American politician, a poster-boy for bigotry and prejudice, known as a white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for the Republican Party. His politics and writings are largely devoted to promoting conspiracy theories about Jews, such as Holocaust denial and Jewish control of academia, the press, and the financial system.
At age 14, when he did a school paper on integration, he defined his position and stuck to it for the rest of his life. Over the years, he has paraded in a Nazi uniform, worn white robes as a Klu Klux Klansman, founded the National Association for the Advancement of White People, and made an attempt to set up a white supremacy government on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean.
The second of two kids, he was born to an alcoholic mother and engineer dad. His interest in segregation began in high school, and in Louisiana State University, 1968, he joined the Klan. In 1975 he became a KKK leader.
Clean cut in a business suit, with cosmetic surgery on his nose in the ’80s, he presents himself well. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, and ran for the Louisiana candidacy for Governor in 1991. Edwin Edwards defeated him as Governor in the vote on 16 November 1991. Duke did win the nomination of the Radical Populist Party whose members include neo-Nazis, Klansmen and skinheads.
During the 1990s, Duke defrauded his political supporters by pretending to be in dire financial straits and soliciting money for basic necessities. At the time, Duke was in fact financially secure and used the money for recreational gambling. In December 2002, Duke pleaded guilty to felony fraud and subsequently served a 15-month sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Big Spring in Texas.
Link to Wikipedia biography