On this day in 1915, Democrat President Woodrow Wilson premiered the movie Birth of a Nation at the White House. That racist movie was based on The Clansmen and The Leopard’s Spots, novels espousing hatred for African-Americans written by one of Wilson’s college pals.
While vilifying Republicans of the post-Civil War era, Birth of a Nation glorified Democrat terrorists and Democrat violence against African-Americans. President Wilson called the movie “terribly true… like history written with lightning.”
Birth of a Nation spawned the 20th century version of the Ku Klux Klan, which adopted the white sheet uniforms, cross-burning and other rituals as depicted in the movie. The Ku Klux Klan dominated the 1920 and 1924 Democratic National Conventions. Republicans were outraged.
Republicans today would benefit tremendously from appreciating the true heritage of our Grand Old Party.
This Republican heritage article and others are available on the Grand Old Partisan blog - each day celebrating 154 years of Republican heroes and heroics.
