Looks like you are trying to start it as root this is disabled in Debian try as your normal user.

Booting to the command line, logging in as a user other than "root", and entering "startkde" produced the same results as it did when I was logged in as root.

Running "xinit /usr/bin/startkde" at the command line worked, KDE started.

I have found out how to do everything that I wanted to with regards to booting to text. I have plenty of questions about other topics, but I think this thread is done. Thanks for all the help.

P.S. Logging in as root is indeed disabled at Debian's GUI Login Manager BUT when booting to the command line I have been able to log in as "root" then enter "startx" to run Gnome or enter "xinit /usr/bin/startkde" to run KDE.

if u want to login as root then add the following line to gdm.conf
(but, generally not recommended for security reason.)

/etc/gdm/gdm.conf

[security]
AllowRoot=true

so far, no one mentioned about editing this file:
/etc/X11/default-display-manager
(though I'm not sure that DEC system has the same file as x86 has)

#/usr/bin/gdm

commenting out this line is the easiest way to disable graphical login.

if u do so, then create a file named ~/.xinitrc which contains the following line:
exec gnome-session

or
exec startkde

and issue the command: startx
to start Gnome or KDE