Journalism & Democracy Spring 2011 Paul Altieri: Chapter 7: Defying the Ku Klux Klan

The Klan marches in Washington

William Joseph Simmons was the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. He persuaded people to follow the Klan with promises that they could join together to express their hate for specific religions and races. In their minds, many people felt the way that they did but had to outlet to express their feelings. The Klan was the perfect way to unite in hate. The Klan was a force to be reckoned with and even elected some of their members into the U.S senate. The KKK slowly began to fade away when the promises that the Klan made to their followers went unfulfilled. The media also had an affect on the evaporation of the Klan. Negative articles about the Klan in such papers as the New York World and Commercial Appeal did great damage to the Klan’s reputation and convinced many that following the Klan would not lead to anything positive.

In the early 1920s, the Klan started to show some signs of life again. In 1925, they invaded Washington D.C and marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to preach their cause. They made more promises to their followers, one specifically convincing them that they had more power than the president to turn the country around in a positive direction. Journalists were mixed when it came to deciding whether to give the Klan coverage in their papers. Some were fearful of the power and influence the Klan had while others treated them equal to any other public group. Some chose to ignore them in fear that they would gain more publicity and obtain more followers.

In 1921, the New York World published a series with the intent on exposing and disbanding the Klan. The paper was syndicated around the country to draw national attention on the Klan. Along with the text, there was artwork that was added as shock value to convey to their readers that the main goal of the Klan was to promote hate and discrimination. What was scary was that the Klan was actually helping Senators and governors get elected into office. The news knew that having their men getting into positions of power would add fuel to their fire and would help the Klan expand and gain more followers. During the election in Memphis, the Commercial Appeal newspaper printed negative editorials and pictorials to fully depict the Klan's "use of vigilante violence as a means of terrorizing the city's African Americans, Catholics and Jews" (Streitmatter, 115). During the election, Mayor Paine defeated W. Joe Wood (the person the Klan was supporting). Many believe that it was the paper's negative depiction of the Klan that coaxed the community to vote against a Klan supporter for Mayor. The paper even received the Pulitzer Prize in public service for making the community aware of the Klan and what they were all about.

Despite the positive outcome in part due to the Commercial Appeal, there were still newspapers that were defending the Klan. Grover Cleveland Hall was against the Klan and openly bashed them in editorials in the Montgomery Advertiser. He pushed for a law that would incarcerate anyone wearing a mask and/or a robe. He called the Klan's actions a "...new monstrosity..." (Streitmatter, 122) that could no longer be ignored. At first, Hall had succeeded in his request. Later, it was overturned by a governor who was a member of the Klan. Hall was also awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

What strikes me most about this chapter is the impact that the media had on such a violent organization. People were afraid to challenge the Klan face-to-face and expressing their anger and opinions through editorials and cartoons seemed like the only safe way to let out their emotions. Sure, having the spotlight on the Klan in their newspapers did boost the Klan's membership but the bigger story was that it also stopped the Klan from interesting New York City residents to join. Grover Cleveland Hall's efforts also prevented the Klan from achieving power in Montgomery, Alabama. Many feel that the discrediting and negative view that people had about the view were attributed to the newspapers. The newspapers were ultimately responsible for the decline of the Klan and hold a special place in history as the only person/organization to be able to say that.