David Duke Timeline - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana

The Life of David Duke

Key events in the life of David Duke, who pleaded guilty December 18th to federal charges of mail fraud and filing a false tax return.

1968-70: First comes to public attention at LSU's "Free Speech Alley" when he makes white supremacist speeches.

1973: Writes "African Atto,'' under the pseudonym Mohammad X, encouraging violence against whites. Later, duke said the book was a satire.

1976: Duke, in blackface, disrupts the Legislature which was unveiling a bust of P.B.S. Pinchback, a black man who served briefly as Governor during reconstruction.

1976: Writes "Finderskeepers," a sex manual, also under a pseudonym.

1976: Receives 11,000 votes during an unsuccessful bid for the Louisiana Senate.

1978: During a visit to Great Britain, dodges bobbies trying to expel him from the country. Also that year, he was arrested in Jefferson Parish and charged with inciting a riot.

1980: Leaves the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, where he was grand wizard, in a dispute over the alleged sale of membership rolls. Forms the National Association for the Advancement of White People.

1987: Arrested during a demonstration in Forsyth, GA.

1988: Runs for President. Barred from running as a Democrat, he moved to the Populist Party and hired ex-American Nazi leader Ralph Forbes as campaign manager. His name was on 15 state ballots and he received 0.5 percent of the national vote.

1988: By a 227-vote margin, Duke, running as a Republican, won a runoff for a Louisiana House Seat in Metairie. He leaves that office after one term in 1992.

1990: Running as a Republican, Duke loses a primary for the U.S. Senate to democratic incumbent J. Bennett Johnston after the GOP forces out its official candidate, Ben Bagert, to avoid a runoff. Duke gets 43.5 percent of the vote.

1991: Runs second as a Republican in the Governor's primary to Edwin Edwards, knocking incumbent Gov. Buddy Roemer out of the race. Loses the primary in a landslide to Edwards, gets 39 percent of the vote.

1992: Short-lived presidential bid ends with South Carolina primary.

Mid-1990s: Hosts a radio talk show in the New Orleans area and organizes European-American Unity and Rights Organization. Manages computer mailing lists as a consultant. Claims in mailings to members to be in financial straits and under harassment by the IRS.

1999: Federal Grand Jury investigates the $100,000 sale of a list of Duke supporters to gov. Mike Foster. No charges are returned. Comes in third in a congressional primary for a New Orleans-area seat.

January 2000: Shortly after Duke leaves for a speaking tour in Russia, federal agents raid his home in Mandeville, LA. A search warrant, based on testimony from confidential informants, alleged that Duke took hundreds of thousands of dollars he solicited from supporters and gambled the money away at casinos.

2000-2002: Duke spends most of his time out of the United States on speaking tours.

Dec. 16, 2002: Duke's attorney, James McPherson, says Duke has returned to the U.S. to work out a plea bargin with federal prosecutors.

Dec. 18, 2002: Duke pleads guilty to charges of mail fraud and filing a false tax return in a plea agreement with a maximum $10,000 fine and 15 months in prison.

April 15, 2003: Duke reports to federal prison in Big Spring, Texas to begin serving his sentence.