Ku Klux Kulture

by Felix Harcourt

  16. Baltimore Afro-American, March 17, 1922; Chicago Defender, March 25, 1922; Abbey, “Klan in Arizona,” 17, 25; Jayhawker American, April 5, 1923; Iola Daily Register, November 22, 1923; Goldberg, Hooded Empire, 181; Protestant Herald, July 2, 1926; Untitled newspaper clipping, n.d., Senter Family Papers, WH988, Box 36, Folder 2, Western History Collection, Denver Public Library, Denver, CO; Woodland Daily Democrat, January 29, 1923; Indianapolis Star, January 4, 1923; Dawn, March 10, 1923, March 17, 1923, May 5, 1923; Chalmers, Hooded Americanism, 223; Portsmouth Daily Times, September 18, 1923; Arizona Republican, October 13, 1930; Fiery Cross, December 8, 1922; Call of the North, January 2, 1924; Minnesota Fiery Cross, February 22, 1924, March 14, 1924, April 18, 1924; Fellowship Forum, February 27, 1926; Lutholtz, Grand Dragon, 58.

  17. Fiery Cross, February 9, 1923, June 29, 1923; LaPorte Herald, February 3, 1923; Galveston Daily News, September 16, 1921.

  18. Fiery Cross, March 23, 1923, June 29, 1923, July 13, 1923; Fellowship Forum, March 24, 1923.

  19. In June 1923, Lowe was questioned by his abductors about the Klan, robbed, and thrown from a moving car after refusing to cooperate. In December of the same year, he was “beaten almost into unconsciousness” with a blackjack. Most galling, however, was in September 1924, when he was “forced into an automobile, driven to an isolated part of the city, stripped of his clothing and wooden leg, and thrown into a ditch.” It is unclear whether Lowe continued with his sales. Fiery Cross, January 5, 1923, March 23, 1923, April 27, 1923, June 1, 1923, February 16, 1924; Fellowship Forum, December 29, 1923, July 5, 1924, November 15, 1924; Dawn, January 5, 1924, February 9, 1924; Call of the North, January 16, 1924; Minnesota Fiery Cross, March 21, 1924, April 4, 1924; Massillon Evening Independent, September 11, 1924; Searchlight, April 5, 1924; Sandusky Register, December 4, 1923; Detroit News, September 14, 1923; Jacobs, “Catholic Response,” xiv, 274–76.

  20. Imperial Night-Hawk, March 28, 1923, July 11, 1923, July 25, 1923; Davis, “Klan in Indiana,” 44; Baker, Gospel, 21; Jackson, Klan in the City, 36, 40.

  21. Fiery Cross, April 13, 1923, April 27, 1923, May 25, 1923, June 1, 1923; Searchlight, December 1, 1923, March 1, 1924; Imperial Night-Hawk, August 29, 1923; Dawn, September 1, 1923, September 8, 1923, November 3, 1923; Fellowship Forum, April 12, 1923, September 15, 1923, November 3, 1923; Edwardsville Intelligencer, January 25, 1927; Booth, Mad Mullah, 44, 47–48, 50, 64, 76–77; Jackson, Klan in the City, 41; Alexander, “Kleagles and Cash,” 355.

  22. Mayfield of Mayfield’s Weekly, for example, refused to endorse Felix Robertson, the official Klan candidate for governor of Texas in 1924, and instead promoted his own pick of V. A. Collins. Although Mayfield never had a chance of swaying the state leadership, he did force the Texas 100 Per Cent American to enter into a running debate on the question and created sufficient fuss to push Texas Grand Dragon Z. E. Marvin to tour the state, shoring up support among the largest Klans (American Forum, January 24, 1924; San Antonio Light, October 19, 1924, December 4, 1924; San Antonio Express, June 6, 1923, October 25, 1924, December 4, 1924, December 5, 1924; St. Petersburg Independent, June 6, 1923; Reno Evening Gazette, June 5, 1923; Alexander, “Kleagles and Cash,” 362; Huntingdon Daily News, July 1, 1924; Clearfield Progress, February 2, 1925; Simpsons’ Daily Leader-Times, September 15, 1925; Dawn, October 20, 1923; New York Times, April 7, 1923; Joplin News Herald, October 11, 1923; Waterloo Evening Courier, March 12, 1926; Alexander, Crusade for Conformity, 57–58; Lubbock Daily Avalanche, September 23, 1923; Belton Journal, February 1, 1924; Brookshire Times, January 9, 1925; Frost, Challenge of the Klan, 149; Knights of the Klan, Meeting of Grand Dragons, 97–98).

  23. Elrod had begun the 1920s as the president of a water-softening device manufacturer and author of a “Radio Review” column for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, April 4, 1922).

  24. The new Imperial Wizard had dismissed the services of the increasingly troublesome Southern Publicity Association and its directors, Edward Young Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler, shortly after taking control of the Klan from Simmons, and replaced them with an ally from Texas, Philip E. Fox. Fox resigned his position as managing editor of the Dallas Times Herald to become both the Klan’s national public relations director and editor of the newly founded Night-Hawk, but his tenure in Atlanta ended when he went to the office of William S. Coburn, an attorney for Simmons, and shot Coburn four times, killing him instantly. The prosecution built a compelling case that Fox had been engaged in an affair with a woman from Cleveland and Coburn had threatened to expose him. The Messenger lamented that “the only thing we are really sorry about is that Coburn did not have his gun out and fire at the same time and with equally deadly accuracy.” Other editorials were not much more sympathetic. Eager to avoid the taint of scandal, Evans moved quickly in the wake of the killing and appointed Milton Elrod the new head of the Klan’s publicity department. New York Times, November 6, 1923, December 16, 1923; Washington Post, December 15, 1923; Lawrence Daily Journal-World, November 12, 1923; Joplin News Herald, November 12, 1923; Payne, Big D, 77; Morris, “Saving Society,” 192; The Messenger, December 1923; Booth, Mad Mullah, 123; Fuller, Visible of the Invisible Empire, 35.

  25. Imperial Night-Hawk, December 19, 1923; Call of the North, January 9, 1924; Minnesota Fiery Cross, February 22, 1924; Davis, “Klan in Indiana,” 79.

  26. Fiery Cross, April 6, 1923; Vinyard, Michigan’s Grassroots, 46.

  27. Imperial Night-Hawk, March 28, 1923, December 19, 1923; Tipton Tribune, November 9, 1923; Frost, Challenge of the Klan, 149; Booth, Mad Mullah, 227–33.

  28. Imperial Night-Hawk, September 5, 1923, December 19, 1923; Fiery Cross, May 25, 1923.

  29. Imperial Night-Hawk, December 19, 1923.

  30. Call of the North, February 15, 1924; Minnesota Fiery Cross, February 22, 1924.

  31. Badger American, July 1924, September 1924, October 1924; Shotwell, “Public Hatred,” 134.

  32. Booth, Mad Mullah, 232; Knights of the Klan, Second Imperial Klonvokation, 64, 78, 188.

  33. Searchlight, November 15, 1924; Knights of the Klan, Second Imperial Klonvokation, 78.

  34. The Kluxer, August 7, 1923, October 20, 1923, October 27, 1923, November 24, 1923; Kokomo Daily Tribune, July 10, 1924; Gettysburg Times, July 11, 1924; San Antonio Express, July 11, 1924; Massillon Evening Independent, July 11, 1924; Charleston Gazette, July 11, 1924; Indianapolis Star, July 11, 1924.

  35. Searchlight, November 15, 1924.

  36. New York Times, March 6, 2013.

  37. The Kourier was subdivided into both regional and state editions: South Atlantic, North Atlantic, New England, West Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. Wisconsin Kourier, December 26, 1924, January 16, 1925; Edwardsville Intelligencer, May 3, 1924; LeMars Globe-Post, June 26, 1924; Spencer Reporter, July 16, 1924; Clearfield Progress, September 17, 1924; Shotwell, “Public Hatred,” 135.

  38. Charles G. Palmer to Seward Bristow, January 22, 1925, Ku Klux Klan Carlock Unit No. 71 (Carlock, Ill.) Records, Manuscript Collection No. 903, Box 1, Folder 1, Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.

  39. Edwardsville Intelligencer, May 3, 1924; Clearfield Progress, September 17, 1924; Wisconsin Kourier, November 14, 1924.

  40. Marquis, Annotated Archy, xiii–xxx; Anthony, Marquis, 640–45.

  41. Marquis, Annotated Archy, 256, 258–61.

  42. Wisconsin Kourier, November 14, 1924, November 21, 1924, December 26, 1924, January 16, 1925; Searchlight, November 15, 1924; Shotwell, “Public Hatred,” 135–36.

  43. Wisconsin Kourier, November 14, 1924, December 26, 1924, January 16, 1925; Miller, Supreme City, 563–64.

  44. Imperial Night-Hawk, November 12, 1924, November 19, 1924; Kourier Magazine, December 1924, February 1925, May 1925, July 1925; Fellowship Forum, December 13, 1924.

  45. According to Munn & Co., the Klan’s patent and trademark attorneys, these
were Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming (New York Times, August 31, 1925; Bridgeport Telegram, September 1, 1925).

  46. Wisconsin Kourier, February 27, 1925; National Kourier, North Central Edition, March 6, 1925; National Kourier, Eastern and Middle West Edition, May 16, 1925; Kourier Magazine, March 1925; Stilwell Standard-Sentinel, May 28, 1926.

  47. Kourier Magazine, April 1929.

  48. Wisconsin Kourier, February 20, 1925; National Kourier, March 13, 1925; Kourier Magazine, March 1925, August 1926, December 1926, January 1927.

  49. Kourier Magazine, May 1928, July 1928, September 1928, January 1929, March 1929, August 1929, May 1930.

  50. Edwardsville Intelligencer, May 3, 1924; Washington Post, July 20, 1926, April 9, 1927, April 21, 1927; Davenport Democrat and Leader, October 25, 1925; Washington Evening Star, October 22, 1926; Booth, Mad Mullah, 232.

  51. Fowler regularly asserted that Jesuits were “trained adepts in the art of hypnotism” who used “mental manipulation” to control prominent Protestants. Notably, Fowler claimed that these “telepathic principles” had been used to kill both Woodrow Wilson’s first wife and Warren G. Harding, who had been “poisoned mentally.” Jewish Americans, meanwhile, were alleged to be using the newspaper comic strips to undermine the English language with vernacular humor, thus corrupting the nation’s youth. Although Fowler did not mention specifics, he made it clear that he considered Albert Einstein and his morally dubious theory of relativity an equally important part of this Yiddish plot (American Standard, April 15, 1924, June 1, 1924, July 15, 1924, September 15, 1924, December 1, 1924, October 1, 1925; Woodland Daily Democrat, November 6, 1924; Fellowship Forum, July 19, 1924, July 26, 1924; New York Times, June 26, 1924, June 27, 1924; Lethbridge Daily Herald, May 29, 1926, August 13, 1926; Logansport Pharos Tribune, May 26, 1925; Tipton Daily Tribune, July 2, 1925; New York Times, July 12, 1925; Washington Post, July 23, 1925; New American Patriot, November 6, 1925; Washington Evening Star, April 16, 1926, May 22, 1926; Booth, Mad Mullah, 69, 121; Akin, “Klan in Georgia,” 176; Jackson, Klan in the City, 176; Shotwell, “Public Hatred,” 129, 131; Winks, Blacks in Canada, 321; Alexander, “Klan in Arkansas,” 321; Shults, “Klan in Downey,” 145).

  52. Stilwell Standard-Sentinel, May 28, 1925.

  53. Fuller, Visible of the Invisible Empire, 35; Booth, Mad Mullah, 167–8; Fellowship Forum, April 19, 1924, May 24, 1924; Imperial Night-Hawk, April 23, 1924; Searchlight, May 10, 1924; Imperial Commander Robbie Gill Comer to All Klanswomen, May 28, 1929, Women of the Ku Klux Klan, Klan 14 (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) Records, 1926–31, WIHV96-A393, Box 1, Folder 3, Eau Claire Research Center, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Eau Claire.

  54. Booth, Mad Mullah, 232-a.

  55. Fellowship Forum, June 21, 1924.

  56. Fellowship Forum, March 22, 1924, June 21, 1924, January 3, 1925, May 15, 1926, September 10, 1927.

  57. Fellowship Forum, May 24, 1924, September 6, 1924; Minutes, July 24, 1924, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Klan No. 51, Mt. Rainier, Maryland Archives, 89–180, Box 1, Folder 2, Special Collections, Hornbake Library, University of Maryland Libraries, College Park.

  58. Fellowship Forum, March 22, 1924, October 4, 1924, April 25, 1925, August 8, 1925, August 15, 1925, September 19, 1925, December 19, 1925.

  59. Orange County Times Press, March 3, 1927; Washington Post, June 25, 1925, August 7, 1927; Chicago Defender, October 6, 1928.

  60. Pittsburgh Courier, October 27, 1928.

  61. Woodland Daily Democrat, October 24, 1928; Washington Post, November 1, 1928; Baltimore Afro-American, August 11, 1928, September 8, 1928; Shotwell, “Public Hatred,” 128; Chalmers, Hooded Americanism, 234.

  62. Many of these attacks focused on a photograph, notorious among white supremacists, showing Ferdinand W. Morton, an African American member of the Civil Service Commission in New York, dictating letters to a white stenographer (Baltimore Afro-American, October 20, 1928, November 3, 1928).

  63. New York Times, September 19, 1928, September 22, 1928, September 24, 1928, October 21, 1928; Chicago Tribune, September 24, 1928; Washington Post, October 10, 1928; Baltimore Afro-American, September 22, 1928, October 13, 1928, October 20, 1928, November 3, 1928; Pittsburgh Courier, October 27, 1928; Fellowship Forum, June 16, 1928, September 25, 1928; Lichtman, Prejudice and Old Politics, 59, 70.

  64. Washington Post, September 21, 1928; New York Times, September 22, 1928; Baltimore Afro-American, November 3, 1928.

  Chapter Four

  1. Miller, New World, 199–201; Mencken, My Life, 395–97; Stearns, Civilization, iii; Schlesinger, “Civilization,” 167.

  2. Parrish, Anxious Decades, 191; Stearns, Civilization, vii, 286.

  3. Schlesinger, “Civilization,” 170; Miller, New World, 201; Mencken, My Life, 396; Nash, Nervous Generation, 102, 137; Rodgers, Mencken 114; McParland, Beyond Gatsby, ix–x; Greif, Crisis of Man, 116–19.

  4. Smith, What Would Jesus Read, 3; Rodgers, Mencken, 114.

  5. Lynd and Lynd, Middletown, 229; Sullivan, Our Times, 382; Boyer, Purity in Print, 71–72; Currell, Culture in the 1920s, 69; Kyvig, Daily Life, 197, 199; Hart, Popular Book, 184, 229.

  6. Smith, What Would Jesus Read? 53–54, 75, 87; Peterson, Magazines, 46–47; Kyvig, Daily Life, 199.

  7. Miller, Supreme City, 543–50.

  8. Smith, What Would Jesus Read, 75–76; Miller, Supreme City, 549.

  9. Searchlight, April 15, 1922, May 17, 1924; Mayfield’s Weekly, November 21, 1921, December 3, 1921, January 7, 1922; Minnesota Fiery Cross, May 23, 1924; American Standard, October 15, 1924.

  10. It is no coincidence that the U.S. city with perhaps the decade’s most strident literary censorship was Boston, by no measure a Klan stronghold.

  11. American Standard, October 15, 1924; Zion’s Herald, November 1, 1922; Miller, Supreme City, 552; Randel, Century of Infamy, 169; Hoffman, The Twenties, 74, 362; Sullivan, Our Times, 400; Hutner, What America Read, 85; Boyer, Purity in Print, 70–71, 82–83, 92, 99–100, 104; Boyer, “Boston Book Censorship,” 11.

  12. Susman, Culture as History, 114; Hart, Popular Book, 229; Rubin, Middlebrow Culture, 41.

  13. Lynd and Lynd, Middletown, 308, 364–65, 478–84; The Bookman, September 1930; New York Times, October 19, 1924, March 29, 1925; Washington Post, March 30, 1924; Gibbs, Ten Years After, 239–40; Slosson, Great Crusade, 307–8.

  14. Stokes, Birth, 191; Lowery, “Reconstructing the Reign of Terror,” 9, 155–56, 171–72, 219–20; DuBois, Black Reconstruction, 717, 723; John David Smith, introduction to Smith and Lowery, Dunning School, 3–4, 18–21; Shepherd W. McKinley, “John W. Burgess,” in Smith and Lowery, Dunning School, 59–64; James S. Humphreys, “William A. Dunning,” in Smith and Lowery, Dunning School, 77, 81, 85, 95–97; Michael W. Fitzgerald, “Steel Frame of Fleming,” in Smith and Lowery, Dunning School, 166–69.

  15. Other issues addressed in the series that year included the cancellation of Allied debt, shipping subsidies, and labor issues in Kansas. Sullivan, Our Times, 382; Johnsen, Reference Shelf No. 10, preface, 2.

  16. Clason, Catholic, Jew, Ku Klux Klan, 56, 64; “E. Haldeman-Julius,” American National Biography Online; Haldeman-Julius, Kreed of the Klansman, 3; Haldeman-Julius, Constructive or Destructive? 8–9, 45; Rodgers, Mencken, 90.

  17. Jefferson, Five Present-Day Controversies, 159, 164, 166–67; Jefferson, Catholicism and the Klan, iii.

  18. Confirming the importance of the Klan’s literary appearances in shaping public appraisals of the organization, Ferguson relied on evidence drawn from earlier work, including William Simmons’s America’s Menace, Leroy Curry’s Klan under the Searchlight, Henry Fry’s Modern Klan, E. F. Stanton’s Christ and Other Klansmen, and Alma White’s books (Ferguson, New Books of Revelatio
ns, preface, 12, 179, 266, 278, 365, 393, 427; Lubbock Morning Avalanche, November 13, 1928).

  19. New York Times, November 25, 1928; The Bookman, April 1928, December 1928.

  20. Kallen, Culture and Democracy, 61; Schmidt, Kallen, 31; “Horace Kallen,” American National Biography Online; Greene, Jewish Origins of Cultural Pluralism, 1–11.

  21. Kallen, Culture and Democracy, 43.

  22. Kallen, Culture and Democracy, 43; Murphy, New Era, 121, 123; Schmidt, Kallen, 37; New York Times, April 20, 1924.