Ku Klux Klan

Sandbrook says Klan violence in Texas towns such as Goose Creek amounted to a reign of terror concealed by local officials who were themselves Klansmen.

“Klan vigilantes had conducted, I mean, genuinely a kind of reign of terror in the small town Goose Creek. The local people had been completely cowed into submission”

The Rest Is History: 656. The Ku Klux Klan: Birth of a Nation (Part 3) (Mar 29, 2026) · Listen from 1:11:34

Sandbrook describes the Dallas Klan's funding of Hope Cottage as evidence that the Klan often behaved like an ordinary charitable fraternal body.

“the Dallas branch of the Klan raised $85,000 to restore it. And they presented it as a gift to the city of Dallas at the Texas State Fair”

The Rest Is History: 656. The Ku Klux Klan: Birth of a Nation (Part 3) (Mar 29, 2026) · Listen from 1:07:17

Sandbrook notes the Klan's 1922 electoral success in Texas, including the election of avowed Klansman Earl Mayfield to the US Senate.

“they elected their first avowed Klansman as a U.S. senator, who was a guy called Earl Mayfield, a Democrat, a fan of prohibition”

The Rest Is History: 656. The Ku Klux Klan: Birth of a Nation (Part 3) (Mar 29, 2026) · Listen from 1:06:47

Sandbrook says the Klan in Oregon won near-total legislative control and pushed through a referendum banning Catholic schools, later struck down by the courts.

“the Klan pushed through a referendum to ban Catholic schools in the state of Oregon. Now, this measure was later thrown out by the courts”

The Rest Is History: 656. The Ku Klux Klan: Birth of a Nation (Part 3) (Mar 29, 2026) · Listen from 1:05:25

Holland argues that adopting the name and costume of a racist organisation makes racism intrinsic to the second Klan regardless of its social functions.

“I think if you're taking the name and dressing up as people who were a racist organization, I think that's baked in”

The Rest Is History: 656. The Ku Klux Klan: Birth of a Nation (Part 3) (Mar 29, 2026) · Listen from 27:16