Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The History Channel had an excellent documentary on the KKK that aired tonight. I think they will re-air again. Worth watching.

[Ban Hammer 14,666]

why do you hate obama?

[Danno 1,228]

And Senator Byrd. (D) WV

[William33 110]

What was the secret part?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Wasn't the klan founded by Republicans?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

The south was pro democrat at the time - the KKK actually killed republicans. On who founded it, that would be Tennesee confederates.

[BishopMnA 0]

The south was pro democrat at the time - the KKK actually killed republicans. On who founded it, that would be Tennesee confederates.

Unfortunately, the KKK is not old history. While I was living in Ga during the 90s, the KKK was still quite active. Unbelievable...

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

The History Channel had an excellent documentary on the KKK that aired tonight. I think they will re-air again. Worth watching.

Who's the only member of Congress that was a member of the KKK?

Oh yeah. Robert Byrd (D)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I won't testify to the accuracy of this article, but it is interesting:

Some of the prominent men who were members of the original KKK were:

General Robert E. Lee (whose statement: "My support for your organization must remain completely invisible." inspired the Klan's nickname: "Invisible Empire."), General John C. Brown, Captain John W. Morton (who became Secretary of State of Tennessee), Ryland Randolph (editor of the Independent Monitor), General George W. Gordon, General John B. Gordon (Grand Dragon of Georgia and author of the Prescripts of the KKK), General W.J. Hardee (author of many of the warnings and oaths of the KKK), Colonel Joseph Fussell, General Albert Pike (chief judicial officer of the original KKK and a major figure in Scottish Rite Masonry), and Edward White (Supreme Court Justice under the Wilson administration, he was a member of the original KKK), Air Force General Nathan Bedford Forrest III (Grandson of Grand Wizard Forrest and Grand Dragon of Georgia for the revival Klan, he was killed by the nazis during World War II).

Other notable men were:

President Warren G. Harding. He was sworn into the Ku Klux Klan in the White House by Imperial Wizard Simmons.

President Woodrow Wilson and President McKinley. Little is known of their Klan membership. I have one book that only mentions they were members, but that's all. McKinley was a Union officer, but many Union men joined or affiliated with the original Klan during the Radical Republican's anti-white Reconstruction Era. Wilson would have been a member of the Klan under Simmons.

President Calvin Coolidge. He allowed cross lightings on the Capitol steps and reviewed the giant Klan parades of 1925 & 26.

President Harry S. Truman was a minor ordinary Klansman from 1920-22. His membership was not notable. He later had a major falling out with the KKK over his desire to appoint Catholics to key political positions; something the KKK opposed at the time. He severed all ties with the KKK and openly repudiated them. They didn't call him, "give 'em Hell Harry", for nothing. His family has tired to deny his KKK membership ever since.

Supreme Court Justice, Hugo Black, his robes (with his name in them) were found in an old Klan Hall in the 1960's. Under political pressure, he superficially repudiated the Klan during its period of scandals.

Senator Robert Byrd, West Virginia, Democrat, was a Kleagle and Exhalted Cyclops as a young man. He spoke favorably of the Klan during his political career

Gutzon Borglum, who carved Mt. Rushmore, Stone Mountain, and did work on the base of the Statue of Liberty was a prominent life member of the KKK. He sat on the Imperial Koncilium in 1923, which transferred leadership of the KKK from Col. Simmons to Hiram Evans.Under media pressure he superficially repudiated the KKK.

http://www.kkklan.com/wall.htm

[scandal 951]

The History Channel had an excellent documentary on the KKK that aired tonight. I think they will re-air again. Worth watching.

I watched it. About the first ~40 min. It was good, I agree. No real surprises, the history is quite well known.

But it is disconcerting to see people out in public today exercising their First Amendment rights to shout into bullhorns how much they hate "niggers and Jews" (sic).

The Klan is not what it was in the 20s, but it is not a dead movement. Neither are the other white supremacist movements in this country.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I found the documentary on YouTube, if anyone wants to watch it this way. It's broken into 9 segments though.

Here is Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

[Sofiyya 1,687]

The south was pro democrat at the time - the KKK actually killed republicans. On who founded it, that would be Tennesee confederates.

Tennessee confederates who were members of the southern wing of the ** party.

The Republican party not only did not found the Ku Klux Klan, it was started to fight against them. It was a single issue, anti-slavery party, and it's first president was Abraham Lincoln. In contrast, the ** party was a pro-slavery, states rights, segregationist party. Blacks in the US were traditionally Republicans until about the mid-1960s when the ** party, many of whose members had voted against the Civil Rights Act, but for the New Deal, began to court Blacks who favored big government.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The south was pro democrat at the time - the KKK actually killed republicans. On who founded it, that would be Tennesee confederates.

Tennessee confederates who were members of the southern wing of the ** party.

The Republican party not only did not found the Ku Klux Klan, it was started to fight against them. It was a single issue, anti-slavery party, and it's first president was Abraham Lincoln. In contrast, the ** party was a pro-slavery, states rights, segregationist party. Blacks in the US were traditionally Republicans until about the mid-1960s when the ** party, many of whose members had voted against the Civil Rights Act, but for the New Deal, began to court Blacks who favored big government.

Care to site your sources on that, Sofi? First of all the Republican Party of Lincoln is not the Republican Party of today. LBJ spoke out publicly against the Klan, making them public enemy number one. The facts are that racism and those drawn to the Klan were both Democrats and Republican, but their message was one of exclusion into a White Protestant identity.

Watch this segment about Indiana Republican Party and the Klan in the 1920's:

Watch this segment....

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Unfortunately, the KKK is not old history. While I was living in Ga during the 90s, the KKK was still quite active. Unbelievable...

Come on down to Florida where the City of Lake Wales fired it's popular city manager , Tony Otte, who's been praised for his efforts to improve race relations. On the city council sits no other than John Paul Rogers, former grand dragon of the United Klans of Florida. This ain't the 1990's. This is September, 2009. Quite disturbing but that's rural Florida.

Edited October 12, 2009 by Mr. Big Dog