The Klan Unmasked: With a New Introduction by David Pilgrim and a New Author's Note

1. The Fiery Summons

2 KKK BOOK STANDS Up TO CLAIM OF FALSEHOOD information about secret Klan rituals and activities-but its other value lay in the connection that Kennedy made between the Klan and the values held by "mainstream" citizens. Klansmen saw themselves as God-fearing, law-abiding lovers ofpatriotism. In their minds they were the true Americans, and many White Americans sympathized with their goals if not their methods. Klan members and allies included politicians, business leaders, journalists, ministers, and police officers. Klan supporters crossed political party lines and included the infamous Talmadge family political machine, Democrats who rode Klan support to national prominence; and Republican business leaders who used the Klan to bust unions, one head at a time. In contemporary America, the Klan is seen by most people as an embarrassing relic of this country's racist past. But in the 1940s and 1950s, there were many Americans who openly supported the Klan's objectives. For example, Congressman John Rankin of Mississippi, chair of the House Un-American Activities Committee, opposed investigating the Klan because, ''After all, the KKK is an old American institution." His colleague, Congressman John S. Wood of Georgia, added, "The threats and intimidation of the Klan are an old American custom, like illegal whiskey-making." Kennedy sent the evidence he gathered to prosecutors, politicians, journalists, human rights organizations, and anyone else who he thought might disseminate the information. This was risky. He had no foolproof way to know whether or not the recipient of the damning information was a Klan sympathizer. Kennedy found an ally in Andrew Russell Pearson, a popular muckraking journalist and radio host known professionally as Drew Pearson. For a time in the 1940s, Pearson read the minutes from Klan meetings on his national radio show. This was devastating to the Klan. The minutes included the names of prominent citizens who had attended Klan meetings and rallies. Among the list of names were both pillars of the community who did not mind being identified with the KKK and those who were embarrassed to have their names publicly linked to Klan activities. In part as a result of this public attention, Klan KKK BOOK STANDS Up TO CLAIM OF FALSEHOOD 3 membership started to decrease. Kennedy also contacted Robert Maxwell, the producer ofthe Adventures ofSuperman radio show, and pitched the storyline of Superman versus the Ku Klux Klan. It was not a hard sell. World War II had ended, and the fictional Superman had defeated Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito, and their followers. The Man ofSteel needed new foes. The writers created "Clan of the Fiery Cross," a series where Superman battled the Klan. Kennedy and the show's producers recognized that the Klan thrived on secrecy. By revealing everything from local Klan gossip to the Klan's organizational structure and code words, the program stripped the Klan of its air of mystery and hurt Klan recruiting and membership. "Doc" Green, a Grand Dragon in the Atlanta, Georgia, Klan, was furious that the KKK's secrets were being shared and trivialized on a national radio show. He ranted. He threatened a local boycott of Pep Cereal-sponsor of the Adventures of Superman. And, not surprisingly, he placed a bounty on the "unknown rat." Kennedy traveled with a Smith & Weston .32 automatic in a shoulder holster. Why would Kennedy, bred into an aristocratic southern Southern family, turn his face away from the southern Southern racial caste system? The answer may have much to do with his ancestry, which includes a Cconfederate aArmy officer, andJohn Batterson Stetson, the founder of the hat empire and the man for whom Stetson University is named. His family also included "Brady," an uncle who had been a Klan official, a "Great Titan," the head ofa congressional district. Thus, Kennedy's lifelong fight against racism and racist groups may have been fueled by notions of family redemption. More likely, however, his willingness to risk his life and social standing was motivated by his relationship with a woman known only as "Flo." When Kennedy was a little boy, it was common for wealthy southern families to have black maids. Flo was not only a maid to the Kennedys but, in his Kennedy's words, "almost like a mother" to him. Flo violated Jim Crow etiquette by questioning a white bus driver who refused to give her correct change. For the 4 KKK BOOK STANDS Up TO CLAIM OF FALSEHOOD crime of "talking...