How much do you know about The Ku Klux Klan?

The Klan was founded in 1865 in Tennessee, by six veterans of the Confederate Army.

Klan groups spread throughout the South as a secret vigilante group.  They goal was to restore white supremacy by threats and with violence, including murder, against black and white Republicans.  Their violence was aimed at suppressing blacks voting and running Republicans out of office.

The “Ku Klux Klan” name was used by a numerous independent local groups opposing the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation.  They often formed alliances with Southern police departments, as in Birmingham, AL, or with governor’s offices, as with George Wallace (AL).

The Longest Serving U.S. Senator
Robert Carlyle Byrd, Democrat, (1959- 2010) and was also a member of the KKK.  Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to create a new chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in West Virginia. He was a recruiter and leader in his chapter then became a top officer, an ‘Exalted Cyclops.’
In 1946, Byrd wrote to Senator Theodore Bilbo, Mississippi, “I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side … Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”

Ku Klux Klan members in United States politics

Harry Truman, Democrat Missouri politician who became president in 1945, dabbled with the Klan briefly. In 1924, Truman was up for reelection as a judge in Jackson County, Missouri, and his friends advised him to join the Klan. The Klan was politically powerful in Jackson County, and two of Truman’s opponents in the Democratic primary had Klan support. Truman refused at first, but paid the Klan’s $10 membership fee, and a meeting with a Klan officer was arranged.

Edward Douglass White, Democrat Chief Justice (1910-1921) allegedly admitted to being a member of the Klan. “I was a member of the Klan” at the 1915 White House screening of ‘The Birth of a Nation.’ No evidence has been found that corroborates his alleged admission.

Hugo Black, Democrat Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1921, Black successfully defended E.R. Stephenson in the sensational trial for the murder of a Catholic priest. He joined the Ku Klux Klan shortly after, thinking it necessary for his political career. Running for the Senate as a Democrat and as the “people’s” candidate, Black believed he needed the votes of Klan members. Near the end of his life, Black would admit that joining the Klan was a mistake, but he went on to say “I would have joined any group if it helped get me votes.”

Theodore G. Bilbo, Democrat, U.S. Senator, Mississippi revealed his membership in the Ku Klux Klan in an interview on the radio program, Meet the Press. Bilbo said, “No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux.”

Bibb Graves, Democrat, Governor, Alabama won with the secret endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan. Graves was the Exalted Cyclops of the Montgomery chapter of the Klan. Many believe he was an opportunist and used the Klan to further his political career.

George Gordon, Democrat, Congressman, Tennessee was one of the Klan’s first members. In 1867, Gordon became the Klan’s first Grand Dragon for the Realm of Tennessee, and wrote its “Precept,” a book describing its organization, purpose, and principles.

John Clinton Porter, Democrat, Mayor, Los Angeles was a senior member of the Ku Klux Klan during its popular resurgence in the early 1920’s.