Английская Википедия:Hiram Wesley Evans

Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use mdy dates Шаблон:Infobox person 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn The son of Hiram Martin Evans, a judge, and his wife, Georgia Evans, the younger Evans graduated from Vanderbilt University.^[1] Shortly after, he became a dentist, receiving his license in 1900.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfnm He married Ellen "Bama" Hill in 1923; they had three children together.Шаблон:Sfn

Evans established a small, moderately successful dentistry practice in Downtown Dallas that provided inexpensive services.Шаблон:Sfnm Шаблон:Sfnm Rumors later arose that his dental qualifications were "a bit shady."Шаблон:Sfn A Protestant, Evans attended a church belonging to the Disciples of Christ denomination. He was also a Freemason.Шаблон:Sfn Evans described himself as "the most average man in America."Шаблон:Sfn Of average height and somewhat overweight, Evans was well dressed, a skilled speaker, and very ambitious.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn Leading up to his involvement in the Klan, Evans had a significant personal involvement in Freemasonry.^[2] He was initially raised in Dallas Lodge No. 760 in July 1907 under the Grand Lodge of Texas.^[2] Evans was involved in both York Rite (including the Masonic "Knights Templar") and Scottish Rite freemasonry.^[2] Evans was raised to the Thirty-Second Degree at the Dallas Consistory in April 1913.^[2] He was also a member of the Shriners, having joined the Hella Temple at Dallas in April 1911.^[2] 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.^[2]

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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn He joined several Klan members in kidnapping and torturing a black bellhop, ostensibly because they suspected he was involved in pandering prostitutes.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Although Evans was not morally opposed to violence against minorities,Шаблон:Sfn he publicly condemned vigilante activity because he feared that it would attract government scrutiny and hinder potential Klan-backed political campaigning.Шаблон:Sfn The change of stance led the leader of the Houston Klan to accuse him of hypocrisy.Шаблон:Sfn Although Evans later took credit for a decrease in lynchings in the Southern United States during the 1920s,Шаблон:Sfn several Klan members claimed that he surreptitiously encouraged and presided over acts of violence against minorities.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn He received a base salary of $7,500 and traveled throughout the country, regularly meeting with local Klan leaders.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn They deceived Simmons into agreeing to a reorganization of the Klan that removed his practical control;Шаблон:Sfnm Шаблон:Sfn Simmons said that they had claimed that if he remained the Imperial Wizard of the Klan, discord would hamper the organization.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfnm Шаблон:Sfnm 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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Advertisement for a KKK rally to be held on November 19, 1926, in Wichita, Kansas, at which Evans would speakШаблон:Sfn

As the leader of the Klan, Evans advanced a form of nativist, white supremacy that cast Protestantism as a fundamental part of American patriotism.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn To Evans, whiteness and Protestantism were equally valued and sometimes conflated:Шаблон:Sfn he said the Klan supported the "uncontaminated growth of Anglo-Saxon civilization".Шаблон:Sfn He maintained the belief that white Protestants had the exclusive right to govern the US because they were the descendants of the early colonists,Шаблон:Sfn whom he described as fleeing Europe for the US to escape its societal bounds.Шаблон:Sfn He admitted that many Klan members were of rural, uneducated backgrounds but argued that power should be given to "the common people of America."Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Under Evans, the Klan supported a mixture of right-wing and left-wing political positions,Шаблон:Sfn which were described by Thomas Pegram of Loyola University Maryland as "too much of a patchwork to be considered an ideological system."Шаблон:Sfn Klan literature spoke highly of politicians such as Woodrow Wilson, William Jennings Bryan, and Grover Cleveland.Шаблон:Sfn Evans borrowed numerous concepts from the writings of Lothrop Stoddard and Madison Grant, American writers of the period who promoted eugenics and scientific racism,Шаблон:Sfn and he attempted to cast his platforms as if they were based on science.Шаблон:Sfn Evans attacked immigrants by arguing that they would promote ideologies such as anarchism and communism,Шаблон:Sfn were threats to national unity,Шаблон:Sfn and were involved with bootlegging during Prohibition.Шаблон:Sfn He considered immigrants "ignorant, superstitious, religious devotees" intent on earning money in the US before retiring to their homelands.Шаблон:Sfn However, he supported immigration of whom he deemed "Nordic."Шаблон:Sfn

Evans also argued against miscegenation, and Catholic and Jewish immigration on the grounds that they were threats to genetic "good stock,"Шаблон:Sfn a racial division that was widely supported among white Americans.Шаблон:Sfn Evans believed the Catholic Church sought to take control of the US government;Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Evans appointed Stephenson, his early collaborator, as kleagle and Grand Dragon of Indiana.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn The relationship between the two leaders quickly became acrimonious;Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn

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;Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn He increased the Klan's surveillance of members before and after initiation, expelling those considered to be of "questionable morals."Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn Evans also clashed with Henry Grady, a judge from North Carolina who served in the Klan from 1922 to 1927,Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

In August 1923, Evans participated in a Klan parade in the heavily-Catholic borough of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, which was attacked by local residents.Шаблон:Sfn One member of the Klan, Thomas Rankin Abbott, was killed; Evans declared him a martyr and hoped that the death would inspire new recruits.Шаблон:Sfn^[4] The incident gave a fillip to the Klan's recruitment efforts but increased Stephenson's animosity toward Evans, whom he blamed for the incident.Шаблон:Sfn Stephenson's proclivity for ostentation irritated Evans.Шаблон:Sfn Although Stephenson left his official Klan position after a short tenure,Шаблон:Sfn the Klan's northern supporters, under his leadership, had begun to rival those in the South.Шаблон:Sfn He had been a skilled campaigner and demagogue,Шаблон:Sfn and he remained a well-known advocate of the Klan's platforms after resigning.Шаблон:Sfn Evans avoided publicly clashing with him, fearing that it would hurt the candidacies of Klan-backed politiciansШаблон:Sfn since Stephenson was closely involved in the successful gubernatorial candidacy of Indiana Klan-member Edward L. Jackson,Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Although membership in the Klan was limited to men,Шаблон:Sfn 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,Шаблон:Sfn leading to a public war of words with Simmons, whose lawyer was soon murdered by Evans's press agent; Evans denied complicity.Шаблон:Sfn In 1924, Evans paid Simmons $145,000 for a promise to abandon the latter's claim to Klan leadership.Шаблон:Sfn

Then, Evans moved the Klan's national headquarters to Washington, D.C., where the murder of Simmon's lawyer had received less publicity.Шаблон:Sfn To Evans's consternation, Stephenson also formed a women's auxiliary group. Evans and Stephenson subsequently exchanged allegations of sexual impropriety.Шаблон:Sfn Police charged Stephenson with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a young woman; he maintained that the charges were orchestrated by Evans.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

Klan growth and political activism

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Evans on the cover of Time, June 23, 1924

In the early years of Evans's tenure, the Klan reached record enrollment;Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn estimates of its peak range from 2.5 to 6 million members, but records are poor and the figure cannot be accurately determined.Шаблон:Sfn He also dramatically increased the organization's total assets, more than doubling them from July 1922 to July 1923.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Although previous Imperial Wizards had lived in lavish properties, Evans initially settled into an apartment after his promotion.Шаблон:Sfn 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,"Шаблон:Sfn particularly since native-born white-settler Americans were fearful after increased immigration caused them to compete for jobs and housing in many cities.Шаблон:Sfn Evans had high hopes for the Klan, saying in 1923 that he aimed to reach 10 million members.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Evans sought to include more members from the Southwest in leadership; previously, the Klan had been led by people from the Southeast.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn The next year, Evans returned to Texas for the state fair, where 75,000 people gathered for a "Klan day" celebration.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

Evans published instructions for local Klan leaders that detailed how to run meetings, recruit new members,Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn He instructed Klan members to shun vigilantism but to assist police and attempted, with some success, to recruit police officers into the Klan.Шаблон:Sfn Emphasizing the difference between his organization and the more violent 19th-century Ku Klux Klan,Шаблон:Sfn Evans formed Klan-themed groups for children.Шаблон:Sfn As the Klan attempted to portray itself as a movement led by cultured, well-educated people, its leaders spoke about education in the US.Шаблон:Sfn Evans believed that public schools could create a homogeneous society and saw education advocacy as an effective form of public relations.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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).Шаблон:Sfn

After the Klan gained respect and political influence in parts of the US, Evans hoped to replicate this on a national scale.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

In 1924, the group convinced Republican Party leaders to avoid criticizing it, prompting Time to put Evans on its cover.Шаблон:Sfn That year, the Klan supported Calvin Coolidge in his successful candidacy for president of the U.S.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Nonetheless, Evans declared Coolidge's victory a great success for the Klan.Шаблон:Sfn Although Republican leaders refrained from attacking the Klan, they were hesitant to support candidates promoted by the group.Шаблон:Sfn Significant discussion of the Klan also took place at the Democratic Party's convention;Шаблон:Sfn senator and Democratic presidential primary nominee Oscar Underwood decried them as "a national menace."Шаблон:Sfn Evans's attempts to elect Klansmen to public offices in 1924 saw limited successШаблон:Sfn except in Indiana.Шаблон:Sfn

Decline of Klan

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Evans leading his Knights of the Klan on the parade held in Washington, D.C., on September 13, 1926

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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

In 1929, Evans acknowledged that membership levels had declined but inaccurately predicted a dramatic turnaround would soon occur.Шаблон:Sfn The loss of members resulted in a Klan that was a skeleton of its former self.Шаблон:Sfn Historians have attributed this loss of membership to ineptness and hypocrisy on the part of Klan leadership.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn After Roosevelt's election, Evans fiercely opposed the New Deal, describing it as a "great danger" to the nation,Шаблон:Sfn and argued that it was a "Jewish" policy that endangered American freedom, reserving particular scorn for Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr., who was Jewish.Шаблон:Sfn Evans's statements about Jews were sometimes contradictory:Шаблон:Sfn he argued that he was not an anti-Semite but maintained that Jews were materialistic and resisted assimilation.Шаблон:Sfn The Klan subsequently launched an offensive against organized labor.Шаблон:Sfn In the 1930s, Evans fiercely condemned communism and unionism Шаблон:Sfn and began to suspect that government agencies had been infiltrated by communists.Шаблон:Sfn He focused his attacks on the Congress of Industrial Organizations,Шаблон:Sfn claiming that they sought to "flout law and promote social disorder."Шаблон:Sfn

Although Evans bemoaned commercialism and attributed it to the effects of liberalism,Шаблон:Sfn he supported capitalism and sought to form ties between business leaders and the Klan.Шаблон:Sfn He condemned corporate greed, alleging that wealthy elites' desire for cheap labor led to increased immigration.Шаблон:Sfn In his view, corporations had changed the Eastern US so that it no longer reflected "true Americanism,"Шаблон:Sfn a concept that he believed could be understood only by "legitimate Americans" such as himself.Шаблон:Sfn He blamed an influx of unskilled laborers for lowering wages in the U.S.Шаблон:Sfn Evans believed that immigration policy should restrict the immigration of unskilled workers except for those needed on farms.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn After learning of the potential opposition, Evans cancelled his plansШаблон:Sfn but retorted that Long, who based his campaign on Americanist themes, was "un-American."Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn James A. Colescott, Evans's handpicked chief of staff, then increasingly shouldered Evans's responsibilities.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn After the Great Depression further damaged the Klan's finances, the group's leadership sold their Atlanta headquarters in 1936.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn Around then, Evans announced his intention to retire.Шаблон:Sfn

Although anti-Catholicism had been a consistent platform of the Klan,Шаблон:Sfn before leaving the organization, Evans renounced his anti-Catholicism and pronounced a "new era of religious tolerance."Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn That year, Evans also publicly expressed an interest in learning aspects of Judaism to understand the Old Testament better.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn His attendance at the service was his last significant public appearance as Imperial Wizard: he stepped down soon afterwards,Шаблон:Sfn having become deeply unpopular with members of the Klan, who felt that he had embraced their enemies.Шаблон:Sfn He resigned on June 10, 1939, and was replaced as Imperial Wizard by Colescott.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

Evans's service as Imperial Wizard proved to be a lucrative position, allowing him to maintain a large residence in a prestigious Atlanta neighborhood.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn 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,Шаблон:Sfn a liberal pro-New Deal Democrat whom he had previously employed as a lecturer.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

As late as 1949, Evans served as a commentator on Klan activities, speaking as the former Imperial Wizard.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn He died on September 14, 1966, in Atlanta.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

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."Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn During Evans's tenure as Imperial Wizard, the New York Times characterized the Klan's leadership as "shrewd schemers".Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn

An editorial in The New York Times during Evans's tenure as Klan leader described him as "severe and logical" in his writing,Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn

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.Шаблон:Sfn James Weldon Johnson, leader of the NAACP, responded to Evans's promotion of white supremacy by contending that "all races are mixed."Шаблон:Sfn 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."Шаблон:Sfn 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.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

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 'AmericanismШаблон:'".Шаблон:Sfn 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;Шаблон:Sfn favorable coverage of the meeting was found in several other publications.Шаблон:Sfn Dougherty said that he had found Evans "intensely interested in religious subjects" outside Protestantism.Шаблон:Sfn

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Bibliography

Books

Journals

Шаблон:Citation

Government records

News

Web

Шаблон:Citation

External links

Шаблон:Commons category-inline

Шаблон:S-start Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:S-ach Шаблон:S-bef Шаблон:S-ttl Шаблон:S-aft Шаблон:End

Шаблон:Grand Wizards of the Ku Klux Klan

Шаблон:Authority control

Шаблон:Featured article

[imperialwizardofkkk-1] Шаблон:Cite news Шаблон:Open access

[mas-2] 2,0 ^2,1 ^2,2 ^2,3 ^2,4 ^2,5 ^2,6 Шаблон:Cite web

[3] "Masked men at Dallas take Negro Bellboy, give him flogging and brand him with 'KKK' across forehead"Шаблон:Dead link, Denton Record-Chronicle (1921)

[4] Шаблон:Cite web

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