The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Oregon

Even in the state of Oregon, which has been progressive and liberal on a number of issues, there are enclaves of survivalists, militia members, and neoNazis in both rural areas and smaller cities. It might be instructive to look at the past in order to gain some perspective on the present situation.

As David Horowitz noted in his book, the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s was essentially a reborn Klan, rather than a continuation of the Klan born in the South immediately after the Civil War. It experienced rapid growth during the 1920s, with a peak population of approximately six million members.

Terming the Klan the Invisible Empire seems to have been an accurate label during those times. The Klan had the aim of creating a secret society that was both a government and military system able to counteract the actions of legitimate, democraticallyelected government and officials when they deemed that those actions were contrary to their goals and aims.

The intent of the Klan was to do work that they considered restorative in establishing their form of true Americanism

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e Klan in Oregon was quite short, mainly expressing itself during the first half of the decade. He noted that the Klan seemed to be born from a combination of economic recession and immediate postWar patriotism that became confused with white supremacy and religious bigotry. However, the active phase was extremely short, with Klan activity dying with the rebirth of the economy initially, and at least partially controlled by more visibility in local newspapers and political life.  The Klan was quite hierarchical, controlled from above by leaders at each level. The Imperial Wizard was the overall head of the Klan in the U.S., with Grand Dragons heading the organization in each state. At the local level, the klaverns, or local chapters, were presided over by the Exalted Cyclops, the klaliff, and the kligrapp. The Board of Kokans was the investigatory branch of the klavern. The intention in the next few pages is to look directly at notes from the La Grande Klan chapter, compiled and edited by David Horowitz, in order to gain some understanding of its operation and motivation. The first meeting's notes that are available, from May 11, 1922, are clearly from a time after the klavern had been wellestablished and operational. It
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