After the Great War: Nativism and the Ku Klux Klan

AFTER THE GREAT WAR: NATIVISM AND THE KU KLUX KLAN

A Revitalized Klan

Immigration restriction was not the only visible symptom of nativism during the 1920s. The decade also witnessed the revival of the long-dormant Ku Klux Klan, founded during Reconstruction to intimidate African Americans newly freed from slavery. In 1915 William J. Simmons reorganized the fraternal order in Atlanta, Georgia, and hailed its mission as the defense of "comprehensive Americanism." Following World War I the newly organized Klan spread across the United States. Membership increased rapidly, mushrooming to 4.5 million in 1924, when the organization reached it zenith. Unlike the nineteenth-century Ku Klux Klan, which targeted its violence primarily against African Americans and their scarce white allies in the South, the resurgent Klan of the 1920s broadened its geographical scope and expanded its list of enemies. The Anglo-Saxon-glorifying, white supremacist organization lashed out at immigrants, especially Catholics and Jews, and any group that conflicted with the Klan's cherished beliefs in nativism, white supremacy, and Protestantism.

Congressional Hearings

A New York World exposé on the Klan's violence, corruption, and religious intolerance was the catalyst for a House investigation that began in October 1921 and lasted just over a week. The House Rules Committee hearings evolved into a forum not only for those speaking against the Klan but also for members of the "Invisible Empire" pleading its case. Simmons, the Klan's organizer, stressed the organization's fraternal and benevolent nature while publicly distancing himself from its violence. The result was little more than frustration for Klan opponents. The only casualty from the hearings appeared to be the Rules Committee chair—Philip Campbell, a Republican from Kansas, who suffered defeat in the next election. Campbell's loss testified to the Klan's extensive political influence and alerted other politicians to their potential fate if they crossed the Klan.

Political Influence

As Campbell's 1922 defeat illustrates, violent persuasion and intimidation were not the Klan's only avenue of influence. Politicians at all levels of government actively sought the Klan's endorsement and support. Americans resentful of new immigrants and their influence on national culture supported and sympathized with the Klan and its mission. Prohibition particularly interested the Klan, which contended that violators were largely foreign-born, Catholic, and un-American. In 1922 the Klan participated in local elections throughout the country and helped to elect governors in Georgia, Alabama, California, and Oregon. The election that year of Klansman Earl Mayfield as a U.S. senator from Texas stood as the crowning political achievement of the Invisible Empire.

The Height of Klan Power

By 1924 the Klan's political power had grown so formidable that it sought to parlay its local and state victories into success at the national level, Despite tremendous pressure from some party regulars, the Democratic Party refused to condemn the Ku Klux Klan specifically in its 1924 party platform, fearing the political consequences. Klan support crossed partisan lines, as Republicans—especially in the Mid-west—also counted on support from hooded Americans. John Davis, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Robert La Follette, the Progressive candidate, campaigned against the Klan, but Republican President Calvin Coolidge remained silent on the issue, hoping to retain support from both pro-Klan and anti-Klan Republicans.

The Decline of the Klan

After 1925, support for the Klan declined rapidly. A partial explanation for dwindling pro-Klan sentiment was the diminished threat to nativism and white supremacy. Congress closed the doors to massive immigration in 1924, and African Americans remained disenfranchised across the South. The race riots of the postwar years had ended, and Prohibition was in place. The immorality and ineptness of Klan leaders, such as Grand Dragon David Stephenson of Indiana, who was found guilty of second-degree murder in 1925, also contributed to the decline of the Invisible Empire. Over time community leaders across the country had observed the Klan's violence and rejected the legitimacy of this extremist organization that relied fundamentally on intimidation and terror.

Sources:

David M. Chalmers, Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1981);

U.S. Congress, House Committee on Rules, Ku Klux Klan Hearings, October 11-17, 1921, 67th Congress, First Session (Washington, D.C, 1921).