Ku Klux Klan

Second Ku Klux Klan.

The second organization, known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was formed by William Joseph Simmons, preacher, travelling salesman and experienced promoter of fraternal orders, on Stone mountain, near Atlanta, Ga., on Thanksgiving night in 1915. A charter issued by the State of Georgia gave corporate rights to the new fraternal order. Thus legally established, Simmons called upon the world to witness that his was a "high-class, mystic, social, patriotic, benevolent association" devoted to the sacred duty of protecting woman hood, to the idea of the "Fatherhood of God, Brotherhood of man," to the principle of "white supremacy"—in short, to "real patriotism" and "pure Americanism." In fact its aims were a composite revival of those of three prior organizations. From the Know Nothing movement of 1844-56 and from the American Protective Association of 1887-97 it inherited opposition to Roman Catholicism, adding a measure of antagonism to the Jew. It took from its namesake of post-Civil War times its hostility to assumption of negro equality with the white race and much of its ritual and regalia. Unlike the first Ku Klux Klan its appeal was not sectional, consequently, it spread from the South through out the nation.

During the first few years of its existence the order grew slowly and early in 192o was threatened with financial disaster. Under such circumstances Simmons contracted with E. Y. Clarke, an advertising man, to increase the membership. Clarke's scheme of promotion was successful to such an extent that when Con gress made an investigation in Oct. 1921, it found that the Invis ible Empire then had a membership little short of 1 oo,000. Ex pert salesmanship alone, however, did not account for the rapid growth of the Klan. Its appeal came to a people suffering from the hysteria of the World War. Those who had enjoyed power in Citizens' committees which forced the purchase of Liberty Bonds, intimidated German sympathizers and hounded slackers, saw in the Klan a continued outlet for their patriotism. Those who were outraged by immorality flaunted before inert police used the terror of the Klan to punish evil-doers. Those chafed by the deliberation of the courtroom and convinced that the guilty too often slipped through some loophole in the ltw found the Klan a direct way to prevent the miscarriage of justice. But far more numerous were those who cherished the racial and religious prejudices of their ancestors. Kleagles had no difficulty in selling membership in a crusade for Protestant Christianity, native Americanism and white supremacy. The movement gained its greatest strength in the South and Middle-west, among descend ants of the first white stock of America, those English and Scotch-Irish pioneers, strong Protestants, who laid the founda tions of American society.

Shortly after the success of the Klan became assured, control slipped from the grasp of Simmons and Clarke into the hands of Dr. Hiram Wesley Evans of Texas. Dissentions arose but they had little effect on the organization's rapid growth. In the elec tions of 1922, 1924 and, to a certain extent, 1926, the Klan con centrated its powers at the polls so effectively that it was able to elect, in several States, U.S. senators, congressmen, State officials and to control local politics. By 1928 its power had waned appreciably, and had little effect on the elections of that year. This rapid disintegration is difficult to account for unless it is found in the abuses of power and corruption that alienated many of its more conservative members and brought about factional strife in official circles. Whether authorized or not. certain acts of violence were perpetrated in the name of the Invis ible Empire. Attorney General C. C. McCall of Alabama, in resigning his Ku Klux Klan membership in 1927, bared its methods in that State and pronounced the organization a menace to decent government. In the same year D. C. Stephenson, former Grand Dragon of the order in Indiana, made striking revela tions of the Klan's participation in political bribery and corrup tion. Resulting indictments were followed by the conviction of the mayor of Indianapolis and the governor of Indiana.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-For

the first organization see J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson, Ku Klux Klan (1905) ; "Report of the Joint Select Committee on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States," Report No. 22, 42nd Congress, 2nd Session (1872) ; W. L. Fleming, Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (1905) and Documentary History of Reconstruction (1906) ; W. G. Brown, Lower South in American History (Igoi) ; J. M. Beard, Ku Klux Sketches (1876) ; S. L. Davis, Authentic History, Ku Klux Klan 1865-77 (1924). For the second Ku Klux Klan there is no unbiased account. Much of its earlier his tory is given in The Ku Klux Klan, Hearings before the Committee on Rules, House of Representatives, 67th Congress, ist Session (1921). See also H. P. Fry, The Modern Ku Klux Klan (1922) ; W. J. Sim mons, The Klan Unmasked (1923) and America's Menace (1926) ; J. M. Mecklin, The Ku Klux Klan: A Study of the American Mind (1924) ; S. Frost, The Challenge of the Klan (1924) ; L. A. Curry, The Ku Klux Klan under the Searchlight (1924).