History 122 Research Brief
Rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s
Known as “Doc” Simmons (he falsely claimed to have attended Johns Hopkins medical school) or “Colonel” (an honorary title), William J. Simmons was a small-time preacher best known as an effective recruiter for various fraternal organizations. In 1915 Simmons was inspired to reorganize the Ku Klux Klan after seeing the movie "Birth Of A Nation," D.W. Griffith's spectacular account of Reconstruction, told from the perspective of the Klan and adopting the group's mythic vision of a noble and innocent antebellum South. Dissatisfied with the many fraternal organizations of which he was a member (or by his lack of control over those groups), Simmons sought to establish his own organization dedicated to "comprehensive Americanism." When "Birth of a Nation" opened in Atlanta, he ran an advertisement for the Klan next to the movie's ad in the Atlanta newspaper.
The timing was perfect. The United States was struggling to meet the challenges imposed by a massive influx of immigrants, many of whom were Catholic or Jewish and few of whom spoke English. Appealing to the middle class and claiming to be a "purely benevolent" club, the Klan drew members immediately. When the United States finally entered World War I, the group capitalized on the conflict by promising to defend the home front against "alien enemies, slackers, idlers, strike leaders and immoral women," as well as African Americans, Catholics and Jews.
Simmons hired publicists Edward Young Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler to help advertise and recruit in 1920, and in the ardently xenophobic atmosphere of post-World War I America Klan membership soared. Becoming more strident, the group now articulated opposition to "Niggers, Catholics, Jews...dope, bootlegging, graft, night clubs and road houses, violation of the Sabbath, unfair business dealings, sex and scandalous behavior." By 1921, the Klan numbered almost 100,000 members and money poured into its coffers.
In 1922, a dentist from Dallas, Texas, by the name of Hiram W. Evans displaced Simmons as the leader of the Klan. Evans attempted to turn the organization into a powerful political machine. The New Klan stood for "Native, white, Protestant supremacy." Evans explained: "The Ku Klux Klan, in short, is an organization which gives expression, direction and purpose to the most vital instincts, hopes, and resentments of the old-stock Americans, provides them with leadership, and is enlisting and preparing them for militant, constructive action toward fulfilling their racial and national destiny. . . . The Klan literally is once more the embattled American farmer and artisan, coordinated into a disciplined and growing army, and launched upon a definite crusade for Americanism!"
At its peak in 1924, 40,000 uniformed Klansmen paraded through the streets of Washington, D.C., during the Democratic National Convention. Like a modern political lobby, the group was so influential that many politicians felt compelled to court it or even to join, particularly in the Midwestern states. Senators, congressmen, governors, judges at all levels joined the Klan. The state governments of several states (including Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas) included officials who were Klan members, and those governments were profoundly influenced by the Klan during the 1920s. In many other parts of the country the organization achieved victories in municipal and state elections [e.g. Richmond, Virginia].
As the Klan grew, so did the number and intensity of violent acts committed by its members. The group's image suffered; the hypocrisy of a self-proclaimed "law and order" organization that utilized lynchings and vigilantism did not escape public censure. Additionally, the central leadership proved incapable of effectively controlling the organization's fringes, largely due to their own infighting and competition over the enormous revenue the organization was generating. Scandal followed scandal and the rank-and-file became alienated by the sexual and alcoholic exploits of its leaders. For example, Republican David Stephenson of Indiana, Grand Dragon of the Klan in fourteen states, was arrested for a sensational crime 1926. Stephenson had kidnapped a young woman named Madge Oberholtzer and brutally assaulted her on his private train. The medical examiner testified that her body looked like it had been attacked by a pack of wolves. He was convicted of second degree murder. Stephenson felt betrayed by his friends, and in an act of vengeance he provided authorities with the names of other corrupt public officials who were on the Klan payroll. That broke the back of the organization. (Shortly after his release from prison, Stephenson raped a sixteen year old girl and was sent back to prison.) By the outbreak of the Great Depression in 1929, the Klan had fragmented into dozens of independent realms and membership plummeted. The collapse of the economy did not help the Klan, as most Americans had more important things to worry about.
