William F. Buckley, Jr.

The foremost CON of his day, William F. Buckley started the arch-CON magazine The National Review in which he defended Joe McCarthy witch hunts. According to Wiki, In 1957, Buckley came out in support of the segregationist South, famously writing that “the central question that emerges . . . is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas where it does not predominate numerically? The sobering answer is Yes – the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race.”‘

James J. Kilpatrick

Widely published in thousands of US newspapers, you may remember Kilpatrick as the curmudgeonly old guy defending the position of the Reich on the 60 Minutes "Point-Counterpoint".

The Virginia campaign for Massive Resistance organized in response to Brown v. Board may have been avoided if not for journalist James J. Kilpatrick. Deemed a moderate voice in southern race relations, Virginia’s Commission on Public Education was expected to offer a reasonable plan for school desegregation that would serve as an example to other southern states. However, public condemnation from government sources such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, as well as the 1955 media coverage of the lynching of Emmett Till and the Montgomery bus boycott, fueled southern resistance. Kilpatrick initiated a counter media campaign, resurrecting the Doctrine of Interposition—the theory that states had the constitutional right to interpose themselves between the Federal government.

Kilpatrick's furious opposition to Civil Rights led to some Virgina schools closing for five years rather than to integrate.

(from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_... )

John Birch Society

Surely these tireless defenders of liberty would support King's struggle, right? Guess again.

In Alan Stang's book published by the JBS, It's Very Simple: The True Story of Civil Rights, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is portrayed as an agent of a massive communist conspiracy to agitate among otherwise happy Negroes to foment revolution, or at least promote demands for more collectivist federal government intrusion.

http://www.publiceye.org/tooclose/jbs.html

Barry Goldwater

"the federal Constitution does not require the States to maintain racially mixed schools. Despite the recent holding of the Supreme Court, I am firmly convinced-not only that integrated schools are not required-but that the Constitution does not permit any interference whatsoever by the federal government in the field of education. It may be just or wise or expedient for Negro children to attend the same schools as white children, but they do not have a civil right to do so which is protected by the federal constitution, or which is enforceable by the federal government."

He summed up by saying that it is the right of each individual state to decide if it is wise to integrate White and Negro schoolchildren. "That is their decision, not mine," he declared.

http://web.archive.org/web/20030401134242/...

Ludwig Von Mises Institute

"The nonviolence of Martin Luther King et hoc genus omne was of course a fraud: It aimed to provoke others to violence in the hope that this would advance the civil rights agenda."

Wow. Talk about BLAMING THE VICTIM! That has to be the most egregious example possible.

http://mises.org/misesreview_detail.aspx?c...

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan originally opposed the bill that would create Martin Luther King Day citing high costs (www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13herbe... ).

It was not until congress passed the bill with an overwhelming 338 to 90 he signed the bill into law.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_Ronald_R...

The National Review

"For years now, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his associates have been deliberately undermining the foundations of internal order in this country. With their rabble-rousing demagoguery, they have been cracking the “cake of custom” that holds us together. With their doctrine of “civil disobedience,” they have been teaching hundreds of thousands of Negroes — particularly the adolescents and the children — that it is perfectly alright to break the law and defy constituted authority if you are a Negro-with-a-grievance; in protest against injustice. And they have done more than talk. They have on occasion after occasion, in almost every part of the country, called out their mobs on the streets, promoted “school strikes,” sit-ins, lie-ins, in explicit violation of the law and in explicit defiance of the public authority. They have taught anarchy and chaos by word and deed — and, no doubt, with the best of intentions — and they have found apt pupils everywhere, with intentions not of the best. Sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind."

Will Herberg, "’Civil Rights’ and Violence: Who Are the Guilty Ones?", The National Review Sept. 7th, 1965

Ronald Reagan, again

1983

Sam Donaldson: Mr. President, Senator Helms has been saying on the Senate floor that Martin Luther King, Jr., had Communist associations, was a Communist sympathizer. Do you agree?

Ronald Reagan: We’ll know in about 35 years, won’t we? No, I don’t fault Senator Helms’ sincerity with regard to wanting the records opened up. I think that he’s motivated by a feeling that if we’re going to have a national holiday named for any American, when it’s only been named for one American in all our history up until this time, that he feels we should know everything there is to know about an individual.

http://www.advancingthestory.com/2009/03/0... /