odinsblog:

As we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement today, it is worth remembering that the campaign to honor Dr. King faced significant opposition from Republicans. Then-president Ronald Reagan was among the primary opponents of the bill to create a holiday honoring Dr. King, believing that it would “open the door to many other groups seeking similar holidays,” as were former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Texas Congressman and libertarian leader Ron Paul.

Former Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) famously led a vigorous campaign against the holiday on the grounds that King was a “communist sympathizer.” In the 1980s, debate raged in Congress, with many Republicans arguing that the nation had been “misled into believing MLK was a great man.” Even today, the Republican-dominated states of Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi observe the holiday as jointly celebrating “Martin Luther King and Robert E. Lee’s birthdays.”

Indeed there are nine current members of Congress – all Republicans – who voted against the creation of MLK day as a national holiday in 1983.

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