The Oregon state election of 1922 was known as "the Klan election." That election elevated Kaspar K. Kubli to the speaker of the house where he led a delegation that was almost majority KKK members. The state senate had such a majority. This is one of the first laws they passed.
On our man Kaspar. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1228748838732591104?s=20
That same Klan dominated legislature also voted to eliminate Columbus Day. But this didn't have anything to do with a critique of settler colonialism, rather, their problem was that Columbus was Catholic.
Other legislation pursued by that Klan legislature of 1923 included requiring reading from the Protestant Bible in schools, requiring schools to give pupils release time for religious study, and requiring universities to grant credit for religious study in authorized churches.
The Oregon KKK engaged in much vigilantism in the 1920s, often with the tacit support of law enforcement. The Portland Klan claimed that 150 members of the police department were KKK members.
In the 1920s Portland's mayor formed a 100-man vigilante force with guns, badges, and power of arrest. The names of the force were secret, but the Klan "advised him" on who he should deputize for these roles.
For more on the 2nd Klan and the deep roots of right wing anti-democratic populism, see this thread. https://twitter.com/sethcotlar/status/1231654620964896768
This context may help explain why, when a German warship showed up in Portland less than 15 years later proudly flying the Nazi flag, the city greeted it with generally open arms. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1273846759567978498?s=20
One thing I don't mention in that thread on the visit of the Emden to Portland in January 1936 is that the German sailors were originally going to be hosted at multiple different venues throughout town. But by the time they arrived, only one, maybe 2(?), places would host them.
I'm hoping to piece together the story of how that happened, how public (but largely invisible) pressure was brought to bear on various hotels and civic clubs so that they rescinded their offers to host dinners or dances for the uniformed, swastika-wearing German sailors.
Here's a thread on how in 1939 the city of Portland basically de-platformed the city's growing band of Silver Shirt fascists, at least one of whom had been actively involved with the KKK in the 1920s. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1300816698040221696?s=20
One more takeaway. It's important to note that the Oregon KKK in the 1920s was largely comprised of middle class and upper-middle class white people. White Americans have a bad habit of associating the far right with "toothless hicks" they find laughable. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1236361960326705152?s=20
KKK members were dentists, real estate agents, lawyers, police officers, hardware store owners, etc. etc. They all thought of themselves as pro-America patriots, and they all had many people in their lives who thought of them as "really nice guys."
So if we think of fascists (and folks who tolerate fascists) as inhuman monsters, people who are somehow entirely different from ourselves and the people we know, then we're misunderstanding our own history as a nation.
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