How Powerful was the KKK in the 1920s?

Powerful

Membership peaked 1923-24, in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois

Local politicians sympathetic towards the Klan

Pursued law and order issues

Ohioh, 1925, brought about law making it illegal for Catholics to teach in public schools

Passed law enforcing daily reading of Bible in its schools

Political influence in Texas and Indiana

Earle Mayfiled became Senator in 1992 - anti Catholic, anti Semite

In Youngstown, Ohio, it elected the Mayor and entire city govt.

Outsed four-term Senator in 1992 (replaced with anti-Catholic, anti-Semite)

Dominated legislatures in cities of Dallas, Fort Worth and Wichita Falls

Candidates running with KKK backing were elected to US Senate in 6 states

Klan controlled municipal governments in cities such as Denver and El Paso

In Republican Oregon, sttled by Eastern and Midwest Protestants, Klan helped elected Democratic governor Walter Pierce by the largest majority in state history

Supported a law that wiped out parochial schools by requiring all children aged 8-16 to be sent to public schools

When an Oklahoma Governor called all state citizens into military service and declared martial law to eliminate KKK, he was impeached and removed from office by Klan-controlled legislature in Nov 1923

Much control in Indiana - sheeted Klansmen paraded without concealing their identities, police vanished on parade nights, klan members directed traffic

Claimed they had stopped Al Smith being nominated in the 1924 Democratic Party Convention

Stephenson extended influence beyond Indiana's borders and into the Republican Party. Assocation with Governor of Indiana Ed Jackson. Stephenson became a political power and a multi-millionaire through his Klan activities

Claimed credit for 1924 Immigration act (but reduced the purpose of the Klan)

President Harding was fairly supportive

Nationwide - popular in every state. Appealed to different states' interests e.g. immigration in North, blacks in South

Murder carried out in Moorehouse Parish, Louisiana. Murder carried out of two outspoken critics of the Klan. Governor Parker asked for federal help. Murderers still acquitted - jurly packed with white sympathisers and Klan members

Not powerful

Supreme Court declared law requiring parents to send children to public schools unconstitutional in 1925

Some states passed anti-Klan laws

The Walker Bill banned the wearing of masks in public

Only 16 Senators (out of 100) elected. Most power only at local level. Difficult to prove their influence - the Senators may have been elected anyway.

Could have been "more a vehicle to express resentment than a movement with coherent policy aims", as suggested by Leuchtenburg. Did not know what to do with the power it had.

Little evidence of it achieving widespread political influence - "a group uncertain about how to define itself" - Goldberg

Powerful

"Protestant American Giant"

Subtopic

Supporting groups

Middle-aged Republicans

Businessmen

Fraternal organisations inc. Masons

Moral campaigners

Businessmen

Skilled workers

DC Stephenson managed to recruit huge numbers of members

Promised to protect women and continue Prohibition

Completely controlled the political system and Rep. Party in Indiana

Huge membership - peak 4m

The Great Migration may have been partly due to Klan's mistreatment of A. Americans

WKKK - Women's KKK - had 500,000 members

Increased family influence

Not powerful

Floggins, kidnapping, branding with acid, mutilations, church burnings

Damaged public perception

Newspaper investigations - several, esp. in North inc. New York World

Exposed violence (inc. lynching) and corruption

Secerecy undermined the organisation socially

Much opposition in some areas inc. Irish gangs

Embarrassed to name themselves as the Klan in some areas esp. in the North

Took different names in the "Doers Club"

Only 200,000 members by 1928

Powerful

Huge membership meant greater income

TWK - "Trade With Klansmen". Boycotting of shops not run by Klan members was effective in some states at a local level

Not powerful

Didn't have any noticeable impact on the US economy