Jerad W. Alexander at Narratively writes—This one-eyed, insult-spewing senator was the Donald Trump of the 1890s:
On a warm morning in July 1896, on the third day of the Democratic National Convention, South Carolina Senator Benjamin Tillman stepped onto the stage of the Chicago Coliseum. After three years of recession, Democratic President Grover Cleveland had declined to run again, and the field was open to a new candidate. Tillman had made a name for himself by savaging Cleveland, calling him a “bag of beef” whom he promised to “prod in his old fat ribs,” and audiences loved him for his fiery candor. As he faced the seas of delegates in front of the stage many called up to him, “Tillman!” and “Pitchfork Ben!” All Pitchfork Ben had to do was carry it a little further, and he had a shot at the presidential nomination. A short, rumpled man in his late forties, he glared at the audience with his one good eye.
owel
Tillman had lost the eye during the Civil War – not in battle, but after contracting a bacterial infection while swimming in a millpond near his parents’ home in South Carolina. Too young to fight in the war, it wasn’t until afterwards, during Reconstruction, that he found his cause. In a time when freed slaves were just beginning to exercise their rights to vote, serve in office and own property, Tillman was one of many in the south to take up arms in the name of white supremacy.
According to Stephen Kantrowitz in his book Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy, Tillman joined the Sweetwater Saber Club in 1873 and participated in terrorizing members of local black militia organizations that had formed lawfully and been supported by the federal government. After a Fourth of July parade, Tillman and other Sweetwater club members, known as “Red Shirts” fired into the home of Ned Tennant. Over the next few days the incident nearly escalated to a full-on battle between white supremacists and local African Americans.
At a Red Shirt reunion in 1909, Tillman stated, “Altogether, in 1874 and 1876, I was a participant in four race riots. All of these were most potent influences in shaping the conflict between the whites and blacks and producing gratifying results which brought the white man again into control of his inheritance.” Much of this culminated with the election of 1876, when Tillman and his Red Shirts participated in mass intimidation of African American voters, along with rigging key elections throughout southern South Carolina, in order to keep blacks and pro-Reconstruction Republicans from retaining control of the state government, a trend that would coalesce into nearly a century of disenfranchisement.
“How did we recover our liberty?” he said years later, as a U.S. Senator. “By fraud and violence.”
HIGH IMPACT STORIES • TOP COMMENTS
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2010—Rightist 'outsiders' plan 2012 cash flood:
Beyond Tuesday is where the right has focused its attention. Not that it wasn't obvious the minute the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case was decided 10 months ago, but the right-wingers who had a few of their fingers pried off the nation's throat in 2006 and 2008 are preparing to get a better grip come 2012. Jim Rutenberg at The New York Times reports:
Officials with the two conservative groups, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS — which are on track to spend well over $50 million combined this year, a sizable part of it from undisclosed donors — said they would continue advertising against Democrats as Congress returns, when decisions loom on the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts and immigration.Robert M. Duncan, the chairman of American Crossroads, which, like Crossroads GPS, was started with help from the Republican strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, said he also informed major donors late last week that “research and development” was under way to make the groups even more effective in the next election, part of a pitch for continued investment toward a larger goal. “It’s a bigger prize in 2012, and that’s changing the White House,” Mr. Duncan said. “We’ve planted the flag for permanence, and we believe that we will play a major role for 2012.”
However many seats the Republicans gain in Congress, Tuesday's outcome won't slow down the right's effort to cash in on the bonanza the 5-4 Supreme Court's decision provides them. One thing to expect: As more money flows into the coffers of American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS and other outsider groups, chances are that ad campaigns which in the past have clustered around elections will spread out, becoming a year-round affair regardless of when the elections are. Thus can Karl Rove, et al., put the cudgel to left-of-center approaches to governance and seek to transform every Democrat - regardless of voting record - into a radical in the minds of voters.
New contributor Paula Apynys (aka Paula Writer) shares David Atkins’ thoughts on “voter fraud” suspicions. Law and order candidate hates both laws and orders.
YouTube | iTunes | LibSyn | Support the show: Patreon; PayPal; PayPal Subscription