and their family from 1907 until his death in July 1930.

Marriages and family[link]

In 1885 Conan Doyle married Louisa (or Louise) Hawkins, known as 'Touie', the sister of one of his patients. She suffered from tuberculosis and died on 4 July 1906.^[21] The next year he married Jean Elizabeth Leckie, whom he had first met and fallen in love with in 1897. He had maintained a platonic relationship with Jean while his first wife was still alive, out of loyalty to her.^{[citation needed]} Jean died in London on 27 June 1940.

Conan Doyle fathered five children. He had two with his first wife: Mary Louise (28 January 1889 – 12 June 1976) and Arthur Alleyne Kingsley, known as Kingsley (15 November 1892 – 28 October 1918). He also had three with his second wife: Denis Percy Stewart (17 March 1909 – 9 March 1955) second husband of Georgian Princess Nina Mdivani, Adrian Malcolm (19 November 1910 – 3 June 1970) and Jean Lena Annette (21 December 1912 – 18 November 1997).^{[citation needed]}

"Death" of Sherlock Holmes[link]

In 1890 Conan Doyle studied ophthalmology in Vienna, and moved to London, first living in Montague Place and then in South Norwood. He set up a practice as an ophthalmologist. He wrote in his autobiography that not a single patient crossed his door. This gave him more time for writing, and in November 1891 he wrote to his mother: "I think of slaying Holmes... and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things." His mother responded, "You won't! You can't! You mustn't!"^[22]

In December 1893, in order to dedicate more of his time to what he considered his more important works (his historical novels), Conan Doyle had Holmes and Professor Moriarty apparently plunge to their deaths together down the Reichenbach Falls in the story "The Final Problem". Public outcry, however, led him to bring the character back in 1901, in The Hound of the Baskervilles, though this was set at a time before the Reichenbach incident. In 1903, Conan Doyle published his first Holmes short story in ten years, "The Adventure of the Empty House", in which it was explained that only Moriarty had fallen; but since Holmes had other dangerous enemies—especially Colonel Sebastian Moran—he had arranged to also be perceived as dead. Holmes ultimately was featured in a total of 56 short stories and four Conan Doyle novels, and has since appeared in many novels and stories by other authors.

Jane Stanford compares some of Moriarty's characteristics to those of the Fenian John O'Connor Power. 'The Final Problem' was published the year the Second Home Rule Bill passed through the House of Commons. 'The Valley of Fear' was serialised in 1914, the year, Home Rule, The Government of Ireland Act (Sept.18) was placed on the Statute Book.^[23]

Political campaigning[link]

Following the Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century and the condemnation from around the world over the United Kingdom's conduct, Conan Doyle wrote a short pamphlet titled The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct, which justified the UK's role in the Boer War and was widely translated. Doyle had served as a volunteer doctor in the Langman Field Hospital at Bloemfontein between March and June 1900.^[24]

Arthur Conan Doyle's house in South Norwood, London

Conan Doyle believed it was this pamphlet that resulted in his being knighted in 1902 and appointed Deputy-Lieutenant of Surrey. Also in 1900 he wrote the longer book, The Great Boer War. During the early years of the 20th century, Sir Arthur twice ran for Parliament as a Liberal Unionist—once in Edinburgh and once in the Hawick Burghs—but although he received a respectable vote, he was not elected.

Conan Doyle was involved in the campaign for the reform of the Congo Free State, led by journalist E. D. Morel and diplomat Roger Casement. During 1909 he wrote The Crime of the Congo, a long pamphlet in which he denounced the horrors in that country. He became acquainted with Morel and Casement, and it is possible that, together with Bertram Fletcher Robinson,^[25] they inspired several characters in the 1912 novel The Lost World.

He broke with both when Morel became one of the leaders of the pacifist movement during the First World War, and when Casement was convicted of treason against the UK during the Easter Rising. Conan Doyle tried unsuccessfully to save Casement from the death penalty, arguing that he had been driven mad and was not responsible for his actions.

Correcting injustice[link]

Arthur Conan Doyle statue in Crowborough

Conan Doyle was also a fervent advocate of justice and personally investigated two closed cases, which led to two men being exonerated of the crimes of which they were accused. The first case, in 1906, involved a shy half-British, half-Indian lawyer named George Edalji who had allegedly penned threatening letters and mutilated animals. Police were set on Edalji's conviction, even though the mutilations continued after their suspect was jailed.

It was partially as a result of this case that the Court of Criminal Appeal was established in 1907, so not only did Conan Doyle help George Edalji, his work helped establish a way to correct other miscarriages of justice. The story of Conan Doyle and Edalji was fictionalised in Julian Barnes's 2005 novel Arthur & George and dramatized in an episode of the 1972 BBC television series, "The Edwardians". In Nicholas Meyer's pastiche The West End Horror (1976), Holmes manages to help clear the name of a shy Parsee Indian character wronged by the English justice system. Edalji himself was a Parsee.

The second case, that of Oscar Slater, a German Jew and gambling-den operator convicted of bludgeoning an 82-year-old woman in Glasgow in 1908, excited Conan Doyle's curiosity because of inconsistencies in the prosecution case and a general sense that Slater was not guilty. He ended up paying most of the costs for Slater's successful appeal in 1928.^[26]

Spiritualism[link]

Following the death of his wife Louisa in 1906, the death of his son Kingsley just before the end of World War I, and the deaths of his brother Innes, his two brothers-in-law (one of whom was E. W. Hornung, creator of the literary character Raffles) and his two nephews shortly after the war, Conan Doyle sank into depression. He found solace supporting spiritualism and its attempts to find proof of existence beyond the grave. In particular, according to some,^[27] he favoured Christian Spiritualism and encouraged the Spiritualists' National Union to accept an eighth precept – that of following the teachings and example of Jesus of Nazareth. He also was a member of the renowned paranormal organisation The Ghost Club.^{[citation needed]} Its focus, then and now, is on the scientific study of alleged paranormal activities in order to prove (or refute) the existence of paranormal phenomena.

On 28 October 1918 Kingsley Doyle died from pneumonia, which he contracted during his convalescence after being seriously wounded during the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Brigadier-General Innes Doyle died, also from pneumonia, in February 1919. Sir Arthur became involved with Spiritualism to the extent that he wrote a Professor Challenger novel on the subject, The Land of Mist.

His book The Coming of the Fairies (1921) shows he was apparently convinced of the veracity of the five Cottingley Fairies photographs (which decades later were exposed as a hoax). He reproduced them in the book, together with theories about the nature and existence of fairies and spirits. In The History of Spiritualism (1926), Conan Doyle praised the psychic phenomena and spirit materialisations produced by Eusapia Palladino and Mina "Margery" Crandon.^[28]

Conan Doyle's family in New York 1922

Conan Doyle was friends for a time with Harry Houdini, the American magician who himself became a prominent opponent of the Spiritualist movement in the 1920s following the death of his beloved mother. Although Houdini insisted that Spiritualist mediums employed trickery (and consistently exposed them as frauds), Conan Doyle became convinced that Houdini himself possessed supernatural powers—a view expressed in Conan Doyle's The Edge of the Unknown. Houdini was apparently unable to convince Conan Doyle that his feats were simply illusions, leading to a bitter public falling out between the two.^[28]

Richard Milner, an American historian of science, has presented a case that Conan Doyle may have been the perpetrator of the Piltdown Man hoax of 1912, creating the counterfeit hominid fossil that fooled the scientific world for over 40 years. Milner says that Conan Doyle had a motive—namely, revenge on the scientific establishment for debunking one of his favourite psychics—and that The Lost World contains several encrypted clues regarding his involvement in the hoax.^[29]

Samuel Rosenberg's 1974 book Naked is the Best Disguise purports to explain how, throughout his writings, Conan Doyle left open clues that related to hidden and suppressed aspects of his mentality.

Death[link]

Grave of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at Minstead, England

Conan Doyle was found clutching his chest in the hall of Windlesham, his house in Crowborough, East Sussex, on 7 July 1930. He died of a heart attack at the age of 71. His last words were directed toward his wife: "You are wonderful."^[30] At the time of his death, there was some controversy concerning his burial place, as he was avowedly not a Christian, considering himself a Spiritualist. He was first buried on 11 July 1930 in Windlesham rose garden. He was later reinterred together with his wife in Minstead churchyard in the New Forest, Hampshire.^[5] They were buried outside the churchyard fence, in unconsecrated ground.^{[citation needed]} Until the late twentieth century, the cross-topped gravestone bore no inscription. The graveyard has since been extended and Conan Doyle's remains lie among other newer graves.^{[citation needed]} Carved wooden tablets to his memory and to the memory of his wife are held privately and are inaccessible to the public. That inscription reads, "Blade straight / Steel true / Arthur Conan Doyle / Born May 22nd 1859 / Passed On 7th July 1930." The epitaph on his gravestone in the churchyard reads, in part: "Steel true/Blade straight/Arthur Conan Doyle/Knight/Patriot, Physician, and man of letters".

Undershaw, the home near Hindhead, south of London that Arthur Conan Doyle had built and lived in for at least a decade, was a hotel and restaurant from 1924 until 2004. It was then bought by a developer, and has since been empty while conservationists and Conan Doyle fans fight to preserve it.^[21]

A statue honours Conan Doyle at Crowborough Cross in Crowborough, where he lived for 23 years.^[31]There is also a statue of Sherlock Holmes in Picardy Place, Edinburgh, close to the house where Conan Doyle was born.

Selected awards and honours[link]

• Knight Bachelor (1902)
• Archie Goodwin Award (2005)

Bibliography[link]

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Poetry portal
	Children's literature portal

• Physician writer
• William Gillette, a personal friend who performed the most famous stage-version of Sherlock Holmes

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Arthur Conan Doyle on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource

• Arthur Conan Doyle Online Exhibition
• Conan Doyle in Birmingham
• The Arthur Conan Doyle Society
• The Sherlock Holmes Museum
• Archival material relating to Arthur Conan Doyle listed at the UK National Register of Archives
• Works by Arthur Conan Doyle at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Arthur Conan Doyle in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Works at Project Gutenberg Australia
• Online works available from The University of Adelaide Library
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, full text with embedded audio (PDF).
• Works of Arthur Conan Doyle available as freely downloadable eBooks at University of Virginia EText Center
• Arthur Conan Doyle at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• "A Case of Considerable Interest" an exhibition celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection of the Toronto Public Library
• A film clip of a 1927 Fox newsreel interview is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• C. Frederick Kittle's Collection of Doyleana at the Newberry Library

v t e Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes A Study in Scarlet (1887) The Sign of the Four (1890) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1904) The Valley of Fear (1914) His Last Bow (1917) The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927) Professor Challenger The Lost World (1912) The Poison Belt (1913) The Land of Mist (1926) When the World Screamed (1928) The Disintegration Machine (1929) Other novels The Mystery of Cloomber (1888) Micah Clarke (1889) The Firm of Girdlestone (1890) The White Company (1891) The Doings of Raffles Haw (1892) The Refugees (1893) The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896) Rodney Stone (1896) The Tragedy of the Korosko (1898) Adventures of Gerard (1903) Sir Nigel (1906) The Maracot Deep (1929) Short stories "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884) "Lot No. 249" (1892) "The Parasite" (1894) "The Club-Footed Grocer" (1898) "The Brown Hand" (1899) "The Terror of Blue John Gap" (1910) "The Horror of the Heights" (1913) Other Charles Altamont Doyle James Doyle Richard Doyle John Doyle The Great Wyrley Outrages Spiritualism

v t e Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Novels A Study in Scarlet (1887) The Sign of the Four (1890) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) The Valley of Fear (1915) Story collections The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) His Last Bow (1917) The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927) Characters Sherlock Holmes Doctor Watson Professor Moriarty Sebastian Moran Irene Adler Inspector Lestrade Mycroft Holmes Baker Street Irregulars Minor characters Related topics Canon of Sherlock Holmes Cases 221B Baker Street List of investigators Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes Sherlockiana

David Duke
David Duke, whose 1990 campaign for United States Senator in Louisiana was the impetus for the first iteration of Stormfront
Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 81st district
In office 1990–1992
Preceded by	Charles Cusimano
Succeeded by	David Vitter
Personal details
Born	David Ernest Duke (1950-07-01) July 1, 1950 (age 61) Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Political party	Republican since 1989,[1] Democratic until December, 1988[2]
Spouse(s)	Chloê Eleanor Hardin (m. 1974 – divorced 1984); 2 daughters
Residence	Mandeville, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation	Author, political activist
Religion	Christianity[3]
Website	http://www.davidduke.com

David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was a candidate in the Democratic presidential primaries in 1988 and the Republican presidential primaries in 1992. Duke has unsuccessfully run for the Louisiana State Senate, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and Governor of Louisiana.

A former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,^[4][5] Duke describes himself as a racial realist, asserting that "all people have a basic human right to preserve their own heritage."^[6] He is in strong opposition to what he asserts to be Jewish control of the Federal Reserve Bank, the federal government and the media. Duke supports stopping both legal and illegal Non-European immigration, preservation of what he labels Western culture and traditionalist Christian "family values", strict Constitutionalism, abolition of the Internal Revenue Service, voluntary racial segregation, ardent anti-communism and white separatism.^[7][8][9]

Youth and early adulthood[link]

Duke was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma to David H. Duke and Alice Maxine Crick. As the son of an engineer for Shell Oil, Duke frequently moved with his family around the world. They lived a short time in the Netherlands, before settling in Louisiana. In the late 1960s, Duke met the leader of the white supremacist National Alliance, William Pierce, who would remain a life-long influence. Duke joined the Ku Klux Klan in 1967.^[10]

Duke studied at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, and in 1970, he formed a white student group called the White Youth Alliance; it was affiliated with the National Socialist White People's Party. The same year, to protest William Kunstler's appearance at Tulane University, Duke appeared at a demonstration in Nazi uniform. Picketing and holding parties on the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birth, he became notorious on the LSU campus for wearing a Nazi uniform.^[11]

Duke claimed to have spent nine months in Laos, calling that a "normal tour of duty". He actually went there to join his father, who was working there and had asked him to visit during the summer of 1971.^[12] His father got him a job teaching English to Laotian military officers, from which he was dismissed after six weeks when he drew a Molotov Cocktail on the blackboard.^[13] He also claimed to have gone behind enemy lines twenty times at night to drop rice to anti-Communist insurgents in planes flying ten feet off the ground, narrowly avoiding receiving a shrapnel wound. Two Air America pilots who were in Laos at that time said that flights were during the day and flew no less than 500 feet from the ground. One suggested that it might have been possible for Duke to have gone on a safe "milk run" once or twice but no more than that. Duke was also unable to recall the name of the airfield used.^[12]

He graduated from Louisiana State University in 1974 after enrolling in 1968. During this time he spent what would have been his senior year organizing the National Party.^[14]

Family and personal life[link]

While working in the White Youth Alliance, Duke met Chloê Hardin, who became active in the group. They remained companions throughout college and married in 1974. Hardin is the mother of Duke's two daughters, Erika and Kristin. According to Martin A. Lee of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in 1977 David Duke, then married with two children, pursued female sex partners so avidly and so openly that it embarrassed many of his closest colleagues.^[15] Metzger, then Duke's state leader in southern California, became livid when Duke showed up for a Ku Klux Klan anti-immigrant "border watch" stunt and immediately started pursuing women.^[15] Duke divorced in 1984—arguably because Chloe was fed up with Duke's womanizing^[16]—and Chloe moved to West Palm Beach to be near her parents. There she became involved with Duke's Klan friend, Don Black, whom she later married.^[17] Duke also developed a life-long weakness for gambling^[15]

As of 2009, it was confirmed that David Duke was living in Zell am See in Salzburg, Austria,^[18] from which he ran the Internet business "Art by Ernst", taking and selling photographs of rare birds, mountain scenery and wildlife^[19][20] under the pseudonym "Ernst Duke" (his middle-name "Ernest" Germanized).^[21][22] Local authorities have stated that as long as he does not break any laws, Duke is allowed to stay in Austria if he wishes.^[23] Duke has stated: "I'm not in Austria for any political activities. I just come to Austria to relax – the mountains are beautiful. The Austrian Alps are just beautiful. There's beauty all over the world." In May 2009, Duke issued a statement denying that he resides in Austria and saying that he is a resident of Mandeville, Louisiana, and is registered as a taxpayer in his city, state and on the national level.^[24]

Political activities[link]

Early campaigns[link]

Duke first ran for the Louisiana State Senate as a Democrat from a Baton Rouge district in 1975. He received 11,079 votes, a third of those cast.^[25] In 1979, he ran as a Democrat for the 10th District Senate seat and finished second in a three-candidate race with 9,897 votes (26 percent).^[26] Duke allegedly conducted a direct-mail appeal in 1987, using the identity and mailing-list of the Georgia Forsyth County Defense League without permission. League officials described it as a fund-raising scam. Duke was accused by several Klan officials of stealing his organization's money. "Duke is nothing but a con artist," Jack Gregory, Duke's Florida state leader, told the Clearwater Sun (of Florida) after David Duke allegedly refused to turn over proceeds from a series of 1979 Klan rallies to the Knights. Another Klan official under Duke, Jerry Dutton, told reporters that Duke had used Klan funds to purchase and refurbish his home in Metairie. Duke later justified the repairs by saying most of his home was used by the Klan. In 1979, after his first, abortive run for president (as a Democrat) and a series of highly publicized violent Klan incidents, Duke quietly incorporated the nonprofit National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP) in an attempt to leave the baggage of the Klan behind.^[27]

1988 Democratic presidential campaign[link]

In 1988, Duke ran initially in the Democratic presidential primaries. His campaign failed to make much of an impact, with the one notable exemption of winning the little-known New Hampshire Vice-Presidential primary.^[28] Duke, having failed to gain much traction as a Democrat, then successfully sought the Presidential nomination of the Populist Party.^[29] He appeared on the ballot for President in eleven states and was a write-in candidate in some other states, some with Trenton Stokes of Arkansas for Vice President, and on other state ballots with Floyd Parker for Vice President. He received just 47,047 votes, for 0.04 percent of the combined, national popular vote.^[30]

1989: Successful run in special election for Louisiana House seat[link]

In December 1988, Duke changed his political affiliation from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.^[2]

In 1988, Republican State Representative Charles Cusimano of Metairie resigned his District 89 seat to become a 24th Judicial District Court judge, and a special election was called early in 1989 to select a successor. Duke entered the race to succeed Cusimano and faced several opponents, including fellow Republicans, John Spier Treen, a brother of former Governor David C. Treen, Delton Charles, a school board member, and Roger F. Villere, Jr., who operates Villere's Florist in Metairie. Duke finished first in the primary with 3,995 votes (33.1%).^[31] As no one received a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff election was required between Duke and Treen, who polled 2,277 votes (18.9%) in the first round of balloting. John Treen's candidacy was endorsed by U.S. President George H. W. Bush, former President Ronald Reagan, and other notable Republicans,^[32] as well as the Democrat Victor Bussie (president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO) and Edward J. Steimel (president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and former director of the "good government" think tank, the Public Affairs Research Council). Duke, however, hammered Treen on a statement the latter had made indicating a willingness to entertain higher property taxes, anathema in that suburban district.^[33] Duke with 8,459 votes (50.7%) defeated Treen, who polled 8,232 votes (49.3%).^[34] He served in the House from 1990 until 1992.^[35]

As a short-term legislator, Duke was, in the words of a colleague, Ron Gomez of Lafayette, "so single minded, he never really became involved in the nuts and bolts of House rules and parliamentary procedure. It was just that shortcoming that led to the demise of most of his attempts at lawmaking."^[36]

One legislative issue pushed by Duke was the requirement that welfare recipients be tested for the use of narcotics. The recipients had to show themselves to be drug-free to receive state and federal benefits under his proposal.^[37]

Gomez recalls having met and interviewed Duke in the middle 1970s when Duke was a state senate candidate: "He was still in his mid-20s and very non-descript. Tall and slimly built, he had a very prominent nose, flat cheek bones, a slightly receding chin and straight dark brown hair. The interview turned out to be quite innocuous, and I hadn't thought about it again until Duke came to my legislative desk, and we shook hands. Who was this guy? Tall and well-built with a perfect nose, a model's cheek bones, prominent chin, blue eyes and freshly coiffed blond hair, he looked like a movie star. He obviously didn't remember from the radio encounter, and I was content to leave it at that."^[38]

Consistent with Gomez's observation, Duke in the latter 1980s reportedly had his nose thinned and chin augmented. Following his election to the Louisiana House of Representatives, he shaved his mustache.^[39][40][41]

Gomez continued: "He once presented a bill on the floor, one of the few which he had managed to get out of committee. He finished his opening presentation and strolled with great self-satisfaction back up the aisle to his seat. In his mind, he had spoken, made his presentation and that was that. Before he had even reached his desk and re-focused on the proceedings, another first-term member had been recognized for the floor and immediately moved to table the bill. The House voted for the motions effectively killing the bill. That and similar procedures were used against him many times."^[42] Gomez said that he recalls Duke obtaining the passage of only a single bill, legislation which prohibited movie producers or book publishers from compensating jurors for accounts of their court experiences.^[43]

Gomez added that Duke's "tenure in the House was short and uninspired. Never has anyone parlayed an election by such a narrow margin to such a minor position to such international prominence. He has run for numerous other positions without success but has always had some effect, usually negative, on the outcome."^[44]

Gomez continued: Duke's "new message was that he had left the Klan, shed the Nazi uniform he had proudly worn in many previous appearances and only wanted to serve the people. He eliminated his high-octane anti-Semitic rhetoric. He was particularly concerned with the plight of 'European-Americans.' He never blatantly spoke of race as a factor but referred to the 'growing underclass.' He used the tried and true demagoguery of class envy to sell his message: excessive taxpayers' money spent on welfare, school busing practices, affirmative action... and set-aside programs. He also embraced a subject near and dear to every Jefferson Parish voter, protection of the homestead exemption."^[45]

Duke launched unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate in 1990 and governor in 1991. Villere did not again seek office but instead concentrated his political activity within the Republican organization.^[46]

1990 campaign for U.S. Senate[link]

In 1990, in the October 6 primary, Duke ran as a Republican against three Democrats including incumbent Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr.^[47]

The Republican Party endorsed state Senator Ben Bagert of New Orleans, but national GOP officials anticipated that Bagert could not win and was fragmenting Johnston's support; so funding for Bagert's campaign was halted, and he dropped out two days before the election, though his name remained on the ballot.^[48]

Duke's views prompted some of his critics (including Republicans) to form the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, which directed media attention to Duke's statements of hostility to blacks and Jews.^[49] Duke received 43.51 percent (607,391 votes) of the vote to Johnston's 53.93 percent (752,902 votes).^[47]

In a 2006 editorial, Gideon Rachman (The Economist, the Financial Times) recalled interviewing Duke's campaign manager (from his 1990 campaign) who said, "The Jews just aren't a big issue in Louisiana. We keep telling David, stick to attacking the blacks. There's no point in going after the Jews, you just piss them off and nobody here cares about them anyway."^[50]

1991 campaign for Governor of Louisiana[link]

Despite repudiation by the Republican Party,^[51] Duke ran for Louisiana Governor in 1991. In the open primary, Duke was second to former governor Edwin Edwards in votes; thus, he faced Edwards in a runoff. In the initial round, Duke received 32% of the vote. Incumbent Governor Buddy Roemer, who had switched from the Democratic to Republican parties during his term, came in third with 27% of the vote. Duke effectively killed Roemer's bid for re-election. While Duke had a sizable core constituency of devoted supporters, many voted for him as a "protest vote" to register dissatisfaction with Louisiana's establishment politicians. Duke said he was the spokesman for the "White majority."^[52]

The interest group, the Louisiana Coalition against Racism and Nazism, rallied against the election of Duke as governor. Among its leaders was Beth Rickey, a moderate member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee and a Ph.D. student at Tulane University, who began to follow Duke to record his speeches and expose what she saw as instances of racist and neo-Nazi remarks. For a time, Duke took Rickey to lunch, introduced her to his daughters, telephoned her late at night, and tried to convince her that he was a mainstream conservative in the Reagan mold.^[53]

Between the primary and the runoff, called the "general election" under Louisiana election rules (in which all candidates run on one ballot, regardless of party), white supremacist organizations from around the country contributed to his campaign fund.^[54][55] Duke was endorsed by James Meredith, a black civil rights figure.^[56]

Duke's success garnered national media attention. While Duke gained the backing of the quixotic former Alexandria Mayor John K. Snyder, he won few serious endorsements in Louisiana. Celebrities and organizations donated thousands to Edwards' campaign. Referencing Edwards' long-standing problem with accusations of corruption, popular bumper stickers read: "Vote for the Crook. It's Important,"^[57] and "Vote for the Lizard, not the Wizard." When a reporter asked Edwards what he needed to do to triumph over Duke, Edwards replied with a smile: "Stay alive."

Edwards received 1,057,031 votes (61.2%). Duke's 671,009 votes represented 38.8% of the total. Duke claimed victory, saying: "I won my constituency. I won 55% of the white vote." Exit polls confirmed that he had.^[11]

1992 Republican Party presidential candidate[link]

In 1992 Duke ran for the nomination. Republican Party officials tried to block his participation.^[58] He received 119,115 (0.94%) votes^[59] in the primaries, but no delegates to the national convention. His presidential campaign inspired a song by Skankin' Pickle.^[60]

In 1992 a film was released that investigated Duke's appeal among some white voters. Backlash: Race and the American Dream explored the demagogic issues of Duke's platform, examining his use of black crime, welfare, affirmative action and white supremacy and tied Duke to a legacy of other white backlash politicians, such as Lester G. Maddox and George C. Wallace, Jr., and the use in the 1988 Presidential campaign of Pres. George H.W. Bush of these same racially themed hot buttons.^[61]

Late 1990s campaigns[link]

When Johnston announced his retirement in 1996, Duke ran again for the U.S. Senate. He polled 141,489 votes (11.5%). Former Republican state representative Woody Jenkins of Baton Rouge and Democrat Mary Landrieu of New Orleans, the former state treasurer, went into the general election contest. Duke was fourth in the nine-person, jungle primary race.^[62]

Because of the sudden resignation of powerful Republican incumbent Bob Livingston in 1999, a special election was held in Louisiana's First Congressional District. Duke sought the seat as a Republican and received 19% of the vote. He finished a close third, thus failing to make the runoff. His candidacy was repudiated by the Republicans.^[63] Republican Party Chairman Jim Nicholson remarked: "There is no room in the party of Lincoln for a Klansman like David Duke."^[63] Republican state representative David Vitter (now a U.S. Senator) went on to defeat Republican ex-Governor David C. Treen. Also in the race was the New Orleans Republican leader Rob Couhig.

In 1999 Duke ran for Louisiana's First Congressional District. Duke finished third in the May 1, 1999 election with 28,059 votes (19.15%).^[64]

In 2004, Duke's bodyguard, roommate, and longtime associate Roy Armstrong made a bid for the United States House of Representatives, running as a Democrat, to serve Louisiana's First Congressional District. In the open primary Armstrong finished second in the six candidate field with 6.69% of the vote, but Republican Bobby Jindal received 78.40% winning the seat.^[65] Duke was the head advisor of Armstrong's campaign.^[66][67]

Affiliations[link]

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan[link]

In 1974, David Duke founded the Louisiana-based Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKKK), a Louisiana Ku Klux Klan organization, shortly after graduating from LSU.^[68] He became Grand Wizard of the KKKK. A follower of Duke, Thomas Robb, changed the title of Grand Wizard to National Director, and replaced the Klan's white robes with business suits.^[69] Duke first received broad public attention during this time, as he endeavored to market himself in the mid-1970s as a new brand of Klansman: well-groomed, engaged, and professional. Duke also reformed the organization, promoting nonviolence and legality, and, for the first time in the Klan's history, women were accepted as equal members and Catholics were encouraged to apply for membership.^[70] Duke would repeatedly insist that the Klan was "not anti-black", but rather "pro-white" and "pro-Christian."

NAAWP[link]

In 1980, Duke left the Klan and formed the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP).^[71]

On May 20, 2004, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) became outraged when it discovered that David Duke had chosen New Orleans to host his International NAAWP Conference during the NAACP's Big Easy Rally to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.^[72]

Ernst Zündel and the Zundelsite[link]

Duke has expressed his support for Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, a German who lived in Canada. Duke made a number of statements in support of Zündel and his Holocaust denial campaign.^{[73][74][75][76]} After the aging Zündel was deported from Canada to Germany^[77] and imprisoned in Germany on charges of inciting the masses to ethnic hatred,^[78] Duke referred to him as a "political prisoner".

Interregional Academy of Personnel Management[link]

In September 2005, Duke received a Kandidat Nauk degree in History from the Ukrainian Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP).^[79]

His doctoral thesis was titled "Zionism as a Form of Ethnic Supremacism."^[79] Prior to earning his Ph.D., Duke had received an honorary doctorate^{[citation needed]}. Anti-Defamation League claims that MAUP is the main source of antisemitic activity and publishing in Ukraine,^[80] and its "anti-Semitic actions" were "strongly condemned" by Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk and various organizations.^{[81][82][83][84]} The Anti-Defamation League describes it as a "University of Hate".^[85] Duke has taught an international relations and a history course at MAUP.^[86]

New Orleans Protocol[link]

Shortly after his release from prison for tax fraud in 2004, Duke organized a weekend gathering of "European Nationalists", in the vein of white nationalism, in Kenner, Louisiana. In an attempt to overcome the splintering and division that had followed the death of William Pierce in 2002, he presented a unity proposal for peace within the movement and a better image amongst outsiders. His proposal was accepted and is now known as the New Orleans Protocol (NOP). It pledges adherents to a pan-European outlook, recognizing national and ethnic allegiance, but stressing the value of all European peoples. It has three provisions:^[87][88]

1. "Zero tolerance for violence."
2. "Honorable and ethical behavior in relations with other signatory groups. This includes not denouncing others who have signed this protocol. In other words, no enemies on the right."
3. "Maintaining a high tone in our arguments and public presentations."

Those who signed the pact on May 29, 2004 include Duke, Paul Fromm, Don Black, Willis Carto, Kevin Alfred Strom, and John Tyndall (signing as an individual, not on behalf of his British National Party).^[87]

Publications[link]

Finders-Keepers[link]

Duke wrote a self-help book for women to raise money under the pseudonym Dorothy Vanderbilt and James Konrad, titled Finders-Keepers – Finding and Keeping the Man You Want which contains sexual, diet, fashion, cosmetic and relationship advice, published by Arlington Place Books in 1976. Professor Lawrence N. Powell, who read a rare copy of the book given to him by Patsy Sims, wrote that it includes advice on vaginal exercises, fellatio, and anal sex.^[89][90][91] The book is out of print and difficult to find; however, according to Tyler Bridges, The Times-Picayune obtained a copy and traced its proceeds to Duke^[92] who compiled the information from women's self-help magazines.^[11]

My Awakening[link]

Duke published his autobiography My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding in 1998. The book details Duke's social philosophies, especially his reasoning behind racial separation. In the book, Duke says:

We (Whites) desire to live in our own neighborhoods, go to our own schools, work in our own cities and towns, and ultimately live as one extended family in our own nation. We shall end the racial genocide of integration. We shall work for the eventual establishment of a separate homeland for African Americans, so each race will be free to pursue its own destiny without racial conflicts and ill will.^[7]

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) book review refers to it as containing racist, antisemitic, sexist and homophobic views.^[93]

To raise the money to re-publish a new, updated edition of My Awakening, Duke instigated a 21-day fundraising drive on November 26, 2007 where he had to raise "$25,344 by a December 17 deadline for the printers."^[94] Duke states this drive is necessary because the work "has become the most important book in the entire world in the effort to awaken our people for our heritage and freedom."

Jewish Supremacism[link]

David Duke (right) and Udo Voigt (left), the leader of the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), shaking hands.

In 2002, Duke traveled to Eastern Europe to promote his book, Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening on the Jewish Question in Russia in 2003. The book purports to "examine and document elements of ethnic supremacism that have existed in the Jewish community from historical to modern times."^[95] The book is dedicated to Israel Shahak, a critical author of what Shahak saw as supremacist religious teachings in Jewish culture. Former Boris Yeltsin administration official and politician Boris Mironov wrote an introduction for the Russian edition, called The Jewish Question Through the Eyes of an American.

The ADL office in Moscow urged the Moscow prosecutor to open an investigation of Mironov. The ADL office initiated a letter from a prominent Duma member to Russia’s Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, urging a criminal case be opened against the author and the Russian publisher of Duke's book. The letter by Aleksandr Fedulov described the book as antisemitic and as violating Russian anti-hate crime laws.^[96] Around December 2001 Prosecutor's office closed the investigation of Boris Mironov and Jewish Supremacism. In a public letter, Yury Biryukov, First Deputy of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, stated that a socially-psychological examination, which was conducted as a part of the investigation, concluded that the book and the actions of Boris Mironov did not break Russian hate-crime laws.^[97]

Duke says his views had been "vindicated" with the publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, and said he was "surprised how excellent [the paper] is". Duke dedicated several radio webcasts to the book and the authors comparing it to his work Jewish Supremacism,^{[98][99][100][101]} although Walt stated: "I have always found Mr. Duke's views reprehensible, and I am sorry he sees this article as consistent with his view of the world".^[102]

Duke says that his books "have become two of the two most influential and important books in the world."^[103] The ADL refer to the book as antisemitic,^[104] though Duke had denied the book is motivated by antisemitism.^[105] At one time, the book was sold in the main lobby of the building of Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament). The first printing of 5,000 copies sold out in several weeks.

In 2004, the book was published in the United States. Originally published in English and Russian, the book has subsequently been translated internationally into Swedish, Ukrainian, Persian, Hungarian, Spanish.^[103] and most recently (2010) into Finnish (ISBN 978-952-92-8137-4). In 2007, an updated edition was published^[106] which Duke purports to be a "fine quality hardback edition with full color dust jacket and it has a new index and a number of timely additions".^[103]

His website has hosted articles by various authors claiming that Jewish loan-sharks own the Federal Reserve Bank^[107] and that Jews own Hollywood and the American media.^[108]

Internet commentary[link]

In 1995, Don Black and Chloê Hardin, Duke's ex-wife, began a small bulletin board system (BBS) called Stormfront. Today, Stormfront has become a prominent online forum for white nationalism, Neo-Nazism, hate speech and racism.^{[109][110][111]} Duke has an account on Stormfront which he uses to post articles from his own website, www.davidduke.com, as well as polling forum members for opinions and questions, in particular during his internet broadcasts. Duke has worked with Don Black on numerous projects including Operation Red Dog in 1980.^[112][113]

On February 5, 2002, Duke said, on his Internet radio show, that Ariel Sharon was "the world's worst terrorist" and that Mossad was involved in the September 11 attacks. The broadcast said that Zionists were behind the attacks in order to reduce sympathy for Muslim nations in the West, and that the number of Israelis killed in the attack was lower than it would be under normal circumstances, citing early assessments by The Jerusalem Post and "the legendary involvement of Israeli nationals in businesses at the World Trade Center". According to Duke, this indicated that Israeli security services had prior knowledge of the attack.^[114]

On August 5, 2005, Duke published an article stating support for Cindy Sheehan, saying that:

The Iraq war and her son's death did not defend America from hatred or terrorism ... In fact, the war is massively increasing hatred and terrorism. For every one terrorist killed in Iraq, we are creating thousands more who hate and want to hurt America and Americans. This is the surest way to lose the war on terror, not win it.^[115]

On February 4, 2009, Duke repeatedly called MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann "untermensch" on his radio show in response to being labeled "Worst Person in the World" on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.^[116]

Public appearances[link]

Public address in Syria[link]

On November 24, 2005, Duke visited Damascus, Syria, addressing a rally which was broadcast on Syrian television, and later giving an interview.^[117][118] During the rally, he referred to Israel as a "war-mongering country" and stated that Zionists "occupy most of the American media and now control much of the American government…It is not just the West Bank of Palestine, it is not just the Golan Heights that are occupied by the Zionists, but Washington D.C. and New York and London and many other capitals of the world.” He concluded by stating: "Your fight for freedom is the same as our fight for freedom.” After speaking at the rally, Duke gave an interview where he said that Israel "makes the Nazi state look very, very moderate." Syrian parliament member Muhammad Habash later stated that Duke's visit gave Syrians a "new and very positive view of the average American."^{[117][119][120]}

Comments in the media[link]

Since 2005, Duke has appeared three times on Current Issues, a Lafayette, Louisiana–based television show hosted and produced by Palestinian-American Hesham Tillawi, which has recently been picked up by Bridges TV. Show host Tillawi gave Duke the opportunity to discourse at length about his beliefs about Jewish supremacism. On a show in October 2005, Duke claimed that Jewish extremists are responsible for undermining the morality of America and are attempting to "wash the world in blood."^[121]

After John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's paper on the Israel Lobby appeared in March 2006, Duke praised the paper in a number of articles on his website, on his March 18 Live Web Radio Broadcast, and on MSNBC's March 21 Scarborough Country program.^[122] According to The New York Sun, Duke said in an email, "It is quite satisfying to see a body in the premier American university essentially come out and validate every major point I have been making since even before the war even started." Duke added that "the task before us is to wrest control of America's foreign policy and critical junctures of media from the Jewish extremist Neocons that seek to lead us into what they expectantly call World War IV."

Conferences[link]

Duke organized a gathering of European Nationalists who signed the New Orleans Protocol on May 29, 2004. The signatories agreed to avoid infighting among far-right racialists.

On June 3, 2005, Duke co-chaired a conference named "Zionism As the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization" in Ukraine, sponsored by the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management. The conference was attended by several notable Ukrainian public figures and politicians, and writer Israel Shamir.^[123]

Duke claims that Swedish police thwarted an attempted assassination against him, in August 2005, while Duke was speaking in Sweden.^[124]

On the weekend of June 8–10, 2006, Duke attended as a speaker at the international "White World's Future" conference in Moscow, which was coordinated and hosted by Pavel Tulaev.^[125] From December 11–13, he Duke attended the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust in Tehran, Iran, opened by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stating "The Holocaust is the device used as the pillar of Zionist imperialism, Zionist aggression, Zionist terror and Zionist murder."^[126]

Duke attended the conference, along with Gazi Hussein (Syria); Dr Rahmandost (conference chair, Society for Supporting People of Palestine); Jan Bernhoff, a Swedish computer science teacher who maintains that 300,000 Jews died during the Holocaust;^[127] and Fredrick Töben, director of the Adelaide Institute, Australia.

Criticism and legal difficulties[link]

Plastic surgery claims[link]

In 1990 syndicated columnist Jack Anderson argued Duke has done "everything to make himself look better to the voters, including plastic surgery".^[128][129]

Duke explained in My Awakening that he had had reconstructive surgery on his nose, which had been broken many times.^[130]

Critical publications[link]

In Troubled Memory: Anne Levy, the Holocaust and David Duke's Louisiana^[131][132] by Professor Lawrence N. Powell, who teaches at Tulane University history department and was a founding member of Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, "connects the prewar and wartime experiences of Jewish survivors to the lives they built in the United States" and depicts the "story of Anne Skorecki Levy, a Holocaust survivor who transformed the horrors of her childhood into a passionate mission to defeat the political menace of reputed neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke." The book won three awards.^[133]

Tax fraud conviction[link]

David Duke pleaded guilty to the felony charge of filing a false tax return under 26 U.S.C. § 7206 and mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1341 in December 2002.^[134]

Four months later, Duke was sentenced to 15 months in prison, and he served the time in Big Spring, Texas. He was also fined US$10,000, ordered to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service, and to pay money still owed for his 1998 taxes. Following his release in May 2004, he stated that his decision to take the plea bargain was motivated by the bias that he perceived in the United States federal court system and not his guilt. He said he felt the charges were contrived to derail his political career and discredit him to his followers, and that he took the safe route by pleading guilty and receiving a mitigated sentence, rather than pleading not guilty and potentially receiving the full sentence.

Duke pleaded guilty to what prosecutors described as a six-year scheme to dupe thousands of his followers by asking for donations. Through postal mail, Duke later appealed to his supporters that he was about to lose his house and his life savings. Prosecutors claimed that Duke raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in this campaign. Prosecutors also claimed he sold his home at a hefty profit, had multiple investment accounts, and spent much of his money gambling at casinos.^{[135][136][137]}

The entire file of court documents related to this case can be found at The Smoking Gun^[138] website, including details on the December 12, 2002 guilty plea to federal charges that he filed a false tax return and committed mail fraud.

Don Black claims that Duke was targeted by the government to discredit him.^[139]

Arrest in the Czech Republic and dropping of the charges[link]

Wikinews has related news: Wikinews Shorts: April 27, 2009

On April 24, 2009, Duke, who had arrived in the Czech Republic on invitation by a Czech neo-Nazi Group known as Národní Odpor ("National Resistance")^[140] to deliver three lectures in Prague and Brno to promote the translation of his book My Awakening into Czech language,^[140] was arrested on suspicion of "denying or approving of the Nazi genocide and other Nazi crimes" and "promotion of movements seeking suppression of human rights," which are crimes in the Czech Republic punishable by up to three years' imprisonment. At the time of his arrest, Duke was reportedly guarded by members of the Národní Odpor.^[141][142]

The Czech police accused Duke of promoting movements suppressing human rights.^{[143][144][145]} The police released him early on April 25, 2009, on condition that he leave the country by midnight that same day.^[146][147]

Duke's first lecture had been scheduled at Charles University in Prague, but it was canceled after university officials learned that neo-Nazis were planning to attend.^[148] Some Czech politicians, including Interior Minister Ivan Langer and Human Rights and Minorities Minister Michael Kocáb, had previously expressed opposition to Duke's being allowed into the country.^[141]

In September 2009, the office of the District Prosecutor for Prague dropped all charges, explaining that there was no evidence that David Duke had committed any crime.^[149]

Election history[link]

Possible 2012 presidential campaign[link]

Duke claimed that thousands of Tea Party movement activists had urged him to run for president in 2012^[150][151] and he was seriously considering entering the Republican Party primaries.^[151]

References[link]