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==Second KKK: The 1920s==

==Second KKK: The 1920s==

The second KKK was a nonviolent membership organization in the 1920s that reached hundreds of thousands—possibly millions—of men in every state.  It was mostly a [[Ponzi scheme]], whereby the organizers took all the money (for initiation fees and costumes). When they had organized an area they moved on, leaving local chapters without money or leadership.  No prominent American admitted he was a member at the time, but state organizers claimed vast powers.  There is a possibility that some local Klans in the deep South engaged in violence against blacks, but historians are unsure; allegations of systematic violence were common but have not been verified.  In recent years historians have found enough records to show that local chapters were primarily discussion groups, often with speakers who denounced Catholics, Jews, crime and violation of the prohibition laws.   

The second KKK was a nonviolent membership organization in the 1920s that reached hundreds of thousands—possibly millions—of men in every state.  It was mostly a [[Ponzi scheme]], whereby the organizers took all the money (for initiation fees and costumes). When they had organized an area they moved on, leaving local chapters without money or leadership.  No prominent American admitted he was a member at the time, but state organizers claimed vast powers.  There is a possibility that some local Klans in the deep South engaged in violence against blacks, but historians are unsure; allegations of systematic violence were common but have not been verified.  In recent years historians have found enough records to show that local chapters were primarily discussion groups, often with speakers who denounced Catholics, Jews, crime and violation of the prohibition laws.   

[[File:RR-KKK.jpg|thumb|300px|Ronald Reagan starred as the crusading district attorney battling the Klan in this 1951 film.<ref>See [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044075/usercomments analysis of film]</ref>]]

[[File:RR-KKK.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Ronald Reagan]] starred as the crusading district attorney battling the Klan in this 1951 film.<ref>See [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044075/usercomments analysis of film]</ref>]]

A series of scandals ruined the KKK's reputation and the group faded away after 1925, except for some remote areas like West Virginia. [[Robert Byrd]], now a Senator, was an organizer in West Virginia in the 1940s, and has apologized repeatedly for it.  Supreme Court Justice [[Hugo Black]] admitted in 1939 that he had been a member in the 1920s.

A series of scandals ruined the KKK's reputation and the group faded away after 1925, except for some remote areas like West Virginia. [[Robert Byrd]], now a Senator, was an organizer in West Virginia in the 1940s, and has apologized repeatedly for it.  Supreme Court Justice [[Hugo Black]] admitted in 1939 that he had been a member in the 1920s.