The Missouri Jewish Press and the Ku Klux Klan

This essay examines the reaction of the Jewish press in Missouri to the recruitment, growth, and political activities of the Ku Klux Klan in the state during the 1920s. As a representative of Missouri Jewry, newspapers like the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, The Jewish Voice, and The Modern View advocated for Jewish interests in their local communities while also serving as critical combatants against intolerance and antisemitism. To challenge the invisible empire in the state, these three newspapers attacked the hypocrisy of "hooded" activities in comparison to official Klan tenets, demanded that Klan officials rein in "loose-tongued" and bigoted orators, and criticized Protestant ministers who colluded with Klansmen through donations and church events. While initially successful in these tactics, by the middle of the decade the Missouri Jewish press made a decided turn away from more overt anti-Klan activism in favor of an outward push from Jewish leaders to have white Protestants lead the fight against the Klan. Despite this later move, however, as this essay demonstrates, these newspapers had a major influence on the state's Jewish population, both in local affairs and in aiding the fight to defeat the Ku Klux Klan.