Slow Burn: David Duke

America’s most famous white supremacist came within a runoff of controlling Louisiana. How did David Duke rise to power? And what did it take to stop him?

About the Show

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a white supremacist became an American political phenomenon. David Duke’s rise to power and prominence—his election to the Louisiana Legislature, and then his campaigns for the U.S. Senate and the governorship—was an existential crisis for the state and the nation. The fourth season of Slate’s Slow Burn will explore how a Nazi sympathizer and former Klansman fashioned himself into a mainstream figure, and why some voters came to embrace his message. It will also examine how activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens confronted Duke’s candidacy, and what it took to stop him.

The season is hosted by Josh Levin, a longtime Slow Burn editor and native Louisianian.

Season 4: Episode 1

White Knight

The year that David Duke, America’s most famous white supremacist, went mainstream.

Season 4: Bonus Episode 1

David Duke and the Modern Movement

How the former KKK leader tried to learn from his mistakes to mentor the next generation of white nationalists in America.

Season 4: Episode 2

Robe and Ritual

How David Duke used the Ku Klux Klan to sell his message, and himself.

Season 4: Bonus Episode 2

The Holocaust Survivor and the White Supremacist

As David Duke’s profile rose in Louisiana and beyond, Anne Levy realized she had to speak up.

Season 4: Episode 3

The Nazi and the Republicans

The woman who tried to stop David Duke, and the GOP officials who accommodated him.

Cold Call

What I learned from a child journalist’s interview with David Duke—and why I’m not interviewing him myself.

Season 4: Episode 4

A Silent Army

What message did David Duke’s voters send to everyone else in Louisiana?

Season 4: Bonus Episode 3

What It’s Like to Play David Duke

Actor Topher Grace on portraying an infamous bigot for Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman.