Table Of Content

THE KU KLUX KLAN IN THE HEARTLAND Praise for the first edition “In examining the motivations and methods of the Ku Klux Klan, Madison’s lively, accessible and all-too-timely account explores how previous generations have grappled with the age-old question, ‘Who is an American?,’ a question vthat continues to defi ne and divide the nation today. Whether addressing politics, media, religion, or basketball, this meticulously researched and expansive work brilliantly illustrates how, through the Klan, we can bett er understand American history today.” —Tom Rice, University of St Andrews, author of White Robes, Silver Screens: Movies and the Making of the Ku Klux Klan “‘Our democracy demands that we open all the pages in the book of history,’ James Madison writes in this important study of the Klan in Indiana. . . . Madison counters many of the common myths surrounding the origin, power, and appeal of the Klan to Midwesterners in the 1920s. Madison’s focus is on the robed men and women, neither naive nor particularly duped by a charismatic leader, who belonged to the organization, and on the political turmoil surrounding prohibition, suff rage, economics, and religion that caused them to join. Th e Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland sheds much-needed light on the unread pages of our past that continue to reverberate into our present.” —Susan Neville, Butler University, author of Indiana Winter “James Madison, author of the classic A Lynching in the Heartland, gives a sweeping portrayal of the ugly role of the Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland and its blot on American history. He portrays its rise to power in Indiana in the 1920s and its current iterations in ‘graffi ti of Nazi fl ags painted outside a Hamilton county synagogue in 2018’ and in ‘Klan recruiting notices that appeared across town’ in Bloomington in 2019. Th is book burns.” —Dan Wakefi eld, author of New York in the Fift ies and Going All Th e Way J A M E S H . M A D I S O N THE KU KLUX KLAN IN THE HEARTLAND Indiana University Press This book is a publication of Indiana University Press Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library 350 1320 East 10th Street Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA iupress.org © 2020 by James H. Madison All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992. Manufactured in the United States of America First printing 2020 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Madison, James H., author. Title: The Ku Klux Klan in the heartland / James H. Madison, Indiana University Press. Description: Bloomington, Indiana : Indiana University Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020015921 (print) | LCCN 2020015922 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253052186 (hardback) | ISBN 9780253052193 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Ku Klux Klan (1915- )—History. | Racism—United States—History. | United States—Race relations—History. Classification: LCC HS2330.K63 M227 2020 (print) | LCC HS2330. K63 (ebook) | DDC 322.4/2097709042—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015921 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020015922 To my family CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. The Klan Arrives 9 2. The Dangers to America 84 3. To Hell in a Handbasket 97 4. The Politics of Mediocrity 112 5. Stephenson Goes Down 127 6. The Klan’s Enemies Step Up 138 7. The Klan Returns 175 8. The Klan Is Dead 189 Notes 199 Time Line 229 Bibliography: Learning More about the Ku Klux Klan 233 Index 237 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My first thank-you goes to several friends and ex- perts who read an early draft of this book. More than once I returned to them for follow-up advice. They are Richard Nation, Allen Safi- anow, Jason Lantzer, Greg Sumner, Dan Carpenter, and George Hanlin. Additional colleagues who read or advised me on particular subjects include Joanne E. Passet, Eric Mundell, Nicole Etcheson, and Thomas Hamm. My research took me to libraries and archives where my apprecia- tion deepened for the essential work these institutions do to gather and preserve our history. First is my home place in Bloomington, the Indiana University Libraries, including the Lilly Library and the University Archives. Important help elsewhere came from the Indi- ana Historical Society Library, Indiana State Library, Indiana State Archives, Ball State University Library, Eckhart Public Library, and the Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. Many kind friends and strangers assisted in locating images, check- ing facts, and adding details. I’m grateful to Suzanne Hahn, Eric Mun- dell, Susan Sutton, and Nadia Kousari (Indiana Historical Society Library); Justin Clark and Brittany Kropf (Indiana State Library); Claire Horton (Indiana State Archives); Stephen G. McShane (Calu- met Regional Archives, Indiana University Northwest); Elizabeth Hogan (Notre Dame University); Ron Morris, James J. Connolly, and Becky Marangelli (Ball State University); Thomas Hamm (Earlham ix