The Man Who Should Have Been President of the United States

by Theo Mitchell

[Print version of this article]

Theo Mitchell is a former South Carolina State Senator and Democratic candidate for Governor of South Carolina. We present here his edited remarks as prepared for presentation on Nov. 17, 2019 at the Schiller Institute Conference, “The Future of Humanity as a Creative Species in the Universe,” in Bad Soden, Germany. Subheads have been added.

Guten tag, meine Freunde! Especially, The Honorable Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who should have been a United States First Lady, decades ago.

I am honored to be here in Frankfurt to commemorate the life of one of the world’s greatest forecasters in any of our lives, Dr. Lyndon LaRouche. No matter how one may have felt about him in the past while maybe down, Lyndon had a way to lift us up. With his photographic memory and always active mind, Lyndon taught us that the reality of our existence was, “To be kind to each other.”

Whether or not it was the reality of our existence, or rather “a moral lag in the development of the nation in the heart of America,” as Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, sociologist, author of An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and the Modern Democracy, said, it cannot be doubted as to how much we must depend on the bravery of the few, like Lyndon LaRouche, to right the wrongs of the many.

Time after time, Lyn, as we called him, championed the causes of the many, especially regarding the collapse of American law, and the resurgence of morally indefensible practices wholly inconsistent with the United States Constitution, even going to prison for such. His head may have been bloodied, but was never bowed. Lyn begged for nothing from anybody. He even refused to relax his feet from the prison shoes he was made to wear for five years while incarcerated.

Lyn knew something had to be done to correct patent wrongs, but by whom? Thus, the LaRouche Movement, which infected thousands, then and now, with the “right stuff.” Some of us will never forget, having been taught by Lyn, that in the end, people like Don Fowler, former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), will, also, pay for their jealousy in denying Lyn his rightful place in national politics. Lyn, who, in my opinion was the “best” candidate for the office of the Presidency of the United States. Fowler and his cronies kept Lyn off the ballot as a candidate in the election years of 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000, even though he always received matching funds.

Lyn was a legitimate candidate, who deserved to have delegates to the Democratic National Convention, having won over 15% of the popular vote in the 1996 primary in Louisiana. Additionally, in Arkansas in 2000, the DNC took Lyn’s delegates, who represented many that had voted for LaRouche and simply gave them to Al Gore, for whom they had not voted. But Gore in the 2000 presidential election never took the state of Arkansas, as he also refused the support of former President of the United States, Bill Clinton who was from Arkansas, but had just been impeached by the Congress. Consequently, by betraying LaRouche and Clinton, Gore destroyed himself when he lost that state.

Former United States Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who later represented Lyn, as I had earlier, said that Lyn had “courage and resilience.” He went on to say that Lyn had great integrity and honorable standing; that he only wanted to improve America, not destroy it.

Mr. Clark went on to say, “that the DNC under Fowler was underhanded, hypocritical, backstabbing, and clandestine, in keeping Lyn off the ballot in several states.”

Hearings Investigated
DOJ Misconduct

In 1995, together with Attorney General Clark and several other prominent individuals, I participated in two days of Independent Hearings to Investigate Misconduct by the U.S. Department of Justice. The hearings focused on two exemplary cases.

The first case: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)-designed operation, code named by them “Operation Frühmenschen” or “Operation Ape-Man” or “Primitive Man,” which systematically targeted black and Hispanic elected officials, because they were deemed to be “inferior intellects, having no morals or character” that the white majority should honor or respect. I myself was targeted but saw through the FBI sting operation which targeted every black state legislator in South Carolina, and resulted in indictments of 28 of my colleagues, temporarily wiping out the black state legislative caucus of the state of South Carolina. The LaRouche movement documented at the time of the hearings, that 80% of all black and Hispanic officials in the United States were either being investigated, on trial, under indictment or incarcerated!

The second exemplary case was that of Lyndon LaRouche, prosecuted because of his political views and his solutions to the economic, political and moral crisis, not just in the United States but internationally. We warned at that time and subsequently that these injustices against targeted individuals, like Lyn, if left unchecked, could threaten the very foundations of our constitutional government. We are seeing this very problem play out today in every area of our justice system, top to bottom.

‘We Gather Here Today to Honor a Real Man’

Lyn, having passed this way, appears to have been “divinely inspired.” For example, his predictions on health care have come true and his predictions on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which essentially paved the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that caused the United States Constitution to be upheld. Further, Lyn’s attack on Jim Crow in the South came true. As a result of Lyn’s work, we now have more Black elected members of legislative bodies around the United States since Reconstruction.

Helga, there must always be the effort to exonerate Lyn, for he did nothing wrong, except tell the truth, something which evil doers could neither accept nor understand. His challenge to Wall Street was never accepted by the greedy or the sinister. His attack on the housing industry and social policies were even attacked by his own Democratic Party. Lyn, too, predicted the reunification of Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In closing, we gather here today to honor a real man, whose life was dedicated to helping his fellow man, who displayed unexpected courage in very trying times. Yes, even now! Lyn’s work isn’t over. Time has proven and will continue to prove that he was right, and his people will eventually enjoy his having been here amongst us! So, did Lyndon LaRouche have historic significance for the United States? The answer is yes, and it has manifested itself many times over. The time I have here today is too short to enumerate all his successes. Finally, while we are here praising Lyn for his magnificent life, we cannot forget the lady who was chief in contributing to his success, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who should have been not only a United States First Lady, but also the Chancellor of Germany.