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{{Short description|Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard (1881–1966)}} |
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{{pp-move|expiry=2013-06-25T00:00:00Z|small=yes}}{{other people|Hiram Evans}} |
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{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} |
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{{Infobox person |
{{Infobox person |
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| name =Hiram Wesley Evans |
| name =Hiram Wesley Evans |
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| image =Hiram Wesley Evans, Imperial Wizard 27471u waist up.jpg |
| image =Hiram Wesley Evans, Imperial Wizard 27471u waist up.jpg |
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1881|9|26}} |
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1881|9|26}} |
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| birth_place =[[Ashland, Alabama]], |
| birth_place =[[Ashland, Alabama]], U.S. |
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|1966|9|14|1881|9|26}} |
| death_date = {{nowrap|{{Death date and age|1966|9|14|1881|9|26}}}} |
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| death_place =[[Atlanta]], |
| death_place =[[Atlanta]], Georgia, U.S. |
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| education =[[Vanderbilt University]] |
| education =[[Vanderbilt University]] |
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| employer =[[Ku Klux Klan]] |
| employer =[[Ku Klux Klan]] |
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| occupation = Dentist |
| occupation = Dentist |
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| module = {{Infobox officeholder|embed=yes |
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| title =[[Imperial Wizard]] |
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|order =3rd | title= [[Imperial Wizard]] of the {{awrap|[[Knights of the Ku Klux Klan]]}}| term_start = November 1922 | term_end = June 10, 1939 | appointed = | predecessor =[[William Joseph Simmons]]| successor = [[James Arnold Colescott]]}} |
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'''Hiram Wesley Evans''' (September 26, 1881 – September 14, 1966) was [[Imperial Wizard]] of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], an American [[white supremacist]] group, from 1922 to 1939. A native of [[Alabama]], Evans attended [[Vanderbilt University]] and became a dentist. He operated a small, moderately successful practice in Texas until 1920, when he joined the Klan's [[Dallas]] chapter. He quickly rose through the ranks and was part of a group that ousted [[ |
'''Hiram Wesley Evans''' (September 26, 1881 – September 14, 1966) was the [[Imperial Wizard]] of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], an American [[white supremacist]] group, from 1922 to his resignation in 1939. A native of [[Alabama]], Evans attended [[Vanderbilt University]] and became a dentist. He operated a small, moderately successful practice in Texas until 1920, when he joined the Klan's [[Dallas]] chapter. He quickly rose through the ranks and was part of a group that ousted [[William Joseph Simmons]] from the position of Imperial Wizard, the national leader, in November 1922. Evans succeeded him and sought to transform the group into a political power. |
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⚫ | Evans had led the kidnapping and torture of a black man while leader of the Dallas Klan, but as Imperial Wizard, he publicly discouraged vigilante actions for fear that they would hinder his attempts to gain political influence. In 1923, Evans presided over the largest Klan gathering in history, attended by over 200,000, and endorsed several successful candidates in 1924 elections. He moved the Klan's headquarters from [[Atlanta]] to Washington, D.C., and organized a march of 30,000 members, the largest march in the organization's history, on [[Pennsylvania Avenue]]. Evans's efforts notwithstanding, the Klan was buffeted by damaging publicity in the early 1920s, partially because of leadership struggles between Evans and his rivals, which hindered his political efforts. |
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{{infobox video game |
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| image = [[File:Incredipede.png|250px]] |
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| title = Incredipede |
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| released = 25 October, 2012 |
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| designer = Colin Northway<br>Sarah Northway |
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| artist = Thomas Shahan |
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| platform = [[Adobe Flash|Flash]] |
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| genre = [[Physics game#Physics game|Physics-based]], [[Puzzle video game|puzzle]] |
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}} |
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'''''Incredipede''''' is a [[Physics game#Physics game|physics-based]] [[puzzle video game]] by Northway Games. The game was released on 25 October, 2012.{{cn|date=February 2013}} |
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In the 1930s, the [[Great Depression]] significantly decreased the Klan's income, prompting Evans to work for a construction company to supplement his pay. He resigned his position with the Klan in 1939, after disavowing [[anti-Catholicism]]. He was succeeded by his chief of staff, [[James A. Colescott]]. The next year, Evans faced accusations of involvement in a government corruption scandal in Georgia; he was fined $15,000 after legal proceedings. |
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== Gameplay == |
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[[File:IncredipedeScreenshot35.jpg|thumb|left|A screenshot of ''Incredipede'' in play]] |
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The [[gameplay]] of ''Incredipede'' focuses on the [[Character (arts)|character]] Quozzle, an Incredipede with the ability to [[Shapeshifting|morph]] in order to complete short challenges.<ref name="pcgamer">{{cite web|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/08/30/incredipede-trailer-pulls-limbs-out-of-an-eyeball-and-makes-it-walk-in-a-creepy-but-awesome-way/ |title=Incredipede trailer pulls limbs out of an eyeball and makes it walk in a creepy but awesome way |publisher=PC Gamer |date= |accessdate=2012-11-17}}</ref><ref name="rockpapershotgun">{{cite web|url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/10/31/wot-i-think-incredipede/ |title=Wot I Think: Incredipede |publisher=Rock, Paper, Shotgun |date=2012-10-31 |accessdate=2012-11-17}}</ref> As the game progresses, new elements such as [[lava]], [[water]] or [[wind]] will appear.<ref name="rockpapershotgun"/> |
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⚫ | Evans sought to promote a form of [[nativism (politics)|nativist]], [[Protestant]] nationalism. In addition to his white supremacist ideology, he fiercely condemned [[Catholicism]], [[trade union]]ism, and [[communism]], which he associated with recent immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. He argued that Jews formed a non-American culture and resisted assimilation although he denied being an [[anti-Semite]]. Historians credit Evans with refocusing the Klan on political activities and recruiting outside the South; the Klan grew most in the Midwest and industrial cities but this political influence and membership gains he sought were transitory. |
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== Development == |
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''Incredipede'' was developed by Colin Northway while visiting numerous countries with his wife, Sarah.<ref name="gamasutra">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/177296/4_years_12_countries_and_a_woodblock_artist_The_Incredipede_story.php |title=News - 4 years, 12 countries and a woodblock artist: The Incredipede story |publisher=Gamasutra |date= |accessdate=2012-11-17}}</ref> While reading the [[Wikipedia]] article for [[jumping spider]]s, Colin found Thomas Shahan, who later became the [[Game artist|artist]] for ''Incredipede''.<ref name=gamasutra/> ''Incredipede'' has been submitted to [[Steam Greenlight]], but Northway feels that if Greenlight didn't exist, the game would have been launched on [[Steam (software)|Steam]] earlier.<ref name="joystiq">{{cite web|last=Conditt |first=Jessica |url=http://joystiq.com/2012/10/09/not-getting-noticed-on-steam-greenlight-incredipedes-story/ |title=(Not) Getting noticed on Steam Greenlight: Incredipede's story |publisher=Joystiq |date=2012-10-09 |accessdate=2012-11-17}}</ref> It was greenlit on January 10, 2013<ref>{{cite web|author=posted by Alden @ 10:28AM on January 10, 2013 |url=http://steamcommunity.com/games/765/announcements/detail/1299553918913416686 |title=IGF Finalists Get Greenlight |publisher=Steam Community |date=2013-01-10 |accessdate=2013-01-24}}</ref> after being announced as a 2013 [[Independent Games Festival|IGF]] finalist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://igf.com/2013/01/2013_independent_games_festiva_2.html |title=The 15th Annual Independent Games Festival |publisher=IGF |date=2012-04-10 |accessdate=2013-01-24}}</ref> |
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⚫ | Evans was born in [[Ashland, Alabama]], on September 26, 1881, and moved to [[Hubbard, Texas]], with his family as a child.{{sfn|Snell|1987|p=312}}{{sfn|''The Handbook of Texas Online''}}{{sfn|U.S. Selective Service}} The son of Hiram Martin Evans, a judge, and his wife, Georgia Evans, the younger Evans graduated from [[Vanderbilt University]].<ref name="imperialwizardofkkk">{{cite news |title=Imperial Wizard of K.K.K. Will Speak Tonight At 8:30: Former Texan Dentist Now Heads National Invisible Empire: Is C. P. U. Guest |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/67859635/?terms=%22vanderbilt%2Buniversity%22%2B%22ku%2Bklux%2Bklan%22 |newspaper=The Daily Tar Heel |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |date=November 17, 1937 |page=17 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=July 15, 2015 |archive-date=March 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190319150303/https://www.newspapers.com/image/67859635/?terms=%22vanderbilt+university%22+%22ku+klux+klan%22 |url-status=live }} {{Open access}}</ref> Shortly after, he became a dentist, receiving his license in 1900.{{sfn|''The Handbook of Texas Online''}}{{sfnm|Snell|1987|1p=312|Phillips|2006|2p=88}} He married Ellen "Bama" Hill in 1923; they had three children together.{{sfn|''The Handbook of Texas Online''}} |
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⚫ | Evans established a small, moderately successful dentistry practice in Downtown [[Dallas]] that provided inexpensive services.{{sfnm|Snell|1987|1p=312|Sims|1996|2p=3}}{{sfnm|Phillips|2006|1p=88|Pegram|2011|2p=17}} Rumors later arose that his dental qualifications were "a bit shady."{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=187}} A [[Protestantism|Protestant]], Evans attended a church belonging to the [[Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)|Disciples of Christ]] denomination. He was also a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]].{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|p=83}} Evans described himself as "the most average man in America."{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=17}} Of average height and somewhat overweight, Evans was well dressed, a skilled speaker, and very ambitious.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|pp=17–18}} |
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⚫ | Evans sought to promote a form of [[ |
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Conceived by its founders as a continuation of the [[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction]]-era Klan (controversially linked to General [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]]), the revived [[Ku Klux Klan]] had been established in Atlanta in 1915.{{sfn|Rice|1962|pp=1–2}} Leading up to his involvement in the Klan, Evans had a significant personal involvement in [[Freemasonry]].<ref name="mas">{{Cite web|url=https://utd-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10735.1/5665/ETD-5608-7469.72.pdf?sequence=6|title=Henry, Shaun David (2017). The Klan and the Craft: An Analysis of Masonic Dual Membership with the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas, 1920–1926. The University of Texas at Dallas|access-date=March 11, 2021|archive-date=January 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108154741/https://utd-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10735.1/5665/ETD-5608-7469.72.pdf?sequence=6|url-status=live}}</ref> He was initially raised in ''Dallas Lodge No. 760'' in July 1907 under the [[Grand Lodge of Texas]].<ref name="mas"/> Evans was involved in both [[York Rite]] (including the [[Knights Templar (Freemasonry)|Masonic "Knights Templar"]]) and [[Scottish Rite]] freemasonry.<ref name="mas"/> Evans was raised to the Thirty-Second Degree at the Dallas Consistory in April 1913.<ref name="mas"/> He was also a member of the [[Shriners]], having joined the ''Hella Temple'' at Dallas in April 1911.<ref name="mas"/> Within the York Rite, Evans was a Past Master of ''Pentagon Lodge No. 1080'' in Dallas. Bertram G. Christie, the founder of the Dallas Klan in 1920, was also a mason and met with Evans and a few of his fellow masons belonging to the Pentagon Lodge in March 1921, such as George K. Butcher.<ref name="mas"/> |
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The following month, Evans was involved in his first Klan vigilante activity when he took part in the flogging and branding of Alex Johnson on April 1, 1921.<ref name="mas"/> According to a contemporary report in the ''[[Denton Record-Chronicle]]'', Johnson was a "Negro bus boy" who was being investigated by the police after he had been discovered in the room of a white woman guest at the hotel.<ref>[https://omeka.library.unt.edu/s/stjohns/item/3789#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-508%2C-1%2C2388%2C1123 "Masked men at Dallas take Negro Bellboy, give him flogging and brand him with 'KKK' across forehead"]{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''[[Denton Record-Chronicle]]'' (1921)</ref> |
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⚫ | Evans established a small, moderately successful dentistry practice in |
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⚫ | Evans left his dental practice so that he could dedicate all his time to the group. In 1921, he was elected as "exalted cyclops", a recruiting position sometimes referred to as [[kleagle]], in the Dallas Klan No. 66.{{sfn|''The Handbook of Texas Online''}}{{sfn|Jenkins|1990|p=7}} When he was elected, the Dallas Klan had recently received a "self-ruling charter" from the [[Atlanta]]-based leadership and was the group's largest chapter.{{sfn|Jenkins|1990|p=7}}{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=85}} The same year, Evans was appointed to the position of "great titan" (executive) of the "Realm of Texas" and proceeded to lead a successful membership drive for the state's Klan.{{sfn|''The Handbook of Texas Online''}}{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=18}} |
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Evans initially supported violence against minorities, remembering a [[lynching]] he witnessed as a child. With the Texas Klan, he sought to create "black squads" to attack minorities.{{sfn|Tucker|2004|pp= |
Evans initially supported violence against minorities, remembering a [[lynching]] he witnessed as a child. With the Texas Klan, he sought to create "black squads" to attack minorities.{{sfn|Tucker|2004|pp=93–94}} He joined several Klan members in kidnapping and torturing a black bellhop, ostensibly because they suspected he was involved in [[procuring (prostitution)|pandering prostitutes]].{{sfn|Jenkins|1990|p=7}} Atlanta-based leaders pressured Evans to curb racial violence in Dallas; around then, the Texas Klan had received significant negative publicity after [[castration|castrating]] an African-American doctor.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=42}} Although Evans was not morally opposed to violence against minorities,{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=195}} he publicly condemned vigilante activity because he feared that it would attract government scrutiny and hinder potential Klan-backed political campaigning.{{sfn|Jenkins|1990|p=7}} The change of stance led the leader of the Houston Klan to accuse him of hypocrisy.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=42}} Although Evans later took credit for a decrease in lynchings in the Southern United States during the 1920s,{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|p=85}} several Klan members claimed that he surreptitiously encouraged and presided over acts of violence against minorities.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=182}} |
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In 1921, Evans was assigned to oversee the Klan's national membership drive at the behest of their publicists, [[Elizabeth Tyler (KKK organizer)|Elizabeth Tyler]] and [[Edward Young Clarke]].{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=18}}{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=187}} In 1922, the group's leadership made Evans the "Imperial kligrapp", a role similar to national secretary, in which capacity he oversaw operations in 13 states.{{sfn|Jenkins|1990|p=7}}{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=187}} He received a base salary of $7,500 and traveled throughout the country, regularly meeting with local Klan leaders.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=187}} |
In 1921, Evans was assigned to oversee the Klan's national membership drive at the behest of their publicists, [[Elizabeth Tyler (KKK organizer)|Elizabeth Tyler]] and [[Edward Young Clarke]].{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=18}}{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=187}} In 1922, the group's leadership made Evans the "Imperial kligrapp", a role similar to national secretary, in which capacity he oversaw operations in 13 states.{{sfn|Jenkins|1990|p=7}}{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=187}} He received a base salary of $7,500 and traveled throughout the country, regularly meeting with local Klan leaders.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=187}} |
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==Early national leadership== |
==Early national leadership== |
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In 1922, Evans joined a group of Klan activists, including Tyler, Clarke, and [[D. C. Stephenson]], in a "coup" against [[William Joseph Simmons]], the group's leader.{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=22}} They deceived Simmons into agreeing to a reorganization of the Klan that removed his practical control;{{sfnm|Blee|2009|1p=22|Tucker|2004|2p=94}}{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=188}} Simmons said that they had claimed that if he remained the Imperial Wizard of the Klan, discord would hamper the organization.{{sfn|Rice|1962|p=9}} Evans gained power and was formally ensconced as Imperial Wizard of the Klan at a November 1922 " |
In 1922, Evans joined a group of Klan activists, including Tyler, Clarke, and [[D. C. Stephenson]], in a "coup" against [[William Joseph Simmons]], the group's leader.{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=22}} They deceived Simmons into agreeing to a reorganization of the Klan that removed his practical control;{{sfnm|Blee|2009|1p=22|Tucker|2004|2p=94}}{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=188}} Simmons said that they had claimed that if he remained the Imperial Wizard of the Klan, discord would hamper the organization.{{sfn|Rice|1962|p=9}} Evans gained power and was formally ensconced as Imperial Wizard of the Klan at a November 1922 "Klonvokation" in Atlanta, Georgia. Although a legal battle between Evans and Simmons ensued, during which time Simmons was the Klan's titular "emperor," Evans retained control of the Klan. He initially said that he had been unaware of a pending coup until after he was selected.{{sfnm|Blee|2009|1p=22|Tucker|2004|2p=94}}{{sfnm|Wade|1998|1p=188|Rice|1962|2pp=10–12}} However, by the end of their feud, he described Simmons as the "leader of [[Bolshevik]] Klansmen betraying the movement" and later expelled the former leader.{{sfn|Bennett|1988|p=213}} |
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[[File:KKK advertisement - Wichita, KA.png|thumb|upright|Advertisement for a KKK rally to be held on November 19, 1926, in [[Wichita, Kansas]], at which Evans would speak{{sfn|''The Hutchinson News'' 1926}}]] |
[[File:KKK advertisement - Wichita, KA.png|thumb|upright|Advertisement for a KKK rally to be held on November 19, 1926, in [[Wichita, Kansas]], at which Evans would speak{{sfn|''The Hutchinson News'' 1926}}]] |
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As leader of the Klan, Evans advanced a form of [[ |
As the leader of the Klan, Evans advanced a form of [[nativism (politics)|nativist]], [[white supremacy]] that cast [[Protestantism in the United States|Protestantism]] as a fundamental part of [[American nationalism|American patriotism]].{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|p=83}}{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=193}} To Evans, whiteness and Protestantism were equally valued and sometimes conflated:{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=94}} he said the Klan supported the "uncontaminated growth of Anglo-Saxon civilization".{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=193}} He maintained the belief that white Protestants had the exclusive right to govern the US because they were the descendants of the early colonists,{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=47}} whom he described as fleeing Europe for the US to escape its societal bounds.{{sfn|''New York Times'' 1927}} He admitted that many Klan members were of rural, uneducated backgrounds but argued that power should be given to "the common people of America."{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|pp=87–88}} In a pamphlet entitled ''Ideals of the Ku Klux Klan'', Evans described the Klan as follows: |
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#This is a white man's organization. |
# This is a white man's organization. |
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#This is a gentile organization. |
# This is a gentile organization. |
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#It is an American organization. |
# It is an American organization. |
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#It is a Protestant organization.{{sfn|Rice|1962|p=20}} |
# It is a Protestant organization.{{sfn|Rice|1962|p=20}} |
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Under Evans, the Klan supported a |
Under Evans, the Klan supported a mixture of [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] and [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] political positions,{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=89}} which were described by Thomas Pegram of [[Loyola University Maryland]] as "too much of a patchwork to be considered an ideological system."{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=50}} Klan literature spoke highly of politicians such as [[Woodrow Wilson]], [[William Jennings Bryan]], and [[Grover Cleveland]].{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=194}} Evans borrowed numerous concepts from the writings of [[Lothrop Stoddard]] and [[Madison Grant]], American writers of the period who promoted [[eugenics]] and [[scientific racism]],{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=53}} and he attempted to cast his platforms as if they were based on science.{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=23}} Evans attacked immigrants by arguing that they would promote ideologies such as [[anarchism]] and [[communism]],{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=21}} were threats to national unity,{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|p=85}} and were involved with [[Rum-running|bootlegging]] during [[Prohibition]].{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=127}} He considered immigrants "ignorant, superstitious, religious devotees" intent on earning money in the US before retiring to their homelands.{{sfn|Rangel|2009|p=7}} However, he supported immigration of whom he deemed "Nordic."{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=91}} |
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Evans also argued against [[miscegenation]] and Catholic and Jewish immigration |
Evans also argued against [[miscegenation]], and Catholic and Jewish immigration on the grounds that they were threats to genetic "good stock,"{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=23}} a racial division that was widely supported among white Americans.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=50}} Evans believed the [[Catholic Church]] sought to take control of the US government;{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=20}} he also questioned American Catholics' loyalty to their country, writing that they were subject to their priests, and, as such, to the entire [[Roman Catholic hierarchy]] and the [[Pope]].{{sfn|''New York Times'' 1927}} In other writings, he expressed fears that the Catholic Church, in alliance with Jews and non-white Protestant groups, was becoming increasingly active in politics and thus blurring the [[separation of church and state in the United States|separation of church and state]].{{sfn|Rangel|2009|p=6}} |
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Under Evans' leadership, the Klan became active in [[Indiana]] and [[Illinois]], rather than focusing on the |
Under Evans's leadership, the Klan became active in [[Indiana]] and [[Illinois]], rather than focusing on the Southeast, as it had done in the past.{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|p=83}} It also grew in [[Michigan]], where 40,000 members, more than half its total, lived in [[Detroit]]. It became characterized as an organization prominent in urban areas of the Midwest, where it attracted native-born Americans competing for industrial jobs with recent immigrants. It also attracted members in Nebraska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.{{sfn|Jackson|1967|pp=241–243}} |
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Evans appointed Stephenson, his early collaborator, as kleagle and Grand Dragon of Indiana.{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=22}}{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=19}} The relationship between the two leaders quickly became acrimonious;{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=46}} Stephenson clashed with Evans over the distribution of membership fees and became embittered after Evans refused to help fund the purchase of a school in Indiana.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=19}}{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=93}} Although Stephenson believed |
Evans appointed Stephenson, his early collaborator, as kleagle and Grand Dragon of Indiana.{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=22}}{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=19}} The relationship between the two leaders quickly became acrimonious;{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=46}} Stephenson clashed with Evans over the distribution of membership fees and became embittered after Evans refused to help fund the purchase of a school in Indiana.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=19}}{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=93}} Although Stephenson believed Evans had deliberately thwarted his attempt to purchase the school to limit his power, Evans unexpectedly promoted Stephenson to [[Grand Dragon]] of the "northern realm" in July 1923.{{sfn|Tucker|2004|pp=103, 107}} |
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Historian Leonard Joseph Moore of [[McGill University]] contends that Evans paid particular attention to the [[Indiana Klan]] out of financial self-interest since it was the largest state branch.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=93}} |
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⚫ | The political scientist Arnold S. Rice writes that Evans also worked on a series of changes, advertised as reforms, to the Klan structure and sought to promote a positive public opinion of the Klan;{{sfn|Bennett|1988|p=214}} Evans felt that his organization should be able to reach out to those who were "struggling with the moral decay and economic distress of the 20th |
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⚫ | The political scientist Arnold S. Rice writes that Evans also worked on a series of changes, advertised as reforms, to the Klan structure and sought to promote a positive public opinion of the Klan;{{sfn|Bennett|1988|p=214}} Evans felt that his organization should be able to reach out to those who were "struggling with the moral decay and economic distress of the 20th century."{{sfn|Rangel|2009|p=4}} He increased the Klan's surveillance of members before and after initiation, expelling those considered to be of "questionable morals."{{sfn|Rice|1962|pp=10–12}} He also worked to increase Klan involvement in local policing and denounced acts of violence committed by Klan members, promoting the Klan as a symbol of lawfulness. Those efforts, although successful in reducing the number of attacks, were ultimately unable to sway public opinion in the Klan's favor.{{sfn|Rice|1962|pp=10–12}}{{sfn|Bennett|1988|p=226}} |
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==Internal conflicts== |
==Internal conflicts== |
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Evans became embroiled in several internal Klan conflicts that gained media exposure. In January 1921, he and a group of grand dragons expelled the publicist Clarke, who had been critical of Evans' efforts to involve the Klan in electoral politics.{{sfn|Wade|1998|pp= |
Evans became embroiled in several internal Klan conflicts that gained media exposure. In January 1921, he and a group of grand dragons expelled the publicist Clarke, who had been critical of Evans's efforts to involve the Klan in electoral politics.{{sfn|Wade|1998|pp=190–191}} Evans also clashed with Henry Grady, a judge from [[North Carolina]] who served in the Klan from 1922 to 1927,{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=92}} reaching the rank of Grand Dragon. Before Evans gained control of the Klan, Grady had been considered a potential successor to Simmons. After Grady dismissed a Klan-backed law that would have banned the [[Knights of Columbus]], a Catholic fraternal service organization, Evans revoked his membership. Grady subsequently leaked his correspondence with Evans to the media.{{sfn|Sims|1996|p=35}} |
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In August 1923, Evans participated in a Klan parade in the heavily |
In August 1923, Evans participated in a Klan parade in the heavily-Catholic [[borough (Pennsylvania)|borough]] of [[Carnegie, Pennsylvania]], which was attacked by local residents.{{sfn|Tucker|2004|p=133}} One member of the Klan, Thomas Rankin Abbott, was killed; Evans declared him a martyr and hoped that the death would inspire new recruits.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=177}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bob Podurgiel: When the Klan came to Carnegie |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/insight/2023/08/06/ku-klux-klan-carnegie-riot/stories/202307230025 |access-date=September 11, 2023 |website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |language=en}}</ref> The incident gave a fillip to the Klan's recruitment efforts but increased Stephenson's animosity toward Evans, whom he blamed for the incident.{{sfn|Tucker|2004|p=135}} Stephenson's proclivity for ostentation irritated Evans.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=27}} Although Stephenson left his official Klan position after a short tenure,{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=234}} the Klan's northern supporters, under his leadership, had begun to rival those in the South.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=157}} He had been a skilled campaigner and [[demagogue]],{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=94}} and he remained a well-known advocate of the Klan's platforms after resigning.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=46}} Evans avoided publicly clashing with him, fearing that it would hurt the candidacies of Klan-backed politicians{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=234}} since Stephenson was closely involved in the successful gubernatorial candidacy of Indiana Klan-member [[Edward L. Jackson]],{{sfn|Tucker|2004|p=140}} and the Klan members had significant electoral gains in that state in 1924, including the election of several candidates to the state legislature. After those victories, Stephenson showed further disdain for Evans.{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=94}} |
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Although membership in the Klan was limited to men,{{sfn|Newton|2010|p=75}} |
Although membership in the Klan was limited to men,{{sfn|Newton|2010|p=75}} Simmons, after losing control of the national organization, attempted to create a parallel white supremacist organization for women. Evans established a women's group and sued him. Evans won the lawsuit,{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=27}} leading to a public war of words with Simmons, whose lawyer was soon murdered by Evans's press agent; Evans denied complicity.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=18}} In 1924, Evans paid Simmons $145,000 for a promise to abandon the latter's claim to Klan leadership.{{sfn|Wade|1998|pp=190–191}} |
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Then, Evans moved the Klan's national headquarters to Washington, D.C., where the murder of Simmon's lawyer had received less publicity.{{sfn|Wade|1998|pp=190–191}} To Evans's consternation, Stephenson also formed a women's auxiliary group. Evans and Stephenson subsequently exchanged allegations of sexual impropriety.{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=27}} Police charged Stephenson with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a young woman; he maintained that the charges were orchestrated by Evans.{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=95}} After a sensational trial, Stephenson was convicted of [[second-degree murder]] and given a [[life sentence]]; the publicity about the leader's behavior caused thousands of members to abandon the Klan.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=5}}{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=172}} |
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== |
==Klan growth and political activism== |
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[[File:TIME H W Evans cover 1924.jpg|thumb|Evans on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', June 23, 1924]] |
[[File:TIME H W Evans cover 1924.jpg|thumb|Evans on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', June 23, 1924]] |
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In the early years of Evans' tenure, the Klan reached record enrollment;{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=23}}{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=192}} estimates of its peak range from 2.5 |
In the early years of Evans's tenure, the Klan reached record enrollment;{{sfn|Blee|2009|p=23}}{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=192}} estimates of its peak range from 2.5 to 6 million members, but records are poor and the figure cannot be accurately determined.{{sfn|Bennett|1988|p=213}} He also dramatically increased the organization's total assets, more than doubling them from July 1922 to July 1923.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=25}}<!-- Klan publications credited the organization's launch of a printing plant and reduced production costs with dramatically lowering their expenses.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=157}}--> Evans changed the way that chapter leaders were paid by insisting that they receive a fixed salary, rather than commissions based on membership fees, in a move that lowered their income.{{sfn|Dobratz|Shanks-Meile|2000|pp=38–39}} Although previous Imperial Wizards had lived in lavish properties, Evans initially settled into an apartment after his promotion.{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=74}} The sociologist [[Rory M. McVeigh|Rory McVeigh]] of the [[University of Notre Dame]] argues that the increase in membership was owing to the Klan's exploitation of a "favorable political context,"{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=197}} particularly since native-born white-settler Americans were fearful after increased immigration caused them to compete for jobs and housing in many cities.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=200}} Evans had high hopes for the Klan, saying in 1923 that he aimed to reach 10 million members.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=193}} That year, he spoke at the largest Klan gathering in history, a [[Fourth of July]] meeting in rural Indiana that was attended by over 200,000.{{sfn|Wade|1998|pp=215–216}} |
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Evans sought to include more members from the |
Evans sought to include more members from the Southwest in leadership; previously, the Klan had been led by people from the Southeast.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=70}} In 1922, Evans supported the successful [[U.S. Senate]] candidacy of Texas Democrat [[Earle Bradford Mayfield]], an event that demonstrated that Klan-supported candidates could win prominent offices.{{sfn|Stone|2010|p=137}} The next year, Evans returned to Texas for the state fair, where 75,000 people gathered for a "Klan day" celebration.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=39}}{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=44}} He devoted funds to fighting [[Jack C. Walton]], the anti-Klan governor of [[Oklahoma]]; to the group's joy, Walton was impeached and removed from office in 1923. However, the Oklahoma legislature soon passed several anti-Klan bills.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=54}} |
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Evans published instructions for local Klan leaders that detailed how to run meetings, recruit new members,{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=192}} and speak to local gatherings. He advised leaders to avoid "raving hysterically" in favor of "[a] scientific |
Evans published instructions for local Klan leaders that detailed how to run meetings, recruit new members,{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=192}} and speak to local gatherings. He advised leaders to avoid "raving hysterically" in favor of "[a] scientific... presentation of facts." In addition, he urged them to forbid members from bringing their Klan regalia home from meetings and to perform background checks on applicants.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=195}}{{sfn|Dobratz|Shanks-Meile|2000|pp=38–39}} He instructed Klan members to shun vigilantism but to assist police and attempted, with some success, to recruit police officers into the Klan.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=162}} Emphasizing the difference between his organization and the more violent 19th-century Ku Klux Klan,{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=6}} Evans formed Klan-themed groups for children.{{sfn|Newton|2010|p=76}} As the Klan attempted to portray itself as a movement led by cultured, well-educated people, its leaders spoke about education in the US.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=115}} Evans believed that public schools could create a homogeneous society and saw education advocacy as an effective form of public relations.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=115}}{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=92}} |
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In his writings on the subject, he cited the nation's illiteracy rate as evidence that American public schools were failing |
In his writings on the subject, he cited the nation's illiteracy rate as evidence that American public schools were failing, and he considered low teacher salaries and child labor key obstacles to reform.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=36}} He supported the idea of a federal [[United States Department of Education|Department of Education]], hoping that it would lead to improvements in public schools that would help "Americanize the foreigners" and thwart recruitment efforts of Catholic schools.{{sfn|Moore|1997|p=37}} Evans wrote four books in the mid to late 1920s: ''The Menace of Modern Immigration'' (1923), ''The Klan of Tomorrow'' (1924), ''Alienism in the Democracy'' (1927), and ''The Rising Storm'' (1929).{{sfn|''The Handbook of Texas Online''}} |
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After the Klan gained respect and political influence in parts of the |
After the Klan gained respect and political influence in parts of the US, Evans hoped to replicate this on a national scale.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=xi}} Political involvement was controversial among the organization's members, and Evans issued contradictory statements on the issue, publicly disavowing it but surreptitiously attempting to sway politicians.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=188}} Apart from fundamental Klan issues, different local groups often held varying political ideologies; as such, by insisting on specific political stances, Evans would have risked alienating members.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=197}} Although many of his hopes were never realized, Evans saw several Klansmen elected to high offices and, in the mid-1920s, the group was frequently discussed by political commentators.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=196}} |
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In 1924, the group convinced [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] leaders to avoid criticizing it, prompting ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' to put Evans on its cover.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=197}} That year, the Klan supported [[Calvin Coolidge]] in his successful candidacy for president of the U.S.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=170}} Although Coolidge opposed many key Klan platforms, with the exception of immigration restrictions and prohibition, he was the only major-party candidate who did not condemn them.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|pp=188–189}} Nonetheless, Evans declared Coolidge's victory a great success for the Klan.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|pp=188–189}} Although Republican leaders refrained from attacking the Klan, they were hesitant to support candidates promoted by the group.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=213}} Significant discussion of the Klan also took place at the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s convention;{{sfn|Tindall|1967|p=194}} senator and Democratic presidential primary nominee [[Oscar Underwood]] decried them as "a national menace."{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=197}} Evans's attempts to elect Klansmen to public offices in 1924 saw limited success{{sfn|Gitlin|2009|p=17}} except in Indiana.{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|p=83}} |
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[[File:HW Evans leading his Knights Crisco edit.jpg|thumb|Evans leading his Knights of the Klan on the parade held in Washington, D.C., on September 13, 1926]] |
[[File:HW Evans leading his Knights Crisco edit.jpg|thumb|Evans leading his Knights of the Klan on the parade held in Washington, D.C., on September 13, 1926]] |
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Although the Klan had four million members in 1924, the group's membership quickly shrank after Stephenson's widely [[D. C. Stephenson#Convicted of murder|publicized trial]]. The Indiana Klan lost more than 90% of its members by the end of the proceedings, and there were mass resignations in other states as well.{{sfn|Gitlin|2009| |
Although the Klan had four million members in 1924, the group's membership quickly shrank after Stephenson's widely [[D. C. Stephenson#Convicted of murder|publicized trial]]. The Indiana Klan lost more than 90% of its members by the end of the proceedings, and there were mass resignations in other states as well.{{sfn|Gitlin|2009|pp=19–20}} Other scandals emerged, further damaging Klan enrollment. Although the Colorado Klan had seen strong growth, Evans asked the Grand Dragon, [[John Galen Locke]], to resign after local corruption scandals in 1925 involving Klan members who served as police. Evans's request was poorly received by Colorado Klan members, and local enrollment subsequently plummeted.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=132}} |
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He encountered difficulties with Klan leaders in Pennsylvania in 1926 after many of them concluded that he was too autocratic. In response, he revoked the charters of several local Klan groups and removed [[John Strayer]], a state legislator, from his position of authority in the Klan. When the Pennsylvania groups continued to refer to themselves as the Ku Klux Klan, Evans sued them in federal court. Pennsylvania Klan members launched a detailed legal offensive against Evans and other Klan leaders, alleging misdeeds, including participation in kidnappings and lynchings. Evans's suit was unsuccessful and, as many newspapers reported the scandalous allegations aired in court, the Pennsylvania Klan suffered a serious decline in membership and support.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=242}} |
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In response to the decline in Klan membership |
In response to the decline in Klan membership, Evans organized a Klan parade in 1926 in Washington, D.C., hoping that a large turnout would demonstrate the Klan's power. About 30,000 members attended, making it the largest parade in the group's history. Evans was disappointed, however, as he had expected twice as many people, and the march did not stanch the drop in membership.{{sfn|Gitlin|2009|pp=19–20}} That year, Evans attempted to rally U.S. senators to vote against a bill supporting a proposed world court. He was unsuccessful, however, and several Klan-backed senators followed Coolidge and supported the bill.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=212}} In 1928, Evans opposed the candidacy of the New York Democratic governor [[Al Smith]] for president and emphasized the threat of Smith's Catholic faith. After the Republican [[Herbert Hoover]] won the election, Evans boldly claimed responsibility for Smith's loss, but most of the solidly-Democratic South had rejected Hoover and voted for Smith against the Klan's advice.{{sfn|Newton|2010|pp=95–96}} |
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In 1929, Evans acknowledged that membership levels had declined but predicted a dramatic turnaround would soon occur |
In 1929, Evans acknowledged that membership levels had declined but inaccurately predicted a dramatic turnaround would soon occur.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=182}} The loss of members resulted in a Klan that was a skeleton of its former self.{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=217}} Historians have attributed this loss of membership to ineptness and hypocrisy on the part of Klan leadership.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=182}} McVeigh argues that the Klan's inability to form alliances with other political groups led to the sharp loss of political power and solidarity within the group.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=183}} |
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==Changes in focus== |
==Changes in focus== |
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Although many Democratic Klan members initially supported the 1932 presidential campaign of [[Franklin |
Although many Democratic Klan members initially supported the 1932 presidential campaign of [[Franklin Roosevelt]], the Klan later officially turned against him because of his acceptance of endorsements from minorities and labor unions.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=259}} After Roosevelt's election, Evans fiercely opposed the [[New Deal]], describing it as a "great danger" to the nation,{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=239}} and argued that it was a "Jewish" policy that endangered American freedom, reserving particular scorn for Treasury Secretary [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.]], who was Jewish.{{sfn|Gitlin|2009|p=22}} Evans's statements about Jews were sometimes contradictory:{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=55}} he argued that he was not an [[anti-Semite]] but maintained that Jews were [[economic materialism|materialistic]] and resisted assimilation.{{sfn|Moore|1997|pp=20–21}} The Klan subsequently launched an offensive against [[organized labor]].{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=259}} In the 1930s, Evans fiercely condemned communism and [[trade union|unionism]]{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=262}} and began to suspect that government agencies had been infiltrated by communists.{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=77}} He focused his attacks on the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]],{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=262}} claiming that they sought to "flout law and promote social disorder."{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=79}} |
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Although Evans bemoaned [[commercialism]] and attributed it to the effects of liberalism,{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|p=85}} he supported capitalism and sought to form ties between business leaders and the Klan.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|pp= |
Although Evans bemoaned [[commercialism]] and attributed it to the effects of liberalism,{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|p=85}} he supported capitalism and sought to form ties between business leaders and the Klan.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|pp=88–89}} He condemned corporate greed, alleging that wealthy elites' desire for cheap labor led to increased immigration.{{sfn|Phillips|2006|p=89}} In his view, corporations had changed the Eastern US so that it no longer reflected "true Americanism,"{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=69}} a concept that he believed could be understood only by "legitimate Americans" such as himself.{{sfn|Rangel|2009|p=6}} He blamed an influx of unskilled laborers for lowering wages in the U.S.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|p=68}} Evans believed that immigration policy should restrict the immigration of unskilled workers except for those needed on farms.{{sfn|McVeigh|2009|pp=67–68}} |
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In 1934, Evans encountered public controversy after it was revealed that he intended to travel to [[Louisiana]] to campaign against the Democratic governor [[Huey Long]], who planned to run in the [[United States presidential election |
In 1934, Evans encountered public controversy after it was revealed that he intended to travel to [[Louisiana]] to campaign against the Democratic governor [[Huey Long]], who planned to run in the [[1936 United States presidential election|1936 presidential election]]. Long learned of Evans's plans and condemned him in a speech at the [[Louisiana State Legislature]], deriding him as a "tooth-puller" and an "Imperial bastard" and warning of grave consequences should he follow through with his plans.{{sfn|Sims|1996|p=3}} After learning of the potential opposition, Evans cancelled his plans{{sfn|Sims|1996|p=3}} but retorted that Long, who based his campaign on [[Americanism (ideology)|Americanist]] themes, was "un-American."{{sfn|Bennett|1988|p=252}} |
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==Downfall== |
==Downfall and death== |
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In the 1930s, the Klan's public support |
In the 1930s, the Klan's public support greatly diminished and their membership dropped to about 100,000 people, primarily concentrated in the South, having lost most of their members elsewhere.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=5}}{{sfn|Gitlin|2009|p=22}} [[James A. Colescott]], Evans's handpicked chief of staff, then increasingly shouldered Evans's responsibilities.{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=79}}{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=317}} After the [[Great Depression]] further damaged the Klan's finances, the group's leadership sold their Atlanta headquarters in 1936.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=264}}{{sfn|Gitlin|2009|p=xvi}} Around then, Evans announced his intention to retire.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=264}} |
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Although anti-Catholicism had been a consistent platform of the Klan,{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=69}} before leaving the organization, Evans renounced his anti-Catholicism and pronounced a "new era of religious tolerance |
Although anti-Catholicism had been a consistent platform of the Klan,{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=69}} before leaving the organization, Evans renounced his anti-Catholicism and pronounced a "new era of religious tolerance."{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=80}} In 1939, he said that "in no other time in history has there been more need for all people who believe in the same Father and same Son to stand together."{{sfn|''The Telegraph-Herald'' 1939}} That year, Evans also publicly expressed an interest in learning aspects of [[Judaism]] to understand the [[Old Testament]] better.{{sfn|''The Telegraph-Herald'' 1939}} Chester L. Quarles, a professor of criminal justice at the [[University of Mississippi]], argues that Evans repudiated anti-Catholicism because of his desire to fight unions and communism and his fear of having too many enemies at one time.{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=79}} |
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After Evans sold the Klan's former headquarters, it was purchased by the Catholic Church. The [[Cathedral of Christ the King (Atlanta)|Cathedral of Christ the King]] was later built on the site. Evans attended the building's dedication and spoke highly of the service, surprising many observers.{{sfn|Wade|1998|pp= |
After Evans sold the Klan's former headquarters, it was purchased by the Catholic Church. The [[Cathedral of Christ the King (Atlanta)|Cathedral of Christ the King]] was later built on the site. Evans attended the building's dedication and spoke highly of the service, surprising many observers.{{sfn|Wade|1998|pp=264–265}} His attendance at the service was his last significant public appearance as Imperial Wizard: he stepped down soon afterwards,{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=80}} having become deeply unpopular with members of the Klan, who felt that he had embraced their enemies.{{sfn|Quarles|1999|pp=79–80}} He resigned on June 10, 1939, and was replaced as Imperial Wizard by Colescott.{{sfn|Newton|2010|p=100}}{{sfn|Rice|1962|p=106}} |
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Evans' service as Imperial Wizard proved to be a lucrative position, allowing him to maintain a large residence in a prestigious Atlanta neighborhood.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=317}}{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=81}} In the mid-1930s, however, Klan funds dwindled, and he worked for a Georgia-based construction company selling products to the Georgia Highway Board. At the same time, he was a staunch supporter of Georgia |
Evans's service as Imperial Wizard proved to be a lucrative position, allowing him to maintain a large residence in a prestigious Atlanta neighborhood.{{sfn|Chalmers|1981|p=317}}{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=81}} In the mid-1930s, however, Klan funds dwindled, and he worked for a Georgia-based construction company selling products to the Georgia Highway Board. At the same time, he was a staunch supporter of Georgia Governor [[Eurith D. Rivers]],{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=265}} a liberal pro-New Deal Democrat whom he had previously employed as a lecturer.{{sfn|Quarles|1999|p=79}} The political support that he provided the administration allowed Evans to sell to the highway board without bidding against other contractors. In 1940, the state of Georgia charged Evans and a member of the state highway board with [[price fixing]]. The Attorney General of Georgia, [[Ellis Arnall]], directed legal proceedings against Evans that resulted in a $15,000 fine.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=265}} |
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Meanwhile, Colescott attempted to resuscitate the waning second Klan |
Meanwhile, Colescott attempted to resuscitate the waning second Klan by an "administration of action" and stricter enforcement of the Klan's stated policies and led extensive recruitment campaigns.{{sfn|Rice|1962|p=106}} Despite concerns by opponents that the Klan would regain full force after the conclusion of [[World War II]], it was unable to improve its membership and was under pressure from the [[Internal Revenue Service]] for failure to pay taxes. Through a decree on April 23, 1944, Colescott formally disbanded the Klan. Locally-sponsored groups continued to use the name but lacked the united leadership of the earlier Klan.{{sfn|Bennett|1988|p=236}}{{sfn|Rice|1962|p=108}} |
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As late as 1949, Evans served as a commentator on Klan activities, speaking as the former Imperial Wizard.{{sfn|Glass|1949}}{{sfn|''Warsaw Herald'' 1949}} He died on September |
As late as 1949, Evans served as a commentator on Klan activities, speaking as the former Imperial Wizard.{{sfn|Glass|1949}}{{sfn|''Warsaw Herald'' 1949}} He died on September 14, 1966, in Atlanta.{{sfn|''The Handbook of Texas Online''}}{{sfn|Georgia Vital Records}} |
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==Appraisal== |
==Appraisal== |
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David A. Horowitz, a historian at [[Portland State University]], credits Evans with changing the Klan "from a confederation of local vigilantes into a centralized and powerful political movement |
David A. Horowitz, a historian at [[Portland State University]], credits Evans with changing the Klan "from a confederation of local vigilantes into a centralized and powerful political movement."{{sfn|Horowitz|1997|p=83}} Fellow historian William D. Jenkins of [[Youngstown State University]] maintains that Evans was "personally corrupt and more interested in money or power than a cause."{{sfn|Jenkins|1990|p=vii}} During Evans's tenure as Imperial Wizard, the ''New York Times'' characterized the Klan's leadership as "shrewd schemers".{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=191}} However, Rice suggests that Evans's reforms would never have been successful, as the Klan remained a white supremacist organization that "automatically made enemies of ... anyone who happened to be foreign-born, Negro, Catholic, Jewish, or opposed to bigotry and chauvinism."{{sfn|Rice|1962|p=12}} |
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An editorial in ''[[The New York Times]]'' during |
An editorial in ''[[The New York Times]]'' during Evans's tenure as Klan leader described him as "severe and logical" in his writing,{{sfn|''New York Times'' 1927}} but the historian [[Richard Hofstadter]] described Evans's writings as not immoderate in tone. The communications specialist Nicolas Rangel Jr. of the [[University of Houston–Downtown]] suggests that the vernacular prevented some Americans from recognizing the extremist nature of Evans's views.{{sfn|Rangel|2009|p=2}} |
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Evans' ideology was attacked by numerous contemporaries; these criticisms began early in his Klan career. [[David Lefkowitz (rabbi)|David Lefkowitz]], rabbi of [[Temple Emanu-El (Dallas, Texas)|Temple Emanu-El]] in Dallas, assailed Evans' assertion that Jews did not assimilate, emphasizing American experiences shared by Jews and Christians, such as military service in World War |
Evans's ideology was attacked by numerous contemporaries; these criticisms began early in his Klan career. [[David Lefkowitz (rabbi)|David Lefkowitz]], rabbi of [[Temple Emanu-El (Dallas, Texas)|Temple Emanu-El]] in Dallas, assailed Evans's assertion that Jews did not assimilate, emphasizing American experiences shared by Jews and Christians, such as military service in World War I.{{sfn|Stone|2010|pp=132–133}} [[James Weldon Johnson]], leader of the [[NAACP]], responded to Evans's promotion of white supremacy by contending that "all races are mixed."{{sfn|Pegram|2011|p=49}} Other well-known adversaries of Evans included the minister and theologian [[Reinhold Niebuhr]], who opposed the Klan in Detroit in 1925, describing them as "one of the worst specific social phenomena which the religious pride of a people has ever developed."{{sfn|Jackson|1967|p=142}} ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'' publisher [[George Dealey]] and Atlanta journalist [[Ralph McGill]] opposed him, the latter deriding him for his hypocrisy and false claims about minorities.{{sfn|Wade|1998|p=265}}{{sfn|Stone|2010|pp=132–133}} |
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Several publications, however, gave positive coverage to Evans |
Several publications, however, gave positive coverage to Evans but not necessarily his work with the Klan. In 1927, ''The New York Times'' congratulated Evans on his "modest and engaging exposition of 'Americanism{{'"}}.{{sfn|''New York Times'' 1927}} Although the Klan disowned Evans for reaching out to the Catholic Church, popular opinion was more positive. In 1939, the ''[[Palm Beach Daily News]]'' described the meeting between Evans and Cardinal [[Dennis Joseph Dougherty]] as stirring both religious and secular circles;{{sfn|''Palm Beach Daily News'' 1939}} favorable coverage of the meeting was found in several other publications.{{sfn|''The Telegraph-Herald'' 1939}} Dougherty said that he had found Evans "intensely interested in religious subjects" outside Protestantism.{{sfn|''Palm Beach Daily News'' 1939}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{ |
{{Reflist|15em}} |
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==Bibliography== |
==Bibliography== |
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'''Books''' |
'''Books''' |
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*{{citation|last=Bennett|first=David H.|title=The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History |year=1988|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-0-8078-1772-8}} |
* {{citation|last=Bennett|first=David H.|title=The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History |year=1988|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-0-8078-1772-8}} |
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*{{citation|last=Blee|first=Kathleen M.|title=Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s|year=2009|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=978-0-520-25787-0}} |
* {{citation|last=Blee|first=Kathleen M.|title=Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s|year=2009|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=978-0-520-25787-0}} |
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*{{citation|last=Chalmers|first=David Mark| |
* {{citation|last=Chalmers|first=David Mark|author-link=David Mark Chalmers|title=Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan|year=1981|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8223-0772-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/hoodedamericanis00chal}} |
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*{{citation|last1=Dobratz|first1=Betty A.|last2=Shanks-Meile|first2=Stephanie L.|title=The White Separatist Movement in the United States: "White Power, White Pride!"|year=2000|publisher=[[JHU Press]]|isbn=978-0-8018-6537-4}} |
* {{citation|last1=Dobratz|first1=Betty A.|last2=Shanks-Meile|first2=Stephanie L.|title=The White Separatist Movement in the United States: "White Power, White Pride!"|year=2000|publisher=[[JHU Press]]|isbn=978-0-8018-6537-4}} |
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*{{citation|last=Gitlin|first=Marty|title=The Ku Klux Klan: A Guide to an American Subculture|year=2009|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|isbn=978-0-313-36576-8}} |
* {{citation|last=Gitlin|first=Marty|title=The Ku Klux Klan: A Guide to an American Subculture|year=2009|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|isbn=978-0-313-36576-8}} |
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*{{citation|last=Horowitz|first=David A.|title=Beyond Left & Right: Insurgency and the Establishment|year=1997|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|isbn=978-0-252-06568-2}} |
* {{citation|last=Horowitz|first=David A.|title=Beyond Left & Right: Insurgency and the Establishment|year=1997|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|isbn=978-0-252-06568-2}} |
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*{{citation|last=Jackson|first=Kenneth T.|title=The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915–1930|year=1967|publisher=Oxford University Press|oclc=249235}} |
* {{citation|last=Jackson|first=Kenneth T.|title=The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915–1930|year=1967|publisher=Oxford University Press|oclc=249235}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Jenkins|first=William D.|title=Steel Valley Klan: The Ku Klux Klan in Ohio's Mahoning Valley|year=1990|publisher=[[Kent State University Press]]|isbn=978-0-87338-694-4}} |
* {{citation|last=Jenkins|first=William D.|title=Steel Valley Klan: The Ku Klux Klan in Ohio's Mahoning Valley|year=1990|publisher=[[Kent State University Press]]|isbn=978-0-87338-694-4}} |
||
*{{citation|last=McVeigh|first=Rory|title=The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan: Right-Wing Movements and National Politics|year=2009|publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]]|isbn=978-0-8166-5619-6}} |
* {{citation|last=McVeigh|first=Rory|title=The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan: Right-Wing Movements and National Politics|year=2009|author-link=Rory M. McVeigh|publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]]|isbn=978-0-8166-5619-6}} |
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*{{citation|last=Moore|first=Leonard Joseph|title=Citizen Klansmen: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921–1928|year=1997|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-4627-8}} |
* {{citation|last=Moore|first=Leonard Joseph|title=Citizen Klansmen: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921–1928|year=1997|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-4627-8}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Newton|first=Michael|title=The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: a History|year=2010|publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]|isbn=978-0-7864-4653-7}} |
* {{citation|last=Newton|first=Michael|title=The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: a History|year=2010|publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]|isbn=978-0-7864-4653-7}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Pegram|first=Thomas R.|title=One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s|year=2011|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|isbn=978-1-56663-711-4}} |
* {{citation|last=Pegram|first=Thomas R.|title=One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s|year=2011|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|isbn=978-1-56663-711-4}} |
||
*{{citation|first=Michael|last=Phillips|title=White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841–2001|year=2006|publisher=[[University of Texas Press]]|isbn=978-0-292-71274-4| |
* {{citation|first=Michael|last=Phillips|author-link=Michael Phillips (historian)|title=White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841–2001|year=2006|publisher=[[University of Texas Press]]|isbn=978-0-292-71274-4|title-link=White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841–2001}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Quarles|first=Chester L.|title=The Ku Klux Klan and Related American Racialist and Antisemitic Organizations: a History and Analysis|year=1999|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-0647-0}} |
* {{citation|last=Quarles|first=Chester L.|title=The Ku Klux Klan and Related American Racialist and Antisemitic Organizations: a History and Analysis|year=1999|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-0647-0}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Rice|first=Arnold S. |title=The Ku Klux Klan in American Politics|year=1962 |publisher=Public Affairs Press |oclc=1315079}} |
* {{citation|last=Rice|first=Arnold S. |title=The Ku Klux Klan in American Politics|year=1962 |publisher=Public Affairs Press |oclc=1315079}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Sims|first=Patsy|title=The Klan|year=1996|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]]|isbn=978-0-8131-0887-2}} |
* {{citation|last=Sims|first=Patsy|title=The Klan|year=1996|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]]|isbn=978-0-8131-0887-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/klan00sims}} |
||
*{{citation|first=William R.|last=Snell|editor=Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins|title=From Civil War to Civil Rights—Alabama, 1860–1960: an Anthology from the Alabama Review|year=1987|publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]]|isbn=978-0-8173-0341-9 |
* {{citation|first=William R.|last=Snell|editor=Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins|title=From Civil War to Civil Rights—Alabama, 1860–1960: an Anthology from the Alabama Review|year=1987|publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]]|isbn=978-0-8173-0341-9}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Stone|first=Bryan Edward|title=The Chosen Folks: Jews on the Frontiers of Texas|year=2010|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-72177-7}} |
* {{citation|last=Stone|first=Bryan Edward|title=The Chosen Folks: Jews on the Frontiers of Texas|year=2010|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-72177-7}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Tindall|first=George Brown| |
* {{citation|last=Tindall|first=George Brown|author-link=George Tindall|title=The Emergence of the New South, 1913–1945|year=1967|publisher=[[LSU Press]]|isbn=978-0-8071-0010-3}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Tucker|first=Todd|title=Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan|year=2004|publisher=[[Loyola Press]]|isbn=978-0-8294-1771-5}} |
* {{citation|last=Tucker|first=Todd|title=Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan|year=2004|publisher=[[Loyola Press]]|isbn=978-0-8294-1771-5}} |
||
*{{citation|last=Wade|first=Wyn Craig|title=The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America|year=1998|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-512357-9}} |
* {{citation|last=Wade|first=Wyn Craig|title=The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America|year=1998|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-512357-9}} |
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'''Journals''' |
'''Journals''' |
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*{{ |
* {{Citation |url=http://ac-journal.org/journal/2009/Summer/8AmbiguouslyArticulating.pdf |title=Ambiguously Articulating "Americanism": The Rhetoric of Hiram Wesley Evans and the Klan of the 1920s |journal=American Communication Journal |volume=11 |issue=2 |date=Summer 2009 |first=Nicolas Jr. |last=Rangel }} |
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'''Government records''' |
'''Government records''' |
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*{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=WW1draft&h=19974381&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=7884|title=Entry for Hiram Wesley Evans|work=United States, Selective Service System. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918|publisher=[[Ancestry.com]]| |
* {{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=WW1draft&h=19974381&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=7884|title=Entry for Hiram Wesley Evans|work=United States, Selective Service System. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918|publisher=[[Ancestry.com]]|access-date=April 30, 2012|ref={{sfnRef|U.S. Selective Service}} }} |
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*{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?ti=0&indiv=try&db=gadeath&h=1554383|title=Entry for Hiram W. Evans|work=State of Georgia, Indexes of Vital Records for Georgia: Deaths, 1919–1998|publisher=Ancestry.com| |
* {{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?ti=0&indiv=try&db=gadeath&h=1554383|title=Entry for Hiram W. Evans|work=State of Georgia, Indexes of Vital Records for Georgia: Deaths, 1919–1998|publisher=Ancestry.com|access-date=April 30, 2012|ref={{sfnRef|Georgia Vital Records}} }} |
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'''News''' |
'''News''' |
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*{{Cite news|url= |
* {{Cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/hutchinson-news/1926-11-17/pageno-138167631|url-access=subscription |newspaper=The Hutchinson News|title=Advertisement|date=November 17, 1926|page=5|ref={{sfnRef|''The Hutchinson News'' 1926}} }} |
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*{{Cite news|url= |
* {{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=erotAAAAIBAJ&pg=6310,211105&dq=hiram+wesley+evans&hl=en |newspaper=Palm Beach Daily News |title=Cardinal Dougherty Greets Imperial Wizard of the Klan |date=January 19, 1939 |pages=1, 5 |ref={{sfnRef|''Palm Beach Daily News'' 1939}} }}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} |
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*{{Cite news|url= |
* {{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eddBAAAAIBAJ&pg=1099,3651754&dq=hiram+wesley+evans+dougherty&hl=en |newspaper= The Telegraph-Herald |title=Church, Klan Leaders Meet |date=January 18, 1939 |page=13 |ref={{sfnRef|''The Telegraph-Herald'' 1939}} }} |
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*{{Cite news|url= |
* {{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/12/24/archives/emperor-hiram.html |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Emperor Hiram |date=December 24, 1927 |url-access=subscription |ref={{sfnRef|''New York Times'' 1927}} }} |
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*{{Cite news|url= |
* {{Cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=b28vAAAAIBAJ&pg=6148,5389803&dq=hiram+wesley+evans&hl=en |newspaper=Tri-City Herald |title=Anonymous Group Will Pick Successor Soon for Samuel Green |date=August 19, 1949 |page=5 |last=Glass |first=Richard C. }}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} |
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*{{Cite news|url= |
* {{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=u7lHAAAAIBAJ&pg=6871,5095689&dq=hiram+wesley+evans&hl=en |newspaper=Warsaw Herald |title=Head Klansman Dies Suddenly |date=August 20, 1949 |page=2 |ref={{sfnRef|''Warsaw Herald'' 1949}} }} |
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'''Web''' |
'''Web''' |
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*{{citation|last=Maxwell|first=Lisa C.|title=Evans, Hiram Wesley|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fev17|work=The Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=[[Texas State Historical Association]]| |
* {{citation|last=Maxwell|first=Lisa C.|title=Evans, Hiram Wesley|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fev17|work=The Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=[[Texas State Historical Association]]|access-date=April 21, 2012|ref={{sfnRef|''The Handbook of Texas Online''}}|date=June 12, 2010}} |
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==External links== |
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* {{Commons category-inline|Hiram Wesley Evans}} |
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{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> |
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| NAME = Evans, Hiram Wesley |
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| ALTERNATIVE NAMES = |
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| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American dentist and secret society leader (Klansman) |
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| DATE OF BIRTH = September 26, 1881 |
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| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Ashland, Alabama]] |
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| DATE OF DEATH = September 14, 1966 |
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| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Atlanta]], Georgia |
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}} |
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Revision as of 18:38, 30 March 2024
Hiram Wesley Evans | |
---|---|
![]() Evans in Washington, D.C., 1925 | |
Born | Ashland, Alabama, U.S. | September 26, 1881
Died | September 14, 1966 (aged 84) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
Education | Vanderbilt University |
Occupation | Dentist |
Employer | Ku Klux Klan |
Political party | Democratic[1] |
3rd Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan | |
In office November 1922 – June 10, 1939 | |
Preceded by | William Joseph Simmons |
Succeeded by | James Arnold Colescott |
Hiram Wesley Evans (September 26, 1881 – September 14, 1966) was the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, an American white supremacist group, from 1922 to his resignation in 1939. A native of Alabama, Evans attended Vanderbilt University and became a dentist. He operated a small, moderately successful practice in Texas until 1920, when he joined the Klan's Dallas chapter. He quickly rose through the ranks and was part of a group that ousted William Joseph Simmons from the position of Imperial Wizard, the national leader, in November 1922. Evans succeeded him and sought to transform the group into a political power.
Evans had led the kidnapping and torture of a black man while leader of the Dallas Klan, but as Imperial Wizard, he publicly discouraged vigilante actions for fear that they would hinder his attempts to gain political influence. In 1923, Evans presided over the largest Klan gathering in history, attended by over 200,000, and endorsed several successful candidates in 1924 elections. He moved the Klan's headquarters from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., and organized a march of 30,000 members, the largest march in the organization's history, on Pennsylvania Avenue. Evans's efforts notwithstanding, the Klan was buffeted by damaging publicity in the early 1920s, partially because of leadership struggles between Evans and his rivals, which hindered his political efforts.
In the 1930s, the Great Depression significantly decreased the Klan's income, prompting Evans to work for a construction company to supplement his pay. He resigned his position with the Klan in 1939, after disavowing anti-Catholicism. He was succeeded by his chief of staff, James A. Colescott. The next year, Evans faced accusations of involvement in a government corruption scandal in Georgia; he was fined $15,000 after legal proceedings.
Evans sought to promote a form of nativist, Protestant nationalism. In addition to his white supremacist ideology, he fiercely condemned Catholicism, trade unionism, and communism, which he associated with recent immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. He argued that Jews formed a non-American culture and resisted assimilation although he denied being an anti-Semite. Historians credit Evans with refocusing the Klan on political activities and recruiting outside the South; the Klan grew most in the Midwest and industrial cities but this political influence and membership gains he sought were transitory.
Early life and education
Evans was born in Ashland, Alabama, on September 26, 1881, and moved to Hubbard, Texas, with his family as a child.[2][1][3] The son of Hiram Martin Evans, a judge, and his wife, Georgia Evans, the younger Evans graduated from Vanderbilt University.[4] Shortly after, he became a dentist, receiving his license in 1900.[1][5] He married Ellen "Bama" Hill in 1923; they had three children together.[1]
Evans established a small, moderately successful dentistry practice in Downtown Dallas that provided inexpensive services.[6][7] Rumors later arose that his dental qualifications were "a bit shady."[8] A Protestant, Evans attended a church belonging to the Disciples of Christ denomination. He was also a Freemason.[9] Evans described himself as "the most average man in America."[10] Of average height and somewhat overweight, Evans was well dressed, a skilled speaker, and very ambitious.[11]
Initial Klan activities
Conceived by its founders as a continuation of the Reconstruction-era Klan (controversially linked to General Nathan Bedford Forrest), the revived Ku Klux Klan had been established in Atlanta in 1915.[12] Leading up to his involvement in the Klan, Evans had a significant personal involvement in Freemasonry.[13] He was initially raised in Dallas Lodge No. 760 in July 1907 under the Grand Lodge of Texas.[13] Evans was involved in both York Rite (including the Masonic "Knights Templar") and Scottish Rite freemasonry.[13] Evans was raised to the Thirty-Second Degree at the Dallas Consistory in April 1913.[13] He was also a member of the Shriners, having joined the Hella Temple at Dallas in April 1911.[13] Within the York Rite, Evans was a Past Master of Pentagon Lodge No. 1080 in Dallas. Bertram G. Christie, the founder of the Dallas Klan in 1920, was also a mason and met with Evans and a few of his fellow masons belonging to the Pentagon Lodge in March 1921, such as George K. Butcher.[13]
The following month, Evans was involved in his first Klan vigilante activity when he took part in the flogging and branding of Alex Johnson on April 1, 1921.[13] According to a contemporary report in the Denton Record-Chronicle, Johnson was a "Negro bus boy" who was being investigated by the police after he had been discovered in the room of a white woman guest at the hotel.[14]
Evans left his dental practice so that he could dedicate all his time to the group. In 1921, he was elected as "exalted cyclops", a recruiting position sometimes referred to as kleagle, in the Dallas Klan No. 66.[1][15] When he was elected, the Dallas Klan had recently received a "self-ruling charter" from the Atlanta-based leadership and was the group's largest chapter.[15][16] The same year, Evans was appointed to the position of "great titan" (executive) of the "Realm of Texas" and proceeded to lead a successful membership drive for the state's Klan.[1][17]
Evans initially supported violence against minorities, remembering a lynching he witnessed as a child. With the Texas Klan, he sought to create "black squads" to attack minorities.[18] He joined several Klan members in kidnapping and torturing a black bellhop, ostensibly because they suspected he was involved in pandering prostitutes.[15] Atlanta-based leaders pressured Evans to curb racial violence in Dallas; around then, the Texas Klan had received significant negative publicity after castrating an African-American doctor.[19] Although Evans was not morally opposed to violence against minorities,[20] he publicly condemned vigilante activity because he feared that it would attract government scrutiny and hinder potential Klan-backed political campaigning.[15] The change of stance led the leader of the Houston Klan to accuse him of hypocrisy.[19] Although Evans later took credit for a decrease in lynchings in the Southern United States during the 1920s,[21] several Klan members claimed that he surreptitiously encouraged and presided over acts of violence against minorities.[22]
In 1921, Evans was assigned to oversee the Klan's national membership drive at the behest of their publicists, Elizabeth Tyler and Edward Young Clarke.[17][8] In 1922, the group's leadership made Evans the "Imperial kligrapp", a role similar to national secretary, in which capacity he oversaw operations in 13 states.[15][8] He received a base salary of $7,500 and traveled throughout the country, regularly meeting with local Klan leaders.[8]
Early national leadership
In 1922, Evans joined a group of Klan activists, including Tyler, Clarke, and D. C. Stephenson, in a "coup" against William Joseph Simmons, the group's leader.[23] They deceived Simmons into agreeing to a reorganization of the Klan that removed his practical control;[24][25] Simmons said that they had claimed that if he remained the Imperial Wizard of the Klan, discord would hamper the organization.[26] Evans gained power and was formally ensconced as Imperial Wizard of the Klan at a November 1922 "Klonvokation" in Atlanta, Georgia. Although a legal battle between Evans and Simmons ensued, during which time Simmons was the Klan's titular "emperor," Evans retained control of the Klan. He initially said that he had been unaware of a pending coup until after he was selected.[24][27] However, by the end of their feud, he described Simmons as the "leader of Bolshevik Klansmen betraying the movement" and later expelled the former leader.[28]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ed/KKK_advertisement_-_Wichita%2C_KA.png/170px-KKK_advertisement_-_Wichita%2C_KA.png)
As the leader of the Klan, Evans advanced a form of nativist, white supremacy that cast Protestantism as a fundamental part of American patriotism.[9][30] To Evans, whiteness and Protestantism were equally valued and sometimes conflated:[31] he said the Klan supported the "uncontaminated growth of Anglo-Saxon civilization".[30] He maintained the belief that white Protestants had the exclusive right to govern the US because they were the descendants of the early colonists,[32] whom he described as fleeing Europe for the US to escape its societal bounds.[33] He admitted that many Klan members were of rural, uneducated backgrounds but argued that power should be given to "the common people of America."[34] In a pamphlet entitled Ideals of the Ku Klux Klan, Evans described the Klan as follows:
- This is a white man's organization.
- This is a gentile organization.
- It is an American organization.
- It is a Protestant organization.[35]
Under Evans, the Klan supported a mixture of right-wing and left-wing political positions,[36] which were described by Thomas Pegram of Loyola University Maryland as "too much of a patchwork to be considered an ideological system."[37] Klan literature spoke highly of politicians such as Woodrow Wilson, William Jennings Bryan, and Grover Cleveland.[38] Evans borrowed numerous concepts from the writings of Lothrop Stoddard and Madison Grant, American writers of the period who promoted eugenics and scientific racism,[39] and he attempted to cast his platforms as if they were based on science.[40] Evans attacked immigrants by arguing that they would promote ideologies such as anarchism and communism,[41] were threats to national unity,[21] and were involved with bootlegging during Prohibition.[42] He considered immigrants "ignorant, superstitious, religious devotees" intent on earning money in the US before retiring to their homelands.[43] However, he supported immigration of whom he deemed "Nordic."[44]
Evans also argued against miscegenation, and Catholic and Jewish immigration on the grounds that they were threats to genetic "good stock,"[40] a racial division that was widely supported among white Americans.[37] Evans believed the Catholic Church sought to take control of the US government;[45] he also questioned American Catholics' loyalty to their country, writing that they were subject to their priests, and, as such, to the entire Roman Catholic hierarchy and the Pope.[33] In other writings, he expressed fears that the Catholic Church, in alliance with Jews and non-white Protestant groups, was becoming increasingly active in politics and thus blurring the separation of church and state.[46]
Under Evans's leadership, the Klan became active in Indiana and Illinois, rather than focusing on the Southeast, as it had done in the past.[9] It also grew in Michigan, where 40,000 members, more than half its total, lived in Detroit. It became characterized as an organization prominent in urban areas of the Midwest, where it attracted native-born Americans competing for industrial jobs with recent immigrants. It also attracted members in Nebraska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.[47]
Evans appointed Stephenson, his early collaborator, as kleagle and Grand Dragon of Indiana.[23][48] The relationship between the two leaders quickly became acrimonious;[49] Stephenson clashed with Evans over the distribution of membership fees and became embittered after Evans refused to help fund the purchase of a school in Indiana.[48][50] Although Stephenson believed Evans had deliberately thwarted his attempt to purchase the school to limit his power, Evans unexpectedly promoted Stephenson to Grand Dragon of the "northern realm" in July 1923.[51]
Historian Leonard Joseph Moore of McGill University contends that Evans paid particular attention to the Indiana Klan out of financial self-interest since it was the largest state branch.[50]
The political scientist Arnold S. Rice writes that Evans also worked on a series of changes, advertised as reforms, to the Klan structure and sought to promote a positive public opinion of the Klan;[52] Evans felt that his organization should be able to reach out to those who were "struggling with the moral decay and economic distress of the 20th century."[53] He increased the Klan's surveillance of members before and after initiation, expelling those considered to be of "questionable morals."[54] He also worked to increase Klan involvement in local policing and denounced acts of violence committed by Klan members, promoting the Klan as a symbol of lawfulness. Those efforts, although successful in reducing the number of attacks, were ultimately unable to sway public opinion in the Klan's favor.[54][55]
Internal conflicts
Evans became embroiled in several internal Klan conflicts that gained media exposure. In January 1921, he and a group of grand dragons expelled the publicist Clarke, who had been critical of Evans's efforts to involve the Klan in electoral politics.[56] Evans also clashed with Henry Grady, a judge from North Carolina who served in the Klan from 1922 to 1927,[57] reaching the rank of Grand Dragon. Before Evans gained control of the Klan, Grady had been considered a potential successor to Simmons. After Grady dismissed a Klan-backed law that would have banned the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service organization, Evans revoked his membership. Grady subsequently leaked his correspondence with Evans to the media.[58]
In August 1923, Evans participated in a Klan parade in the heavily-Catholic borough of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, which was attacked by local residents.[59] One member of the Klan, Thomas Rankin Abbott, was killed; Evans declared him a martyr and hoped that the death would inspire new recruits.[60][61] The incident gave a fillip to the Klan's recruitment efforts but increased Stephenson's animosity toward Evans, whom he blamed for the incident.[62] Stephenson's proclivity for ostentation irritated Evans.[63] Although Stephenson left his official Klan position after a short tenure,[64] the Klan's northern supporters, under his leadership, had begun to rival those in the South.[65] He had been a skilled campaigner and demagogue,[66] and he remained a well-known advocate of the Klan's platforms after resigning.[49] Evans avoided publicly clashing with him, fearing that it would hurt the candidacies of Klan-backed politicians[64] since Stephenson was closely involved in the successful gubernatorial candidacy of Indiana Klan-member Edward L. Jackson,[67] and the Klan members had significant electoral gains in that state in 1924, including the election of several candidates to the state legislature. After those victories, Stephenson showed further disdain for Evans.[66]
Although membership in the Klan was limited to men,[68] Simmons, after losing control of the national organization, attempted to create a parallel white supremacist organization for women. Evans established a women's group and sued him. Evans won the lawsuit,[69] leading to a public war of words with Simmons, whose lawyer was soon murdered by Evans's press agent; Evans denied complicity.[70] In 1924, Evans paid Simmons $145,000 for a promise to abandon the latter's claim to Klan leadership.[56]
Then, Evans moved the Klan's national headquarters to Washington, D.C., where the murder of Simmon's lawyer had received less publicity.[56] To Evans's consternation, Stephenson also formed a women's auxiliary group. Evans and Stephenson subsequently exchanged allegations of sexual impropriety.[69] Police charged Stephenson with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a young woman; he maintained that the charges were orchestrated by Evans.[71] After a sensational trial, Stephenson was convicted of second-degree murder and given a life sentence; the publicity about the leader's behavior caused thousands of members to abandon the Klan.[72][73]
Klan growth and political activism
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/TIME_H_W_Evans_cover_1924.jpg/220px-TIME_H_W_Evans_cover_1924.jpg)
In the early years of Evans's tenure, the Klan reached record enrollment;[40][74] estimates of its peak range from 2.5 to 6 million members, but records are poor and the figure cannot be accurately determined.[28] He also dramatically increased the organization's total assets, more than doubling them from July 1922 to July 1923.[75] Evans changed the way that chapter leaders were paid by insisting that they receive a fixed salary, rather than commissions based on membership fees, in a move that lowered their income.[76] Although previous Imperial Wizards had lived in lavish properties, Evans initially settled into an apartment after his promotion.[77] The sociologist Rory McVeigh of the University of Notre Dame argues that the increase in membership was owing to the Klan's exploitation of a "favorable political context,"[78] particularly since native-born white-settler Americans were fearful after increased immigration caused them to compete for jobs and housing in many cities.[79] Evans had high hopes for the Klan, saying in 1923 that he aimed to reach 10 million members.[30] That year, he spoke at the largest Klan gathering in history, a Fourth of July meeting in rural Indiana that was attended by over 200,000.[80]
Evans sought to include more members from the Southwest in leadership; previously, the Klan had been led by people from the Southeast.[81] In 1922, Evans supported the successful U.S. Senate candidacy of Texas Democrat Earle Bradford Mayfield, an event that demonstrated that Klan-supported candidates could win prominent offices.[82] The next year, Evans returned to Texas for the state fair, where 75,000 people gathered for a "Klan day" celebration.[83][84] He devoted funds to fighting Jack C. Walton, the anti-Klan governor of Oklahoma; to the group's joy, Walton was impeached and removed from office in 1923. However, the Oklahoma legislature soon passed several anti-Klan bills.[85]
Evans published instructions for local Klan leaders that detailed how to run meetings, recruit new members,[74] and speak to local gatherings. He advised leaders to avoid "raving hysterically" in favor of "[a] scientific... presentation of facts." In addition, he urged them to forbid members from bringing their Klan regalia home from meetings and to perform background checks on applicants.[20][76] He instructed Klan members to shun vigilantism but to assist police and attempted, with some success, to recruit police officers into the Klan.[86] Emphasizing the difference between his organization and the more violent 19th-century Ku Klux Klan,[87] Evans formed Klan-themed groups for children.[88] As the Klan attempted to portray itself as a movement led by cultured, well-educated people, its leaders spoke about education in the US.[89] Evans believed that public schools could create a homogeneous society and saw education advocacy as an effective form of public relations.[89][90]
In his writings on the subject, he cited the nation's illiteracy rate as evidence that American public schools were failing, and he considered low teacher salaries and child labor key obstacles to reform.[91] He supported the idea of a federal Department of Education, hoping that it would lead to improvements in public schools that would help "Americanize the foreigners" and thwart recruitment efforts of Catholic schools.[92] Evans wrote four books in the mid to late 1920s: The Menace of Modern Immigration (1923), The Klan of Tomorrow (1924), Alienism in the Democracy (1927), and The Rising Storm (1929).[1]
After the Klan gained respect and political influence in parts of the US, Evans hoped to replicate this on a national scale.[93] Political involvement was controversial among the organization's members, and Evans issued contradictory statements on the issue, publicly disavowing it but surreptitiously attempting to sway politicians.[94] Apart from fundamental Klan issues, different local groups often held varying political ideologies; as such, by insisting on specific political stances, Evans would have risked alienating members.[95] Although many of his hopes were never realized, Evans saw several Klansmen elected to high offices and, in the mid-1920s, the group was frequently discussed by political commentators.[96]
In 1924, the group convinced Republican Party leaders to avoid criticizing it, prompting Time to put Evans on its cover.[97] That year, the Klan supported Calvin Coolidge in his successful candidacy for president of the U.S.[98] Although Coolidge opposed many key Klan platforms, with the exception of immigration restrictions and prohibition, he was the only major-party candidate who did not condemn them.[99] Nonetheless, Evans declared Coolidge's victory a great success for the Klan.[99] Although Republican leaders refrained from attacking the Klan, they were hesitant to support candidates promoted by the group.[100] Significant discussion of the Klan also took place at the Democratic Party's convention;[101] senator and Democratic presidential primary nominee Oscar Underwood decried them as "a national menace."[97] Evans's attempts to elect Klansmen to public offices in 1924 saw limited success[102] except in Indiana.[9]
Decline of Klan
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Although the Klan had four million members in 1924, the group's membership quickly shrank after Stephenson's widely publicized trial. The Indiana Klan lost more than 90% of its members by the end of the proceedings, and there were mass resignations in other states as well.[103] Other scandals emerged, further damaging Klan enrollment. Although the Colorado Klan had seen strong growth, Evans asked the Grand Dragon, John Galen Locke, to resign after local corruption scandals in 1925 involving Klan members who served as police. Evans's request was poorly received by Colorado Klan members, and local enrollment subsequently plummeted.[104]
He encountered difficulties with Klan leaders in Pennsylvania in 1926 after many of them concluded that he was too autocratic. In response, he revoked the charters of several local Klan groups and removed John Strayer, a state legislator, from his position of authority in the Klan. When the Pennsylvania groups continued to refer to themselves as the Ku Klux Klan, Evans sued them in federal court. Pennsylvania Klan members launched a detailed legal offensive against Evans and other Klan leaders, alleging misdeeds, including participation in kidnappings and lynchings. Evans's suit was unsuccessful and, as many newspapers reported the scandalous allegations aired in court, the Pennsylvania Klan suffered a serious decline in membership and support.[105]
In response to the decline in Klan membership, Evans organized a Klan parade in 1926 in Washington, D.C., hoping that a large turnout would demonstrate the Klan's power. About 30,000 members attended, making it the largest parade in the group's history. Evans was disappointed, however, as he had expected twice as many people, and the march did not stanch the drop in membership.[103] That year, Evans attempted to rally U.S. senators to vote against a bill supporting a proposed world court. He was unsuccessful, however, and several Klan-backed senators followed Coolidge and supported the bill.[106] In 1928, Evans opposed the candidacy of the New York Democratic governor Al Smith for president and emphasized the threat of Smith's Catholic faith. After the Republican Herbert Hoover won the election, Evans boldly claimed responsibility for Smith's loss, but most of the solidly-Democratic South had rejected Hoover and voted for Smith against the Klan's advice.[107]
In 1929, Evans acknowledged that membership levels had declined but inaccurately predicted a dramatic turnaround would soon occur.[108] The loss of members resulted in a Klan that was a skeleton of its former self.[109] Historians have attributed this loss of membership to ineptness and hypocrisy on the part of Klan leadership.[108] McVeigh argues that the Klan's inability to form alliances with other political groups led to the sharp loss of political power and solidarity within the group.[110]
Changes in focus
Although many Democratic Klan members initially supported the 1932 presidential campaign of Franklin Roosevelt, the Klan later officially turned against him because of his acceptance of endorsements from minorities and labor unions.[111] After Roosevelt's election, Evans fiercely opposed the New Deal, describing it as a "great danger" to the nation,[112] and argued that it was a "Jewish" policy that endangered American freedom, reserving particular scorn for Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr., who was Jewish.[113] Evans's statements about Jews were sometimes contradictory:[114] he argued that he was not an anti-Semite but maintained that Jews were materialistic and resisted assimilation.[115] The Klan subsequently launched an offensive against organized labor.[111] In the 1930s, Evans fiercely condemned communism and unionism[116] and began to suspect that government agencies had been infiltrated by communists.[117] He focused his attacks on the Congress of Industrial Organizations,[116] claiming that they sought to "flout law and promote social disorder."[118]
Although Evans bemoaned commercialism and attributed it to the effects of liberalism,[21] he supported capitalism and sought to form ties between business leaders and the Klan.[119] He condemned corporate greed, alleging that wealthy elites' desire for cheap labor led to increased immigration.[36] In his view, corporations had changed the Eastern US so that it no longer reflected "true Americanism,"[120] a concept that he believed could be understood only by "legitimate Americans" such as himself.[46] He blamed an influx of unskilled laborers for lowering wages in the U.S.[121] Evans believed that immigration policy should restrict the immigration of unskilled workers except for those needed on farms.[122]
In 1934, Evans encountered public controversy after it was revealed that he intended to travel to Louisiana to campaign against the Democratic governor Huey Long, who planned to run in the 1936 presidential election. Long learned of Evans's plans and condemned him in a speech at the Louisiana State Legislature, deriding him as a "tooth-puller" and an "Imperial bastard" and warning of grave consequences should he follow through with his plans.[123] After learning of the potential opposition, Evans cancelled his plans[123] but retorted that Long, who based his campaign on Americanist themes, was "un-American."[124]
Downfall and death
In the 1930s, the Klan's public support greatly diminished and their membership dropped to about 100,000 people, primarily concentrated in the South, having lost most of their members elsewhere.[72][113] James A. Colescott, Evans's handpicked chief of staff, then increasingly shouldered Evans's responsibilities.[118][125] After the Great Depression further damaged the Klan's finances, the group's leadership sold their Atlanta headquarters in 1936.[126][127] Around then, Evans announced his intention to retire.[126]
Although anti-Catholicism had been a consistent platform of the Klan,[128] before leaving the organization, Evans renounced his anti-Catholicism and pronounced a "new era of religious tolerance."[129] In 1939, he said that "in no other time in history has there been more need for all people who believe in the same Father and same Son to stand together."[130] That year, Evans also publicly expressed an interest in learning aspects of Judaism to understand the Old Testament better.[130] Chester L. Quarles, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Mississippi, argues that Evans repudiated anti-Catholicism because of his desire to fight unions and communism and his fear of having too many enemies at one time.[118]
After Evans sold the Klan's former headquarters, it was purchased by the Catholic Church. The Cathedral of Christ the King was later built on the site. Evans attended the building's dedication and spoke highly of the service, surprising many observers.[131] His attendance at the service was his last significant public appearance as Imperial Wizard: he stepped down soon afterwards,[129] having become deeply unpopular with members of the Klan, who felt that he had embraced their enemies.[132] He resigned on June 10, 1939, and was replaced as Imperial Wizard by Colescott.[133][134]
Evans's service as Imperial Wizard proved to be a lucrative position, allowing him to maintain a large residence in a prestigious Atlanta neighborhood.[125][135] In the mid-1930s, however, Klan funds dwindled, and he worked for a Georgia-based construction company selling products to the Georgia Highway Board. At the same time, he was a staunch supporter of Georgia Governor Eurith D. Rivers,[136] a liberal pro-New Deal Democrat whom he had previously employed as a lecturer.[118] The political support that he provided the administration allowed Evans to sell to the highway board without bidding against other contractors. In 1940, the state of Georgia charged Evans and a member of the state highway board with price fixing. The Attorney General of Georgia, Ellis Arnall, directed legal proceedings against Evans that resulted in a $15,000 fine.[136]
Meanwhile, Colescott attempted to resuscitate the waning second Klan by an "administration of action" and stricter enforcement of the Klan's stated policies and led extensive recruitment campaigns.[134] Despite concerns by opponents that the Klan would regain full force after the conclusion of World War II, it was unable to improve its membership and was under pressure from the Internal Revenue Service for failure to pay taxes. Through a decree on April 23, 1944, Colescott formally disbanded the Klan. Locally-sponsored groups continued to use the name but lacked the united leadership of the earlier Klan.[137][138]
As late as 1949, Evans served as a commentator on Klan activities, speaking as the former Imperial Wizard.[139][140] He died on September 14, 1966, in Atlanta.[1][141]
Appraisal
David A. Horowitz, a historian at Portland State University, credits Evans with changing the Klan "from a confederation of local vigilantes into a centralized and powerful political movement."[9] Fellow historian William D. Jenkins of Youngstown State University maintains that Evans was "personally corrupt and more interested in money or power than a cause."[142] During Evans's tenure as Imperial Wizard, the New York Times characterized the Klan's leadership as "shrewd schemers".[143] However, Rice suggests that Evans's reforms would never have been successful, as the Klan remained a white supremacist organization that "automatically made enemies of ... anyone who happened to be foreign-born, Negro, Catholic, Jewish, or opposed to bigotry and chauvinism."[144]
An editorial in The New York Times during Evans's tenure as Klan leader described him as "severe and logical" in his writing,[33] but the historian Richard Hofstadter described Evans's writings as not immoderate in tone. The communications specialist Nicolas Rangel Jr. of the University of Houston–Downtown suggests that the vernacular prevented some Americans from recognizing the extremist nature of Evans's views.[145]
Evans's ideology was attacked by numerous contemporaries; these criticisms began early in his Klan career. David Lefkowitz, rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, assailed Evans's assertion that Jews did not assimilate, emphasizing American experiences shared by Jews and Christians, such as military service in World War I.[146] James Weldon Johnson, leader of the NAACP, responded to Evans's promotion of white supremacy by contending that "all races are mixed."[147] Other well-known adversaries of Evans included the minister and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, who opposed the Klan in Detroit in 1925, describing them as "one of the worst specific social phenomena which the religious pride of a people has ever developed."[148] The Dallas Morning News publisher George Dealey and Atlanta journalist Ralph McGill opposed him, the latter deriding him for his hypocrisy and false claims about minorities.[136][146]
Several publications, however, gave positive coverage to Evans but not necessarily his work with the Klan. In 1927, The New York Times congratulated Evans on his "modest and engaging exposition of 'Americanism'".[33] Although the Klan disowned Evans for reaching out to the Catholic Church, popular opinion was more positive. In 1939, the Palm Beach Daily News described the meeting between Evans and Cardinal Dennis Joseph Dougherty as stirring both religious and secular circles;[149] favorable coverage of the meeting was found in several other publications.[130] Dougherty said that he had found Evans "intensely interested in religious subjects" outside Protestantism.[149]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h The Handbook of Texas Online.
- ^ Snell 1987, p. 312.
- ^ U.S. Selective Service.
- ^ "Imperial Wizard of K.K.K. Will Speak Tonight At 8:30: Former Texan Dentist Now Heads National Invisible Empire: Is C. P. U. Guest". The Daily Tar Heel. Chapel Hill, North Carolina. November 17, 1937. p. 17. Archived from the original on March 19, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Snell 1987, p. 312; Phillips 2006, p. 88.
- ^ Snell 1987, p. 312; Sims 1996, p. 3.
- ^ Phillips 2006, p. 88; Pegram 2011, p. 17.
- ^ a b c d Wade 1998, p. 187.
- ^ a b c d e Horowitz 1997, p. 83.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 17.
- ^ Pegram 2011, pp. 17–18.
- ^ Rice 1962, pp. 1–2.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Henry, Shaun David (2017). The Klan and the Craft: An Analysis of Masonic Dual Membership with the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas, 1920–1926. The University of Texas at Dallas" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
- ^ "Masked men at Dallas take Negro Bellboy, give him flogging and brand him with 'KKK' across forehead"[permanent dead link], Denton Record-Chronicle (1921)
- ^ a b c d e Jenkins 1990, p. 7.
- ^ Phillips 2006, p. 85.
- ^ a b Moore 1997, p. 18.
- ^ Tucker 2004, pp. 93–94.
- ^ a b Chalmers 1981, p. 42.
- ^ a b Wade 1998, p. 195.
- ^ a b c Horowitz 1997, p. 85.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 182.
- ^ a b Blee 2009, p. 22.
- ^ a b Blee 2009, p. 22; Tucker 2004, p. 94.
- ^ Wade 1998, p. 188.
- ^ Rice 1962, p. 9.
- ^ Wade 1998, p. 188; Rice 1962, pp. 10–12.
- ^ a b Bennett 1988, p. 213.
- ^ The Hutchinson News 1926.
- ^ a b c Wade 1998, p. 193.
- ^ Phillips 2006, p. 94.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 47.
- ^ a b c d New York Times 1927.
- ^ Horowitz 1997, pp. 87–88.
- ^ Rice 1962, p. 20.
- ^ a b Phillips 2006, p. 89.
- ^ a b Pegram 2011, p. 50.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 194.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 53.
- ^ a b c Blee 2009, p. 23.
- ^ Moore 1997, p. 21.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 127.
- ^ Rangel 2009, p. 7.
- ^ Phillips 2006, p. 91.
- ^ Moore 1997, p. 20.
- ^ a b Rangel 2009, p. 6.
- ^ Jackson 1967, pp. 241–243.
- ^ a b Moore 1997, p. 19.
- ^ a b Moore 1997, p. 46.
- ^ a b Moore 1997, p. 93.
- ^ Tucker 2004, pp. 103, 107.
- ^ Bennett 1988, p. 214.
- ^ Rangel 2009, p. 4.
- ^ a b Rice 1962, pp. 10–12.
- ^ Bennett 1988, p. 226.
- ^ a b c Wade 1998, pp. 190–191.
- ^ Chalmers 1981, p. 92.
- ^ Sims 1996, p. 35.
- ^ Tucker 2004, p. 133.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 177.
- ^ "Bob Podurgiel: When the Klan came to Carnegie". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
- ^ Tucker 2004, p. 135.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 27.
- ^ a b Wade 1998, p. 234.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 157.
- ^ a b Blee 2009, p. 94.
- ^ Tucker 2004, p. 140.
- ^ Newton 2010, p. 75.
- ^ a b Blee 2009, p. 27.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 18.
- ^ Blee 2009, p. 95.
- ^ a b Chalmers 1981, p. 5.
- ^ Chalmers 1981, p. 172.
- ^ a b Wade 1998, p. 192.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 25.
- ^ a b Dobratz & Shanks-Meile 2000, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Quarles 1999, p. 74.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 197.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 200.
- ^ Wade 1998, pp. 215–216.
- ^ Chalmers 1981, p. 70.
- ^ Stone 2010, p. 137.
- ^ Chalmers 1981, p. 39.
- ^ Chalmers 1981, p. 44.
- ^ Chalmers 1981, p. 54.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 162.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 6.
- ^ Newton 2010, p. 76.
- ^ a b McVeigh 2009, p. 115.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 92.
- ^ Moore 1997, p. 36.
- ^ Moore 1997, p. 37.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. xi.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 188.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 197.
- ^ Wade 1998, p. 196.
- ^ a b Wade 1998, p. 197.
- ^ Chalmers 1981, p. 170.
- ^ a b McVeigh 2009, pp. 188–189.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 213.
- ^ Tindall 1967, p. 194.
- ^ Gitlin 2009, p. 17.
- ^ a b Gitlin 2009, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Chalmers 1981, p. 132.
- ^ Chalmers 1981, p. 242.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 212.
- ^ Newton 2010, pp. 95–96.
- ^ a b McVeigh 2009, p. 182.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 217.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 183.
- ^ a b Wade 1998, p. 259.
- ^ Wade 1998, p. 239.
- ^ a b Gitlin 2009, p. 22.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 55.
- ^ Moore 1997, pp. 20–21.
- ^ a b Wade 1998, p. 262.
- ^ Quarles 1999, p. 77.
- ^ a b c d Quarles 1999, p. 79.
- ^ Phillips 2006, pp. 88–89.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 69.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, p. 68.
- ^ McVeigh 2009, pp. 67–68.
- ^ a b Sims 1996, p. 3.
- ^ Bennett 1988, p. 252.
- ^ a b Chalmers 1981, p. 317.
- ^ a b Wade 1998, p. 264.
- ^ Gitlin 2009, p. xvi.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 69.
- ^ a b Quarles 1999, p. 80.
- ^ a b c The Telegraph-Herald 1939.
- ^ Wade 1998, pp. 264–265.
- ^ Quarles 1999, pp. 79–80.
- ^ Newton 2010, p. 100.
- ^ a b Rice 1962, p. 106.
- ^ Quarles 1999, p. 81.
- ^ a b c Wade 1998, p. 265.
- ^ Bennett 1988, p. 236.
- ^ Rice 1962, p. 108.
- ^ Glass 1949.
- ^ Warsaw Herald 1949.
- ^ Georgia Vital Records.
- ^ Jenkins 1990, p. vii.
- ^ Wade 1998, p. 191.
- ^ Rice 1962, p. 12.
- ^ Rangel 2009, p. 2.
- ^ a b Stone 2010, pp. 132–133.
- ^ Pegram 2011, p. 49.
- ^ Jackson 1967, p. 142.
- ^ a b Palm Beach Daily News 1939.
Bibliography
Books
- Bennett, David H. (1988), The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History, University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 978-0-8078-1772-8
- Blee, Kathleen M. (2009), Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-25787-0
- Chalmers, David Mark (1981), Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan, Duke University Press, ISBN 978-0-8223-0772-3
- Dobratz, Betty A.; Shanks-Meile, Stephanie L. (2000), The White Separatist Movement in the United States: "White Power, White Pride!", JHU Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-6537-4
- Gitlin, Marty (2009), The Ku Klux Klan: A Guide to an American Subculture, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-0-313-36576-8
- Horowitz, David A. (1997), Beyond Left & Right: Insurgency and the Establishment, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 978-0-252-06568-2
- Jackson, Kenneth T. (1967), The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915–1930, Oxford University Press, OCLC 249235
- Jenkins, William D. (1990), Steel Valley Klan: The Ku Klux Klan in Ohio's Mahoning Valley, Kent State University Press, ISBN 978-0-87338-694-4
- McVeigh, Rory (2009), The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan: Right-Wing Movements and National Politics, University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 978-0-8166-5619-6
- Moore, Leonard Joseph (1997), Citizen Klansmen: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921–1928, University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 978-0-8078-4627-8
- Newton, Michael (2010), The Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi: a History, McFarland, ISBN 978-0-7864-4653-7
- Pegram, Thomas R. (2011), One Hundred Percent American: The Rebirth and Decline of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-1-56663-711-4
- Phillips, Michael (2006), White Metropolis: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in Dallas, 1841–2001, University of Texas Press, ISBN 978-0-292-71274-4
- Quarles, Chester L. (1999), The Ku Klux Klan and Related American Racialist and Antisemitic Organizations: a History and Analysis, McFarland, ISBN 978-0-7864-0647-0
- Rice, Arnold S. (1962), The Ku Klux Klan in American Politics, Public Affairs Press, OCLC 1315079
- Sims, Patsy (1996), The Klan, University Press of Kentucky, ISBN 978-0-8131-0887-2
- Snell, William R. (1987), Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins (ed.), From Civil War to Civil Rights—Alabama, 1860–1960: an Anthology from the Alabama Review, University of Alabama Press, ISBN 978-0-8173-0341-9
- Stone, Bryan Edward (2010), The Chosen Folks: Jews on the Frontiers of Texas, University of Texas Press, ISBN 978-0-292-72177-7
- Tindall, George Brown (1967), The Emergence of the New South, 1913–1945, LSU Press, ISBN 978-0-8071-0010-3
- Tucker, Todd (2004), Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan, Loyola Press, ISBN 978-0-8294-1771-5
- Wade, Wyn Craig (1998), The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-512357-9
Journals
- Rangel, Nicolas Jr. (Summer 2009), "Ambiguously Articulating "Americanism": The Rhetoric of Hiram Wesley Evans and the Klan of the 1920s" (PDF), American Communication Journal, 11 (2)
Government records
- "Entry for Hiram Wesley Evans". United States, Selective Service System. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918. Ancestry.com. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
- "Entry for Hiram W. Evans". State of Georgia, Indexes of Vital Records for Georgia: Deaths, 1919–1998. Ancestry.com. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
News
- "Advertisement". The Hutchinson News. November 17, 1926. p. 5.
- "Cardinal Dougherty Greets Imperial Wizard of the Klan". Palm Beach Daily News. January 19, 1939. pp. 1, 5.[permanent dead link]
- "Church, Klan Leaders Meet". The Telegraph-Herald. January 18, 1939. p. 13.
- "Emperor Hiram". The New York Times. December 24, 1927.
- Glass, Richard C. (August 19, 1949). "Anonymous Group Will Pick Successor Soon for Samuel Green". Tri-City Herald. p. 5.[permanent dead link]
- "Head Klansman Dies Suddenly". Warsaw Herald. August 20, 1949. p. 2.
Web
- Maxwell, Lisa C. (June 12, 2010), "Evans, Hiram Wesley", The Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, retrieved April 21, 2012
External links
Media related to Hiram Wesley Evans at Wikimedia Commons
- 1881 births
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