Echoes and Omens in 1932

A call for volunteers for a "vigilance committee" against communists and loose talk in the 1/31/1932 Daily Illini.

As the local Twin Cities Klan organization and its activities faded from public view, the men and women who supported, collaborated with, or were members of the Klan continued on. The 1920s Klan research provides context for some "bookend" events before and after the rise and fall of the public local Klan activity here. The next post will take a prologue look at an attempted lynching in the wake of the 1919 Chicago "race riots" and the other racial pogroms of the Red Summer of 1919. This post looks at epilogue events during the Great Depression's Hoover days. This post also contrasts the efforts to silence even the "whispers" of voices deemed communistic or radical versus openly standing up for the free speech rights of Nazis in the same period of time.

The Great Depression is a fascinating period to look at local history. There were severe economic impacts, real and imagined fears, and extremism. People came together to hold the local community and economy from collapsing, sacrificed, and struggled. One of the famous local responses here was the use of "Urbana Money" as currency in early 1933. It was issued to help keep commerce and the exchange of goods going, with the assurances that it could be exchanged for actual currency later. Examples of a one and five dollar Urbana Money note from the Champaign County Historical Archives:

 

Tom Kacich's book Hot Type has an article specifically about this story, as well as other Depression era news items and local history worth checking out. The year before, in 1932, one of the local responses was a "vigilance committee" that was established to silence local bank rumors and fight communist threats. As the term implies, these were organized bodies of vigilantes. The 1/31/1932 Daily Illini had a group of items including a letter to the community to stop bank rumors, an article on bank reorganization efforts, and a call for vigilante volunteers to fight communists (click to enlarge):

The Urbana Daily Courier had an article appealing for more volunteers for the "vigilance committee" to hunt communists. From the 1/25/1932 edition:

Champaign had a similar "vigilance committee" organized along the same lines as the one in Urbana. Later we'll also see that the idea was organized across the County as well. From the 2/2/1932 Daily Illini:

The details of the cooperation between the two groups and how much they may have overlapped or served together as an organization for the greater County area is difficult to divine from the public records I've found in the archives so far. The press coverage may have tried to depict as far more collaborative and interwoven than it actually was to aid its efforts. 

It is also unclear exactly how much the public committees and personnel of the stabilization plan groups overlapped with the secret vigilance committees. A 2/5/1932 overview of local economic stabilization efforts highlights the variety and collaboration of effort. It also highlights near the bottom, how the "vigilance committee" efforts were spreading across the State and the Midwest:

The 2/5/1932 edition of the Paxton Record lists some of the leaders of the two vigilance committees as well as reiterating the organizational harmony and coverage of the Twin Cities by their work. This was a reprint from the same 1/29/1932 Courier article:

The then postmaster John Gray was the same former Sheriff John Gray covered in earlier posts here on his public and open support of the Klan during the 1920s, his work and collaboration with notorious Klan raiders such as S. Glenn Young, and even being one of the pallbearers for the "Exalted Cyclops" of the Champaign County Ku Klux Klan years later while serving as Mayor of Urbana. So far I have been unable to determine the affiliation with the Klan (if any) for other leaders listed in this Paxton Record and other local articles. 

There was also a "stabilization committee" that appeared to mirror at least some of the organization and goals of the secret vigilance committee in Urbana. Both were organized under the Urbana Association of Commerce. The stabilization committee's public activities were generally reported as more legitimate and lawful canvassing and organizing. An example from the 2/12/1932 Urbana Courier:

Postmaster John Gray was also the head of the recruitment committee for the entire Urbana Association of Commerce (not just its secret vigilance committee) later around this same time according to the 3/15/1932 Courier: 

The publicly listed leaders and personnel of the related stabilization and commerce committees include likely Klan members and supporters. Gray and others being intimately aware of Klan members and activities during the previous decade would have almost certainly been aware of their previous affiliations in recruiting and utilizing their services for vigilante work. This included at least one of the three directors under President Webber, Harry A. Little, Klan #1759. It even included other Association of Commerce and local leaders such as Judge Roy Freeman, Klan #356.

The overlap of the Urbana Association of Commerce and known Klan members also included other committee heads and personnel such as Paul W. Freeman, Klan #355; Francis E. Williamson, Klan #1099; John B. Hays, Klan #453; Frank A. Somers, Klan #964; and likely many others. I'm still cross-referencing, confirming, and ruling out duplicate/similar names, ages, timelines, etc.

Coverage of the vigilante work of both the Secret Committee of 300 and other committees included items like this 3/5/1932 Courier article. It notes that John Gray was out of town  on a "special mission" dealing with "the activities of radicals and communists in central Illinois." It also highlighted the vigilante work of the "solicitations sanctions committee" and its "campaign to curb out-of-town racketeers." 

It's worth noting how much the local press praised this vigilante work, the results it was getting, and how it was inspiring similar measures across the country. From the 2/13 and 2/27/1932 Courier:

This is just a few years after the Courier editorialized on how the real problem with the local Klan here had been its secrecy and the threat of intimidation. This in spite of what it described as its "praiseworthy" goals and unquestionable patriotism. From the 11/20/1928 Courier:

It would also stand in stark contrast to the Courier's 1934 appeal to Communists and other left-wing radicals to stop protesting over Nazi speech. They admonished the far-left to let Nazis speak and to stand up for their free speech rights two years after they happily cheered local vigilance committees cracking down on them. Even just their potential radical whispers:

Indeed, during this time there were Nazis happily spreading their praise of Hitler, his new alternative government concept, and how he was an American ally in the battle against communism. In my local research I stumbled across Rudolf von Wistinghausen, a personal acquaintance with Adolf Hitler, on campus back in 1932. He was giving a pro-Hitler talk to the local Pilgrim Foundation, an organization "to establish for the Congregational students at the University a religious, social and recreational center and to teach the principles of the Christian faith." From the 4/14/1932 Courier:

Turns out this fellow was a grad student at the University at the time and even wrote a series of five front page articles for the DI on Germany. Those culminated in his praise of eugenics, race improvement, and Hitler: "the only man in Germany who was able to fight communism with another and better idea." From his fifth article in the Daily Illini series:

Click to enlarge the snippets to read the full article below:

 

I found numerous articles of him giving talks in the local community while he was here in the Twin Cities. He would return to Germany within a couple years, join the Nazi party and the Sturmabteilung (SA) in 1934. He survived the war and continued his diplomatic work for the post-war government. In 2006 his Nazi past was part of an exposé in Der Spiegel that caused some controversy for the BdV (an organization for displaced Germans) at the time.

The fervor for the vigilance committee and its goals was evident from the favorable press coverage which included letters from volunteers and gleeful mockery of fearful critics. From the 1/27 and 2/2/1932 Courier:

This fervor culminated in a full blown panic about communists coming to burn down Urbana. The mayor issued "shoot-to-kill" orders to the police and the American Legion volunteered to help hold the line against the coming communist attacks. Headline and article from the 3/17/1932 Courier:

Soon the panic unceremoniously dissipated. From the 3/21/1932 Courier noting the withdrawal of anti-communist guards from the local public schools:

Kacich described the post-panic situation in his book Hot Type:

The period between the first and second Red Scare after first and second World Wars was not much of a lull in the general fears, panic, and accusations over communism and radicalism associated with the term. Yet, the reaction to communist and radical fears was generally not listed among the motivating forces among American and European far-right movements in the local press. From the 7/3/1934 editorial on attempts to revive the Klan and the rise of other fascist groups in the United States in 1934:

No mention of the communism they all hated and opposed so vocally. This, along with ongoing panics, appears to indicate that extremist anti-communism was mainstream. Much like the Klan "aims and aspirations" the Courier argued were "praiseworthy" along with its previous criticisms years earlier. Anti-communist extremism would go on to be a major factor in the rise of later Klan activity and other far-right and white nationalist groups locally.

There can obviously be legitimate criticism and concerns over extremism (such as revolutionary communism or fascism) and the threat it may pose. But this can also easily become the basis for other forms of violent extremism against out-groups deemed an existential threat to the in-group's community. This propensity appears to be far more common than rare, as this research regularly shows.

C-U Klan

The second Klan movement in Champaign-Urbana spanned several years at its height in the 1920s. There is a great deal of activity and primary sources for how it acted as a hub for area Klans in towns throughout Champaign County, other counties, regions, and States. This activity will be broken in up in several posts linked below. Future posts will supplement this series:

Champaign-Urbana's Zenith Klan No. 56 of the Realm of Illinois

• 1921-1922: Early Rise of the C-U Klan 

• January 1923 to November 1923: The C-U Klan Builds a Home 

• November to December 1923: The Imperial Wizard Comes to Town

• 1924: Zenith of the Klan and Klan Politics

• 1925: Murders, Convictions, and Parades

• 1926 to April 1927: Corruption, Violence and Decline

• 1927-1929: Up in Smoke. Remnants, Silence, and Whitewashing of the Klan.

C-U Klan: Up in Smoke

A German Translation of Henry Ford's The International Jew, Volume 2 (of 4). The English version and related papers were distributed at Ford Dealerships across the United States.

This is the last in the C-U Klan series on the second Klan movement in Champaign-Urbana during the 1920s. The Klan didn't end with the 1920s, but this post will explain how it changed, faded from public view, and evolved with other local, national, and international movements. There will be additional supplemental posts on local activities of the Klan and its members, including specific examinations of political and law enforcement influence, and related events and context.

 

As noted in the previous post in this series on the C-U Klan, from 1926 to the April 1927 fire, the Klan was already on the decline nationally and locally by the time they lost their local headquarters. Many factors went into the decline, though the books in the sources page tend to paint a picture of serious reputational damage (often due to headline grabbing corruption and violence). The general concern about keeping out undesirables remained alive and well. From a 9/10/1926 News-Gazette editorial:

This editorial was written in the wake of the violence including and around the time of the "Triangular Murders" discussed in the previous post. Even though the more notorious killings were by a prominent local white woman (and likely serial killer) and a former Champaign police chief, one gets the impression that blame fell on the Black victims of violence during that time. This was in a period where targeting outsiders and keeping them out was an open policy. From around the same time in the 7/30/1926 News-Gazette on police harassment and exclusion of Romani people:

This wasn't just temporary backlash. As the article noted this spanned police administrations. A 9/28/1932 News-Gazette article proudly notes the continued persecution and exclusion of Romani people years later:

After the April 1927 fire of the local Klan headquarters in Urbana (covered in this previous post) the local Klan's public activities have been difficult for me to document. The Klan offices and surviving records appeared to have been moved to their new headquarters at the Burres Building, at 215 W. Main St. in Urbana. Meetings were held in Webber Hall on the 2nd floor of the adjoining building according to post-fire coverage in that previous post. If there were any more Klan Christmas events, I was unable to find any newspaper coverage. Such traditions continued in areas where the Klan was still more public in the State's interior. Here's an example from the 12/23/1929 Decatur Herald-Review:

There were more "unauthorized" cross burnings the month after the headquarters fire in May of 1927. This time by several suspected Klan members, including Cleve Pulliam (member #838). From the 5/5/1927 Urbana Courier and News-Gazette:

George W. Davis had been Champaign County Sheriff a couple times prior to Sheriff John Gray before winning the office again in 1926. While John Gray had been an open supporter and collaborator with the Klan, it's unknown whether he was ever officially a member. Sheriff George W. Davis, however, was listed as a dues paying member, member number 250. He was the Republican option on the ballot, but not the only Klan candidate in 1926. Ed Ulitsch, member #1867 was chosen as the Sheriff candidate for the Independent party ticket, with the hope he'd be stronger on "law and order" and prohibition enforcement. From the 8/27/1926 Twin City Review:

The Illinois Klan had its annual meeting in Bloomington, Illinois in August of 1927. This followed a pattern of more organizing and recruitment in more central areas of the State at this time. As usual, there were visitors and delegates from Klans from neighboring cities, although the Bloomington Pantagraph coverage did not specifically list the Twin Cities in its coverage. The current Grand Dragons of Illinois, Gail S. Carter  and Indiana's W. Lee Smith, were listed as speakers. From the Panatagraph advertisements and coverage on 8/19 and 8/22/1927: 

While other Klan events can be found in Illinois and even Central Illinois after this point, they become far more sparse. Local coverage of the Klan dropped off almost completely. In 1928 the local Klan went on record to distance itself from an anti-Al Smith speaker at Crystal Lake. Al Smith's Catholicism was a political issue in 1928, but the Klan itself was shying away from politics after all of the political corruption scandals. From the 9/21/1928 Courier and an earlier Courier blurb noting the official pullback from politics:

That's certainly not to say that the Klan had stopped all political activity, let alone gone soft in their views against the Roman Catholic church. From the 11/10/1928 Chicago Defender:

Another local story related to previous Klan activity, but not mentioning it, involved the death of the bride from the infamous local Ku Klux Klan wedding. The huge 1923 event involved a two-day convention, the Imperial Wizard himself, and the official dedication of the then new Klan headquarters in Urbana covered in detail in this previous post. The bride was the daughter of the Champaign County "Exalted Cyclops" J. J. Reynolds. From the 10/26/1928 Courier:

Her Klan wedding album is available in the Champaign County Historical Archives at the Urbana Free Library, with mundane and typical notes, stories, and firsts... as well as descriptions of giant electric K's and Klan riddled clippings:

Over the course of 1928, the national organization would be renamed and end the year losing key Supreme Court battles that threatened its continued existence. It would, however, claim victory in the form of the Immigration Act of 1924 and its related extreme restrictions. From the the 2/23/1928 Courier Editorial on the name change and the 11/20/1928 News-Gazette with an overview of the Court cases:

While the local Klan organization itself dropped out of the headlines and the national organization struggled on legal and membership dues, the local Klansmen themselves didn't disappear. There were no public disavowals or repercussions. The local 1928 specimen ballot lists numerous Klansmen who went on to hold onto or win many local offices printed in the 11/3/1928 Courier (click to enlarge):

The work of verifying various Klan members, ruling out people with the same or similar names, potential typos, alternate spellings, and other potential identification errors is tedious. But even so, we find many confirmed members such as Boyd S. Blaine, Champaign County Circuit Clerk and Klan member #2227; Roy R. Cline, Champaign County State's Attorney and Klan member #180; Godfrey Sperling, Champaign County Supervisor and Klan member #968, John Bruder, Champaign County Sheriff and Klan member #112; as well as a few other likely and possible members just on this ballot and other ballots around this time.

Regardless of the continued existence of the Klan and the continued power of both public and known Klan members in positions of local government and law enforcement, the Urbana Courier declared the organization a thing of the past this same year of 1928. It notes the recent Supreme Court case losses and still defends the "desperate need" filled by the original Klan. From the 11/20/1928 editorial:

Once again the Republican paper deems many of its aims and aspirations "praiseworthy" and "patriotic" while minimizing the impact it had on those it targeted. The reality of fear, intimidation, and increased enforcement of the "color line" in segregated Champaign-Urbana and Champaign County stands in stark contrast with the editorial's description. The Klan rose here in the aftermath of the Red Summer and during other pogroms and racial violence throughout Illinois.

This was also during a period of time known as the "Great Migration" where massive numbers of Black people were fleeing the South to Northern towns and cities looking for places to live and opportunity abundant throughout Illinois and growing Champaign County. But as Champaign County grew, Black people were more segregated and pushed out of more areas, even as migration to the area was increasing and space in segregated Chicago had become a crisis. Here's a chart of local census data in and around this period of. It shows how the Black population grew in Champaign County, but decreased outside of the Twin-Cities:

This period from 1890 to 1940 is often referred to by historians as the "racial Nadir" where America's race relations went backwards after the initial civil rights gains after the Civil War and during reconstruction. Champaign County and neighboring counties were not spared from those effects. Two books on this phenomenon and how it continued into the present day are Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law and James W. Loewen's Sundown Towns.

The gist of the story is that many of the neighborhoods, suburbs, towns and other places that remain predominately white to this day were made that way through policies, violence, and intimidation. Klan activity, from open Klan ministers to support and visits by the Klan in full regalia in little protestant churches in towns throughout Champaign County (and Illinois generally) played its role. Just as those Klan members becoming law enforcement and government officials enforcing the "color line" and various written and unwritten polices.

There are almost always exceptions and compromises that will be pointed to as exculpatory, but generally those exceptions and compromises helped reinforce or secure the color-line. As with other incidents of extreme caste and ethnic cleansing around the world, the exculpatory appearance of an exception can be the point... and help protect systems of oppression from outside pressure.

In 1929 the property where the Klan headquarters burnt down was being foreclosed upon. The local papers correctly noted that the property had been owned by the Champaign County Zenith Klan No. 56 through the Zenith Amusement Company, both controlled by the "exalted cyclops" J. J. Reynolds at the time. A denial appeared in both the News-Gazette and the Courier the next day. From the 1/9 and 1/10/1929 Courier: 

This is one of the only public references I found to the "Twin Cities Klan No. 268." George F. Bossert, it should be noted, was also listed as a dues paying member of the Zenith Klan No. 56. It's also worth noting that this denial comes just a little over five years after the major Klan newspaper, The Fiery Cross of Indianapolis, had bragged about the Klan's purchase of the Illinois Theater headquarters and the Klan's local rise here. From the 11/30/1923 Fiery Cross:

In spite of the later denials, the giant electric "fiery cross" on the roof on the prominent building next to downtown Urbana was a bit of a giveaway. From the 2/13/1925 Fiery Cross:

I struggled with where to end this particular post and this particular series of posts on the C-U Klan. The Klan obviously doesn't end here in Champaign-Urbana. The Klan members themselves go on to become important government and law enforcement officials and become involved with "vigilance committees" against radicals during the Great Depression. Attempts to revive the Klan over the decades are met with limited success and new competition on issues like anti-communism, immigration, and various racism and prejudices. Future posts will look at those issues and more in-depth looks at specific events and Klan influences.

A couple brief Urbana Courier editorials preview the insanity of the 1930s when it came to white nationalist extremism here and around the world. From a 7/3/1934 editorial and an editorial reprint from the Baltimore Sun in the 8/18/1934 Urbana Courier:

It may sound preposterous to a modern reader familiar with the modern incarnations of these organizations to have "out-klucked" the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and 30s. The same public archives, newspapers and their own records will show, however, that the competition was fierce across multiple topics beyond just anti-communism. As we've seen before and will continue to see, the Klan wasn't as isolated or unique as the almost immediate whitewashing of history made out.

In context, it becomes impossible to see the Klan as an outlier: from the eugenics and race science in textbooks and the local university to white supremacy and segregation throughout most organizations and institutions (both public and private), to the praise of its "aims and aspirations" and "principles" at the time, even by critics. As this 3/31/1933 Courier editorial makes clear, there was an immediate desire to depict it as a brief and isolated movement... especially as the Nazis made such beliefs appear more and more monstrous: 

You'd never know from this editorial how much American eugenics, race science, immigration policy, segregation and anti-miscegenation laws had led international movements, texts, and collaborations that were generally still ongoing at this time. You certainly wouldn't get the impression that Ford dealerships across the country had been distributing Henry Ford's antisemitic books and papers for most of the prior decade... let alone about its obsession with "the Jewish Question."