Research Paper On The Ku Klux Klan

5/2/14

Although it could also be viewed as a civic organization that sought to spread its ideals of white supremacy and power, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a graft because it was used by its leaders for their own monetary gain. The leaders played upon the feelings of racial supremacy at the time, capturing the attention and wallets of those that were inspired by what the KKK stood for. The leaders included William Simmons, who revived the KKK into a corporation of hate, Edward Young Clarke who held the real power and Mrs. Elizabeth Tyler who was the brains of the organization. These three used white patriotism and white pride to expand the clan and make it into the money making operation that would ultimately make them rich and despised by not

At first the KKK was created to “instill patriotism in Americans and create a ‘living memorial’ to the original Ku Klux Klan,”(Bartoletti 147). It was reborn as a pro-Christian, pro-American fraternity, but this time Jews, Catholics, liberals, welfare recipients, immigrants, and labor unions were added to its hate list. Soon, with the realization of how powerful secrecy was, many of the KKK’s characteristics became very exotic. With the romantic view of the KKK that came with the runaway box-office success , “The Birth of a Nation,” ninety-one new members joined the KKK, each having to pay a $10 initiation fee and $6.50 for the robes that were sold by Simmons as the official KKK uniform.(Alexander 350) Moreover, forty-two of these Klansman signed up for a total of $53,000 of life insurance with the KKK, this insurance program ended early on but showed that Simmons had plans for a money making scheme. Simmons

The business was falling apart and having learned of the Klan's economic troubles he and his associate Mrs. Elizabeth Tyler set up a business conference with Simmons. They offered to advertise and promote Simmons' crumbling clan in exchange for $8.00 of the $10.00 initiation fee paid by every new member, with the two advertisers covering all their expenses. Soon they were at work segregating the country into different areas based on regions, states, and counties. Klansmen were given the rank of Kleagle and sent to these areas to recruit and gather initiation fees. These Kleagles were allowed to keep $4.00 and sales managers were allowed $1.50, while Clarke and Tyler kept the $2.50 balance of the original $8.00. The remaining $2.00 from the initiation fee was sent to Simmons along with a $1,000 indemnity bond payable to him that was signed by every joining member. Within sixteen months of the two advertisers joining the organization around 100,000 new members were recruited. The totaled revenue over this period was around $1,500,000, granting Simmons a commission of about $170,000 and Clarke's and Tyler's net profit totaling around $212,000. (Alexander