Changes

===First Klan===

===First Klan===

[[File:Leaders of the Democratic Party.jpg|right|300px|thumb| Leaders of the Democratic Party. The Butcher Forrest is [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]], founder of the Ku Klux Klan.<br>''Library of Congress''<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661705/ Leaders of the Democratic Party : The rioter Seymour ... The butcher Forrest ... The pirate Semmes ... The hangman Hampton ...], Thomas Nast, 1868. Library of Congress.</ref>]]

[[File:Leaders of the Democratic Party.jpg|right|300px|thumb| Leaders of the Democratic Party. The Butcher Forrest is [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]], founder of the Ku Klux Klan.<br>''Library of Congress''<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661705/ Leaders of the Democratic Party: The rioter Seymour ... The butcher Forrest ... The pirate Semmes ... The hangman Hampton ...], Thomas Nast, 1868. Library of Congress.</ref>]]

{{See also|Insurrection Act#Posse Comitatus Act}}

{{See also|Insurrection Act#Posse Comitatus Act}}

The first KKK was a movement of Democrats who opposed [[Reconstruction]]. It was founded in 1865 by members of the [[Democrat Party]] to inflict violence against black leaders and white Republicans.<ref>http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan</ref>  Its purpose was to take control and return Democrats to power. One of the founders, and the first "Grand Wizard," was former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Attempts were made to break up the Klan by President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and the U.S. Army using the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act).  

The first KKK was a movement of Democrats who opposed [[Reconstruction]]. It was founded in 1865 by members of the [[Democrat Party]] to inflict violence against black leaders and white Republicans.<ref>http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan</ref>  Its purpose was to take control and return Democrats to power. One of the founders, and the first "Grand Wizard," was former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Attempts were made to break up the Klan by President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] and the U.S. Army using the Civil Rights Act of 1871 (also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act).  

The third Klan currently exists and comprises a few thousand members in local chapters. There is no real organization, and the group sponsors vehement hate talk as well as occasional violent threats and actions. It is racist and aims at the suppression of African-American, Jewish, homosexual, and Catholic interests. The current Klan presents itself as a "Christian" organization, but all denominations have rejected it as inherently non-Christian. Some Klansmen today practice [[Christian Identity]], which has also been condemned by every other [[Christian]] denomination.

The third Klan currently exists and comprises a few thousand members in local chapters. There is no real organization, and the group sponsors vehement hate talk as well as occasional violent threats and actions. It is racist and aims at the suppression of African-American, Jewish, homosexual, and Catholic interests. The current Klan presents itself as a "Christian" organization, but all denominations have rejected it as inherently non-Christian. Some Klansmen today practice [[Christian Identity]], which has also been condemned by every other [[Christian]] denomination.

Democrat Sen. [[Robert Byrd]] joined the Klan in the 1940s and was unanimously elected to the rank of [[Exalted Cyclops]] for his inborn leadership skills.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">Pianin, Eric. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/18/AR2005061801105_pf.html A Senator's Shame: Byrd, in His New Book, Again Confronts Early Ties to KKK]. Washington Post, 2005-06-19, pp. A01</ref><ref>https://allthatsinteresting.com/famous-kkk-members</ref> He repeatedly expressed his desire for the Klan to expand to its previous size and power, once remarking in a letter that "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the nation." <ref>King, Colbert I. [http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2003/commentary/works/king2.html Sen. Byrd: The view from Darrell's barbershop], Washington Post, March 2, 2002</ref>

Democrat Sen. [[Robert Byrd]] joined the Klan in the 1940s and was unanimously elected to the rank of [[Exalted Cyclops]] for his inborn leadership skills.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">Pianin, Eric. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/18/AR2005061801105_pf.html A Senator's Shame: Byrd, in His New Book, Again Confronts Early Ties to KKK]. Washington Post, 2005-06-19, pp. A01</ref><ref>https://allthatsinteresting.com/famous-kkk-members</ref> He repeatedly expressed his desire for the Klan to expand to its previous size and power, once remarking in a letter that "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the nation."<ref>King, Colbert I. [http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2003/commentary/works/king2.html Sen. Byrd: The view from Darrell's barbershop], Washington Post, March 2, 2002</ref>

[[File:KKKrally1946.JPG|left|300px|thumb|Ku Klux Klan rally, unknown location, August, 1951]]

[[File:KKKrally1946.JPG|left|300px|thumb|Ku Klux Klan rally, unknown location, August, 1951]]

Byrd commented on the 1945 controversy raging over the idea of racially integrating the military. In his book When ''Jim Crow Met John Bull'', Graham Smith referred to a letter written that year by Byrd, when he was 28 years old, to fellow Klansman Sen. [[Theodore Bilbo]] of [[Mississippi]], in which Byrd vowed never to fight:  

Byrd commented on the 1945 controversy raging over the idea of racially integrating the military. In his book When ''Jim Crow Met John Bull'', Graham Smith referred to a letter written that year by Byrd, when he was 28 years old, to fellow Klansman Sen. [[Theodore Bilbo]] of [[Mississippi]], in which Byrd vowed never to fight: