Timeline: The Day the Army Marched on Washington

[Caesar_33]

Chapter 1 - The Year of Scandal

The Presidency of Warren G. Harding (A Human Face for Socialist Treason, 1956)

"Warren G. Harding is remembered as one of the most controversial politicians in American history. Although his presidency started out with him decisively defeating his Democratic Opponent Robert Cox by 25% in the 1920 Presidential Elections, his death in late 1924 and the subsequent revelations of the scandals he was involved in threw the Republican Party into chaos and arguably caused their defeat in the 1924 Presidential Election to Southern Democrat William G. McAdoo.

During his Presidential term, he was plagued by pneumonia. He was briefly hospitalized in 1923, he would recover from his pneumonia rapidly, and he seemed to not miss a beat. His popularity would continue unabated throughout the rest of 1924. His pneumonia proved a recurring curse, and Calvin Coolidge continued to slowly gain control over central affairs. After Harding was hospitalized in June 1924, Coolidge was secretly informed that Harding might die, and Coolidge would be the president for the next few months. Although Coolidge quickly dismissed this, Harding would die of a heart attack two days later.

Coolidge was officially inaugurated the 30th President of the United States on June 17th, 1924. During June, the campaign for the 1924 elections had kicked into gear, although the Republicans were rather aloof. The Democratic National Convention proved to be somewhat of a mess, as forces as disarrayed as Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Klu Klux Klan were present at the same conference.

Progressive factions, such as Al Smith and Franklin Roosevelt saw the Democrat's future as a reformist, nationwide party, while the Klu Klux Klan and Southern Democrats like William McAdoo staunchly opposed this. McAdoo himself did not explicitly refuse the Klan's endorsement. The concept of this Klan-backed Southern Democrat running against one of the most popular presidents in recent history gave many spectators a laugh, sure that the Democrats would be defeated as easily as they had in 1920.

However, the scandals that broke like a collapsing dam after Harding's death proved that to be wrong. The Teapot Dome Scandal, in which Progressive Robert LaFollette unraveled Harding's involvement in an oil bribery scheme tanked the popularity of the Republicans. Further revelations involving affairs with his mistress damaged his standing and personal pride within the party, and the Democrats were, for the first time since Wilson, seen as having a real shot.

At first, Coolidge attempted to dispel these rumors, calling them out of proportion. But as they continued to unravel, the Republican Party itself came under particular ire, and Coolidge who had just defended Harding now attempted to seamlessly separate Harding's legacy and his presidency. This backfired tremendously, causing further outrage within the Republican Party which was slow to give up on their once-popular figurehead."

The Election of 1924

The Election of 1924 was one of the most hotly contested and unpopular presidencies in American history. At first, Harding's policies and popularity resulted in many labeling him as the likely, or even certain, choice for the 1924 Elections. After the Teapot Dome Scandal, Coolidge's association with Harding and the Republican Party, as well as Coolidge's handling of the scandal allowed for the Democrats to gain significant popularity outside their regional zone in the South. McAdoo was rather unpopular himself, as he was openly fraternizing with the Klu Klux Klan. McAdoo's support for Prohibition gained him significant popularity in the Midwest and New England.

Despite the humiliation of the Teapot Dome Scandal, McAdoo had unknowingly accepted money from Edward Dohney, who was implicated in the Scandal. Although McAdoo swore he had no involvement in the conspiracy, it gave Coolidge hope he could clinch the nomination.

However, Coolidge had criticized LaFollette for his involvement in exposing the Teapot Dome Scandal when the news first broke. To many, faced with the choice of Klan-backed McAdoo, and a conspiracy-wound Coolidge, Progressive Senator LaFollette quickly gathered popularity.

In early August 1924, LaFollette formally established the new 'Progressive Party' likening back to the old party of Theodore Roosevelt. Although Coolidge appointed Hiram Johnson his Vice President, many were still skeptical to how much Coolidge could actually live up to Progressive platforms, and few turned away from LaFollette for Johnson.

McAdoo and his running mate, Carter Glass, found little popularity outside the South, but hoped the division of the Republicans and Progressives would allow him to take the nomination.

Whichever faction won the elections, it would be a decisive vote. If McAdoo won, a pro-Klan Southern Democrat would be in charge of the nation, and push conservative, Pro-Prohibition policies across the country. If Coolidge won, he would have strong Progressive and Democratic opposition. If none of them achieved a majority, the House of Representatives would pick a candidate.

1924 Presidential Election

William G. McAdoo (D-CA)

271 Electoral votes

10,443,982 Popular votes
​

Calvin Coolidge (R-VE)

238 Electoral votes

13,255,281 Popular votes


Robert LaFollette (P-WI)

33 Electoral votes

6,832,424 Popular votes
​

 

[Tales Weaver]

1924 Presidential Election

William G. McAdoo (D-CA)

271 Electoral

10,443,982 Popular

Calvin Coolidge (R-VE)

238 Electoral

13,255,281

Robert LaFollette (P-WI)

33 Electoral

6,832,424 Popular

Whoops, McAdoo won.

 

[Virginia Liberal]

I like what you got going here. Keep at it

 

[Virginia Liberal]

Whoops, McAdoo won.

Wow I missed that

 

[Caesar_33]

Chapter 2 - President McAdoo

The Aftermath of the 1924 Presidential Election (The Rise of the Klan in America, 1966)
"The United States of America woke up on the Ninth of November, 1924 to a new President-elect, Southern Democrat William McAdoo. Calvin Coolidge formally conceded his victory, and was faced with the next five months as the lame-duck president in the fallout.

The Klu Klux Klan publicly celebrated the victory, despite half-hearted warnings of caution from the Democrats. At the 1924 'Klanbake', McAdoo did not refuse the Klan's efforts to push him into the presidency. During the conference, the Klan burned effigies of Catholic, anti-Prohibition candidate Al Smith, McAdoo's strongest opposition in the nomination. Despite the electoral victory, McAdoo was roughly 3,000,000 votes behind Coolidge. Furthermore, the decisive electoral victories in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio were only possible through the split of the Republican votes into the Progressives*. Even within the Democratic Party itself, turmoil was constant. Al Smith publicly stated that he hoped McAdoo would really deliver on his campaign promises and make the nation 'a better place for all its citizens', but in private correspondence uncovered decades later, he privately condemned and hated McAdoo and said his 'bastardly affair with the Klu Klux Klan' would 'tear the nation apart in a matter of months'. 1920 Vice Presidential Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt had suffered from Guillain–Barré syndrome, a paralytic illness which restricted the use of his legs, and forced him to stay in a wheelchair. After this, he had retired from political life, and made no public statements on McAdoo or the election.


As the tumultuous year of 1924 drew to a close, the political divisions across the nation and in the parties themselves were becoming ever clearer.

1924 House of Representatives Election

Democratic Party - Republican Party
207 seats - 225 seats
215 seats - 204 seats
+8 seats - - 21 seats
(+11 Progressive seats, +1 Farmer-Labor seat, +1 Socialist seat)​

1924 Senate Election

Democratic Party - Republican Party
43 seats - 51 seats
46 seats - 47 seats
+3 seats - -4 seats
(+1 Progressive seat, 2 Farmer-Labor seats)​

The New America
To the surprise of many a spectator, the previously dormant Democratic Party, content to remaining confined to its region in the South managed to win the Presidency by a single electoral vote. Preying on the Republican division between the Progressives and the Conservatives, states where Democrats were a minority managed to win their electoral votes. At Congress, the Republicans had lost their majority to the Democrats, and the Progressives became a serious force within Congress. The Progressive, Farmer-Labor and Socialist delegates could now turn the tide in a breakdown between the Republicans and Democrats. The three parties often voted similarly, and the Republicans might now need to plead to the Progressives to push through any reforms the Democrats found objectionable. Even more decisive, no one party in the House had a solid majority. To pass reforms, the triumvirate of progressive parties would need to vote, and they would be very unlikely to cast their ballots for the Democrats. Despite having more Representatives in the House, the Democrats did not truly control it.

A trend that began to come clear across these elections was the increasing polarization of state governments. California and Pennsylvania purged their offices of virtually all Democratic Representatives. States that were previously moderate and rather balanced but were considered to be 'Southern' became almost entirely Democratic. In states that did not want Coolidge's Republicans in office, but were disgusted by the attitude of the Pro-Klan Democrats, many elected Progressive Representatives, and the Socialists and Farmor-Labor Party slowly increased their influences. The Socialist Party in particular had been mangled by the Sedition Acts of 1917, and although their 1920 campaign had shown that they were still influential, the lack of the ailing figurehead of the American Leftist movement Eugene V. Debs ended any hopes of a Socialist candidate in 1924.

In the Senate, much like the House, the Democrats had made gains, but not gains so decisive as to provide them with a majority, and certainly not a supermajority. So some consultation with the Republicans would be necessary for McAdoo to make his reforms, and again, the growing triumvirate of progressive parties had prevented either party from actually having a majority.

"Many of the great members of the Party of Lincoln are distraught over what has happened last night. Do not fret, great men and women of America! McAdoo may have been able to take the Presidency through unsavory means, but he has not taken the House of Representatives and the Senate! We can still stand in opposition to him and his devilish Klan, wherever they may roam, subverting the great democracy of our nation. We can still cooperate with the Progressives in the Senate and House to ensure no evil plan of McAdoo slides its way into our courts and law firms. We can and will oppose McAdoo, and we will never let him wrest the great light of Democracy away from us"
-30th President of the United States of America, Calvin Coolidge, at the Republican congress in Washington D.C, November 9th, 1924

The Inauguration of 31st President of the United States, William McAdoo
During the early morning of the 4th of March, 1925, various important political figures, chauffeurs, families of those in attendance, soldiers, justices, former presidents, previous current political figures and high officers in the military joined in a parade, loading onto automobiles followed by a procession of the U.S Army's best troops riding on their best horses rode across the street, onto the Capital Building. Laying on the stand was a copy of the Protestant Holy Bible, on which Vice-President Elect Carter Glass laid his right hand and became Vice President Carter Glass. Soon after, President-Elect William G. McAdoo walked up to the stand and laid his right hand on the Bible, and accepted the oath from Supreme Justice Taft. Now 31st President of the United States of America, William McAdoo gave his formal inauguration address.

"I solemnly swear to uphold the great Constitution of this nation's founders to every detail. I swear to bring these great and holy United States into a period of ultimate peace and prosperity. I swear to uphold the rule of law across this nation. I will cooperate to the utmost extent with our courts, Congress, and House of Representatives to bring forth the necessary reforms and changes to keep America the City on a Hill, a light of our Lord's Providence, for the Oriental and uncivilized nations, so that they may follow suit. I shall keep our army and navy prepared to defend our shores should any nation threaten us; and I promise to never bring forth the might of America across the oceans. Thank you all"

*Democratic popular votes in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio were 45.29%, 39.84%, and 42.43%, respectively

 

[JonKenobi]

What's this going to become? A second civil war?

 

[Caesar_33]

Chapter 3 - La Follette and the Progressive Party

The Klan Act of 1925 - (The Rise of the Klan in America, 1966)
With the reconvening of the 69th* United States Congress, the Republicans and Progressives immediately set out to work on opposing McAdoo and the Democratic Party. The highest priority to many was supressing the Klan's ability to recruit new members and hold ceremonies and marches in states that were now Democrat-controlled states. One of the Act's authors, Republican James A. Frear demanded that "The Klan must be stopped in its tracks, right here, right now." Despite the urgency with which this bill was created, many of their strongest supporters privately admitted that the Act itself was, in the words of Calvin Coolidge "More of a symbol than any decisive action, really. It show's that we're willing and ready to fight, but not much else." Nevertheless, the Republicans vociferously argued that this bill was to be passed immediately. Republican Minority Leader Charles Curtis held an informal meeting with the Representatives and Senators of the three progressive parties in Congress.

Curtis had a well-deserved reputation of a moderator and a man who could compromise, and he himself was dedicated towards ensuring a Republican platform could get through Congress. Instead of antagonizing the progressives, Curtis hoped to hammer out a policy that the four anti-Democrat parties could all agree on.

Upon introducing the basics of the bill (i.e, declaring that the Klan cannot take any part in the government or administration of a state or region, and saying that any Klan member who took part in a lynching or murder would be tried in a court of law), none of the Representatives or Senators of the Progressive, Farmer-Labor or Socialist parties had an issue with the bill, especially as it was more of a warning rather than actual policy. However, the three parties decided to move forwards with several 'demands' as a compensation for their votes. The Farmer-Labor Party and Progressive Party both asked that the Republicans would lower the interest rates for struggling, indebted farmers in the next fiscal year. The Socialist Party, however, had a slightly different request. In 1918, two hundred anarchists, including influential politicians Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were deported to Russia, without legal precedent, and in spite of their citizenship. Berkman and Goldman considered themselves American, and disapproved of the Bolsheviks after the Kronstadt Uprising. As such, they had hoped to return. The Socialists hoped that the anarchists could return to the United States, and help in the rebuilding of Leftism in America.

The Progressive and Farmer-Labor parties backed this request, and Curtis hoped to deliver in some form, as the deportation was essentially illegal, given that American citizens were deported simply because of a broad definition of anarchism, that did not include due process.

Curtis promised to bring this case to the Supreme Court, bypassing the presidency in the process. This case would later come to be Alexander Berkman v. The Immigration Act of 1918.

In the meantime, while the demands of the progressive parties could be sorted out, the Klan Act of 1925 could be brought to the House of Representatives. The Act's wording was chosen very specifically to be focused on the Klan, and on the Klan alone, and the lack of actual policy within the Act removed any reservations the Democrats might have. Once it was clear that a majority of Congress would vote for the act, any opposition melted away. 236-0, the Act passed. The vast majority of the Democratic Representatives abstained from voting. In the Senate, the three progressive parties and the Republicans held 50 votes, two more than the 48-vote majority. 50-0, the Act passed the Senate. Not wanting to stoke flames to soon into his presidency, McAdoo let the empty declaration pass. The First Act of McAdoo's presidency solidified the opposition of the Republicans and Progressives against the Klan.

Death of Robert LaFollette Sr. and Collapse of the Progressive Party
On June 18th, 1925 Progressive Party figurehead and 1924 Presidential Candidate suddenly died of cardiovascular disease. Without LaFollette to tie the parties together, the three Progressive parties were thrown into turmoil. Some factions of the Republican Party hoped to make their gamble now, and hopefully acquire the Senators and Representatives from those three parties, and bypass any negotiations with the other parties before passing a bill. During the turmoil, LaFollette's Senatorial Seat in Wisconsin came up for reelection, with LaFollette Jr. running. Morris Hillquit, leader of the Socialist Party, made his move.

The Farmer-Labor Party and the Socialist Party had been slowly drifting together in policy and elections. By 1924, the two parties almost always ran on joint tickets, and their effective policy was almost identical. LaFollette Sr. had kept them at least somewhat separate, not wanting to jeopardize the Progressive Party's electoral dominance among the triumvirate. But with the unifying force gone, a July 4th National Convention held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin formally combined the two parties into the Socialist-Labor Party, incorporating two Senators, both from Minnesota.

LaFollette Jr. won re-election to his father's Senatorial seat in Wisconsin as a Republican, bringing them up to 48 Senators, one short of a majority. The S-L Party now possessed five Representatives, while the eleven previously Progressive ones sat in a sort-of limbo, waiting to choose between the SLP or the Republicans. Hillquit made an offer, saying "Our Party, the Socialist-Labor Party, has been recreated in the name of American Progressivism. This is now the party of Eugene V. Debs and Theodore Roosevelt, of Daniel DeLeon and Robert LaFollette." Despite the warnings of Charles Curtis, the Republican Party made no appeals to Progressivism, instead believing that the Progressive Representatives would join the Republicans instead of the 'damned communists'. Despite this, Hillquit's 'big tent' strategy worked. Nine out of the eleven previously Progressive Senators formally joined the Socialist-Labor Party. Only two from Illinois and Ohio joined with LaFollette Jr. in the Republican Party.

The Rise of the Socialist-Labor Party (The Presidency of William McAdoo, 1977)
"The Collapse of the Progressive Party and rise of the Socialist-Labor Party hinged on the few decisive months in between LaFollette Sr.'s passing and the ascension of LaFollette Jr. into his father's Senate seat, and Hillquit's ability to move the Socialist-Labor Party onto the figurehead of the American Progressive movement. 'Hillquit's Gamble' as its come to be known was centered around placing the Socialist-Labor Party as the dominant figure of the triumvirate following the absorption of the Farmer-Labor Party.

By the reelection of LaFollette Jr., the Progressive Party had ceased to exist on any electoral level. LaFollette Jr. had hoped to bury the Socialists and join with the Republicans, but by the end he was totally humiliated, and would lose his seat to a Socialist-Labor Senator in 1926."

The Klan's Web - (The Rise of the Klan in America, 1966)
"The Klu Klux Klan had long been an influential force in America. Rising out of popular dissatisfaction with the growing rights and liberties of African-Americans and other minorities gave rise to an organization partially inspired by a pro-Confederate terrorist group during Reconstruction, after the First American Civil War. The Southern Democratic Party had somewhat tepid relations with the Klan, sharing many of their values if not the Klan's extremism and terrorism. However, unsurprisingly, some within the Democratic Party adopted a 'Pro-Klan' mentality, or at least not an 'Anti-Klan' one. The 1924 Democratic Primary would be well known for the increasing involvement of the Klan. Two camps rapidly formed at the election: The Catholic, Anti-Prohibition Anti-Klan Al Smith and the Protestant, Pro-Prohibition Klan-friendly William McAdoo. By a slight margin, McAdoo won the conference and through LaFollette Sr.'s split managed to barely win the presidency from incumbent Calvin Coolidge.

Even before the inauguration, Grand Wizard** Hiram W. Evans began to work on his Magnum Opus, what is known to our modern ears as the Klan's Web. In the early 1920s, the Deep South state and city governments began to quietly associate themselves with the Klan. Especially in largely African-American regions, Klan-sympathetic white police officers fraternized or even became members of the Klan. With this, local Klan members knew that they could proceed with extrajudicial lynchings and cross burnings without fear of State reprisal. However, Evans was careful to keep these things somewhat covered, as the higher-up Governors, Senators and Representatives could crush the Klan if they became violent enough. So to avoid the Klan's collapse, Evans began to introduce some discipline. Greater and better organized recruitment drives would be needed, and the Klan's finances must be bolstered. The most significant necessity for a nation-spanning massively influential Klan, however, was loyalty from government authority.

At first, this was done with infiltrating and corrupting local police departments, and moving on to a few local mayors and sheriffs. With the ascension of McAdoo, Evans saw a golden opportunity. The Klan could now increase its influence far faster with a President and Democratic Party willing to turn a blind eye to the Klan's activities. Evans rushed forwards to truly turn the Klan into a multi-million man paramilitary political organization spread across the whole nation.

It is almost impossible to overstate the expansion of the Klan from early 1925 to late 1926. Evans spearheaded the creation of local chapters, starting with state authority, then city authority and local county chapters. Membership registry wouldn't be fully compiled until April 1925. Even then, there was roughly a 30,000~ person margin of error. By April 1925, the first official membership registrar came in at 4,220,000-4,250,000 members, from Oregon to Florida. The vast majority of those members came in from the American South and from Indiana. Despite these massive membership numbers, the Klan had little allegiance from legal authorities outside of the Deep South. Within months of McAdoo's inauguration, states like Texas and North Carolina were rapidly overtaken by Klan members. Local police authorities were quickly pressured into bowing to the Klan or found their policemen Klan members themselves in the recruitment waves. Opposition to the Klan inside the Mason-Dixon Line mostly melted away.

By November 8th, 1926, Klan membership was an estimated 6,190,00-6,245,000 members. The majority of police departments, governors, Senators, and Representatives would either turn a blind eye to the Klan or be openly aligned to the Klan. Local registrars in Baltimore, Springfield, Dallas and Chicago increased a hundredfold. D.C Stephenson, Grand Dragon*** of Indiana was roughly as powerful as state Governor Edward L. Jackson. The rapid expansion of the Klan under McAdoo helped to contribute to their successful growth as a full-fledged paramilitary organization in the late 1920s.

*nice

**Name for the leader of the Klan.

***State (Realm) Leader

 

[Caesar_33]

What I'd like to do with this series is have most posts be a history-book styled writing. As much as I love doing that, I feel that having nothing but history-book style writing can lead to confusion and mixing up of dates and events, and a timeline is a very clear way to organize events. However, timelines lack the ability to explain. When you read a timeline, you just jump from event-to-event, without reasoning to why event x leads to event y. My solution for this is to have a timeline update of all the events that have happened in the last few years every once in a while, to clearly establish when things happened - and a helpful resource if you forget when an event occurred.

Timeline 1923 - 1926
(August 2nd 1923 - November 7th 1926)

August 2nd 1923
Despite a bout of pneumonia, Harding quickly recovers, but his diagnosis continues to plague him throughout the rest of his presidency.

June 14th, 1924
President Warren G. Harding succumbs to pneumonia.

June 17th, 1924
Vice-President Calvin Coolidge is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States.

June-September 1924
The Teapot Dome Scandal breaks.

September 17th, 1924
Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette Sr. founds the Progressive Party after the fallout between him and Coolidge.

November 8th, 1924
Despite losing the popular vote, William G. McAdoo is elected President, winning 271 seats in the Electoral College.

January 29th, 1924
The Klu Klux Klan opens the first official chapters and prepares for the first census.

March 4th, 1925
William McAdoo is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States.

March 14th, 1925
Indiana Grand Dragon D.C Stephenson rapes young woman Madge Oberholtzer. Her attempts to give a testimony to the police fail, and she kills herself.

April 9th, 1925
The Klan Act of 1925 passes through Congress without opposition.

April 24th, 1925
The first official Klan Census reports the membership to be between 4,220,000-4,250,000 members.

June 18th, 1925
Progressive Party founder and Senator Robert La Follette Sr. passes away.

July 4th, 1925
The Farmer-Labor and Socialist Parties formally unite at a National Congress in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

June-September, 1925
Progressive Representatives are forced to choose between the Socialist-Labor and Republican Parties.
Nine of the Eleven Progressive Representatives defect to Socialist-Labor. The other two join La Follette Sr. at the Republican Party.

August 8th, 1925
50,000 Klan members march on Washington D.C.

September 29th, 1925
La Follette Jr. is reelected to his father's Senate Seat.

April 9th, 1926
The Second Census of the Klan places membership at 5,360,000-5,395,000 members.

 

[Caesar_33]

The Backroom Deal - (A Human Face for Socialist Treason, 1956)
"The Congressional Elections of 1926 are considered to be one of the most important events in the terminal years of the Second Union. It signaled the end of McAdoo’s comfortable supremacy, and pushed him towards increasingly shameless and violent affairs with the Klan. The strategy of victory against the Democratic Party did not lie with a lack of popularity on the part of McAdoo and the Klan, but rather a united front of Republican liberals, Progressives, Socialists and Communists that averted the splitting vote that caused the electoral defeat in 1924.

Beginning in early August 1926, factions of the Republican party began to work on an eventual reconciliation between the Republicans and Socialist-Labor. Charles Curtis initially offered to simply run joint tickets and leave Socialist seats alone. Hillquit did not entertain this idea; he believed the Socialist-Labor’s adoption of the Progressive platform would garner them many more votes than they currently had. After several weeks of closed session negotiations a four step plan was worked out that would prevent the vote splitting that got the Democrats into office in 1924.

1. The Republican party would not run candidates in districts currently controlled by Socialist-Labor Senators or Representatives.
2. The Republican Party would not run tickets in districts where a splitting vote would bring the Democrats into office and Socialist-Labor had a larger percentage of votes than the Republicans.
3. The Republicans would not run tickets in districts with a Socialist-Labor majority or plurality.
4. Aside from these seats, Socialist-Labor would not run any tickets.

In order to effectively determine which regions would vote S-L and which would vote Republican, a false cover company named Midwest Democracy United which was actually funded and run by Democratic officials, surveyed local regions pitting Socialist-Labor against the Republican Party. Overall, although the votes were difficult to determine and they might change on election day, a rough outline was drawn out that was more-or-less accurate to the electoral lines.
The districts that preferred S-L over the Republicans were:

1. Seven Districts in Wisconsin
2. Three Districts in Pennsylvania
3. Three Districts in New York.
4. Two Districts in Illinois
5. One District in Ohio.

Also, one Senate seat in Wisconsin would vote S-L.

This multi-step plan effectively would determine the number of seats Socialist-Labor would have before the election occurred. Although both parties were rather satisfied, and a Democratic defeat in 1926 was almost certain, the utterly undemocratic and secret deal drove many into cahoots with the Klan. Although official information was not declassified until 1976, there was widespread suspicion of a 'deal with the devil'. Political cartoons showed a picture of Vladimir Lenin and Charles Curtis shaking hands with a caption of Great minds think alike, eh, Comrade?”

The 1926 Congressional Election - (A Human Face for Socialist Treason, 1956)
"Despite the magnitude of this agreement, the Democrats still had virtually no knowledge of the coalition that had formed. The expected split between Socialist-Labor and Republicans were half of the plan to win in 1926. The second portion, an emergency plan, would be electoral fraud on behalf of the Klan, which would hopefully ensure places like Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio would vote Democrat.

On the 6th of November, Klan members worryingly telegraphed McAdoo in D.C from much of the Rust Belt, informing him that the Republicans and Socialist-Labor were not competing against one another. This revelation rapidly leaked to the rest of Congress, and McAdoo was locked up in a private study for 18 hours telegraphing Klan representatives to intervene in the voting process, mostly in Colorado, and the Rust Belt.

This would be the nation's first taste of 'Bloody Illinois' as Klan chapters embarked to local voting booths to protest a 'false rigging' and hopefully with the aid of the police and voting officials, be able to switch the vote. This attempt, however, utterly failed. The Klan was made a laughingstock as chapters of Klan members broke up and ran away at the first site of police fire. Local civilians attacked the Klan, oftentimes being driven away from voting booths and returning, armed. Socialist-Labor partisans disrupted Klan marches, with the famous 'McAdoo cocktail' of a self-fashioned bomb made out of moonshine and torn garments. Roughly three-hundred people died over the next two days, and the Klan's presence in Indiana shrunk. A federal investigation in 1928 found D.C Stephenson guilty of 'subverting democracy' and he was imprisoned.

In the end, the blood was shed for nothing. Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio switched to majority Republican, and the Klan's standing in the eyes of many Americans was greatly damaged."

1926 House of Representatives Election

Democratic Party - Republican Party
215 seats - 206 seats
182 seats - 223
seats
-33 seats - +17 seats
Socialist-Labor
14 seats
30 seats
+16 seats
​

1926 Senate Election

Democratic Party - Republican Party
46 seats - 47 seats
43 seats - 49 seats
-3 seats - +2 seats
Socialist Labor
2 seats
3 seats
+1 seat​

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcripted Meeting between Klan Grand Wizard of the Klan Hiram W. Evans and United States President William McAdoo, leaked from a Government Files Storage in June 2008. The identity of the recorder of this audio tape is still a matter of speculation.
11:34 - In a rented hostel in suburban Atlanta, November 9th, 1926

Evans: [Lights a cigar; light burning of lighter and exhalation of smoke can be heard in the recorder stored under the couch] So, McAdoo. I suppose you traveled here from D.C on borrowed time for a reason.

McAdoo: Indeed I did. [Lights his own cigar, coughs] I’ve come to ask a question.

Evans: What might that be, President McAdoo.

McAdoo: Call me Bill. Why did you fail today - in Illinois?

[roughly five seconds pass before Evans answers]

Evans: Many different things. The Republicans rigged the election, the Communists terrified our people, our Klan members were too slow to take action, and when they did our response was too disorganized. The Klan is growing too fast for its own good, It’s like trying to discipline a beast that becomes larger and angrier.

McAdoo: I am not going to give up on you or your Klan. The road to restoring American greatness is filled with bumps; but I will not stop. The only problem is the moment I start helping you and your people, and the Republicans raise hell in Congress. Now especially, they hold a majority. God knows what they're going to do with it.

Evans: I don’t recommend doing anything in Congress - not in the state that it’s in. Keep up your neutral face, but we need more real support. The Deep South and Illinois have their Klan roots deep, everyone from Senators to police officers believes in the cause, but places like Colorado and Maryland are still precarious. We need time to consolidate, bring numbers up, and discipline local chapters. I’m asking for your help here Bill - we need to fix this nation, or we’ll find ourselves with a noose around our neck.
Deal?

McAdoo: Deal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The President in White Robes - (The Presidency of William McAdoo, 1977)
"The ties between the Klan and McAdoo were never secret, or even ignored. As far back as the Klanbake, where McAdoo famously refused to condemn the Klan, the long string of allegiance that stretched from McAdoo to the Klan had been apparent. But during the first two years, McAdoo's greatest service to the Klan was his simple ignorance to their growth and recruiting of officials. Contrary to public perception then, and even now, open collaboration between the state and the Klan was simply nonexistent from 1925-1926. In the aftermath of the 1926 election, the growing specter of a 'Northern Communist conspiracy came knocking to the South's door' held increasing sway in the eyes of many who might not have loved the Klan beforehand. In these circumstances, McAdoo was sure that upon if he was ousted from his office, the Republicans and Socialist-Labor would crush the South and their values. This prediction, outlined in the worried days of his post-1926 election journal serve as an eerily accurate prediction of the 'Plot Against the Klan' and McAdoo's belief in the destruction of Southern values that would make it necessary to collaborate with the Klan was the same argument used by Southern officials to cede their offices to the Klan's representatives in the infamous 'Purge of the South' from 1928-1929.

Backroom negotiations between Klan officials such as D.C Stephenson and Evans were held in the few days after the election, to best discuss the easiest and quietest way to transfer power in the South from local officials to the Klan. Klan officials who were well-acquainted with gathering power and influence in a state gave their advice on the best possible transition of power. A series of offices were chosen by importance to be converted to the Klan's mission.

1. Local police offices were vitally important, and the very first step to solidifying control over a region. Local police officers would be given the reins to bring Klan members into their offices, and local state departments would hand out lists of 'community representatives' which were actually lists of Klan spies dedicated towards converting local police departments that came from D.C not the local region.

2. Judges and legal officials. If Klan-loyal police offices refused to confront Klan members, then they could act with a degree of impunity. However, if the Klan's behavior strayed too far out of line, legal officials might begin to prosecute. By sponsoring a series of bills that revised legal codes to be vague enough so a Klan-sympathetic judge could rule in favor of the Klan. Legal offices were already sympathetic, and the jurors outright biased, so rulings against the Klan rapidly tapered off throughout 1927.

3. The military. A far more sinister jurisdiction that was only discussed between the highest offices in the Klan and Democratic Party, an ace in the hole was suggested. In the paranoia after the 1926 Election, many Democratic politicians and Klan officials were sure that in 1928, the Northerners would declare martial law in the South and crush all the values under the guise of a war against the Klan. Even more paranoid beliefs, such as the idea that the Northerners were going to populate the South with blacks until they outnumbered whites and that they would abolish the Democratic Party and fuse the Socialist-Labor and Republican parties into one single, massive Communist party that would function as a vanguard party. As a 'defense' to this Klan spies were promoted to significantly high offices in the U.S military to fraternize with Southern officers and generals, in the hopes they would prevent this grand conspiracy from occurring.


Klan membership numbers soared from 1924-1927. By April 9th, 1927, the Third Annual Klan Census reported membership numbers to be between 7,180,000-7,265,000 members, over a million more than 1926. One of the most significant portions of the increase in the membership was which offices Klan members now occupied, and the regions in which the Klan increased.

Little increase in Klan membership, both among rank-and-file people and official offices was had in the Deep South. Places like North Carolina, Tennessee, and Illinois saw little rank-and-file growth, but they all had 1.4-1.5x greater portion of legal officials joining the ranks of the Klan. Places like Colorado and Delaware had a massive increase in rank-and-file membership, but few officials joined their ranks. Places in the intermediary, like Missouri and Maryland experienced both a surge of common and official membership. Klan growth in states tended to follow a three step process of:
1. The first common members join the Klan, but almost no officials.
2. The state experience a massive surge in common membership, with little to no increase in official membership.
3. Common membership slows to a near stop, but official membership explodes, and the state is now considered to be in the Klan's pocket.

Indiana and Ohio, which constituted the decisive electoral battleground between the Republicans and Democrats, experienced moderate popular and official growth, putting the Klan's ability to control their votes in 1928 in jeopardy.

Common Klan Membership numbers from the 1926 Census on April 9th.

The portion of legal officials in the Klan.

Seeing the disparity between Official Klan membership and common Klan membership in places where the Klan's situation was growing and still precarious would be a focal point of the Klan's 1926-1928 campaign. Places like the Deep South and Illinois, where the Klan's power was firmly entrenched would be bastions of their power and the regions which would declare for the Klan once the Second Insurrection began."

Comments and questions always appreciated

 

[NHBL]

Dark times coming! Hopefully involving lots of dead Klansmen. Incidentally, sad to say, Maine had a significant Klan presence, though it was anti-immigrant and anti-catholic focused. (Mainly anti-Quebecois...)
From what I know, which is "NOT ENOUGH," there was relatively little violence compared to down in the south.

 

[Progressive Populist]

What’s going on with the USSR? The only way I can see the SLP gaining popular support is if the USSR is more democratic and seen as less of a threat by the general public. Perhaps Bukharin, Tomsky, Shlyapnikov, or Sapronov suceeds Lenin?

 

[Caesar_33]

What’s going on with the USSR? The only way I can see the SLP gaining popular support is if the USSR is more democratic and seen as less of a threat by the general public. Perhaps Bukharin, Tomsky, Shlyapnikov, or Sapronov suceeds Lenin?

Most of Socialist-Labor's popularity comes from them shifting significantly rightwards. They've become a Socialist and Progressive Party. But don't worry - the events in America will be effecting the Soviet Union a lot.

 

[Caesar_33]

Dark times coming! Hopefully involving lots of dead Klansmen. Incidentally, sad to say, Maine had a significant Klan presence, though it was anti-immigrant and anti-catholic focused. (Mainly anti-Quebecois...)
From what I know, which is "NOT ENOUGH," there was relatively little violence compared to down in the south.

thank you! i'll definitely check that out.

 

[Unknown]

Yeah, hopefully something good will come out of the Second Insurrection...

 

[NHBL]

thank you! i'll definitely check that out.

Wiki[pedia's article on Maine's Klan is a decent overview.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan_in_Maine

It's a part of history that is not forgotten, but you'll find no monuments glorifying the racists, either.

I researched it some when working on "Tomorrow's Mountain," which I hope to resume at some point.

 

[Kaijufan95]

Found this timeline and finish reading it, you got a good story on your hand, and can't wait to see where it go, although let hoped it end the klan getting what they deserve, anyway good work.

 

[Caesar_33]

Found this timeline and finish reading it, you got a good story on your hand, and can't wait to see where it go, although let hoped it end the klan getting what they deserve, anyway good work.

thank you very much!

 

[Caesar_33]

Chapter 5 - The Plot Against the Klan

The Nationwide Klan - (The Invisible Empire, 2009, Authored by Brian Tackett)
Excerpts from the Foreword
...Oftentimes, in history books reviewing the growth of the Klan leading up to the Second Insurrection, a jump is made inbetween the exclusively Southern Klan before the secession, and the nationwide war that followed. Places like Maine and Oregon were not by any definition Southern, and yet they sided with the Klan when the time came. For those who have read the traditional histories of the Klan, this is bewildering; why are Oregon and Maine declaring for the Klan when the Klan seems to only exist in the South? It is not that Maine and Oregon declared for the Klan without considerable home support, but that we, in our histories of the Invisible Empire, have not spent enough time studying the growth and activities of the Klu Klux Klan outside of their home region. Therefore, I have dedicated several chapters in this book to the growth of the Invisible Empire outside of the American South.(1)

Chapter 3 - The Klan in the State of Oregon
It is usually difficult to separate the 'nationwide klan' until after the Second Insurrection, but the Klan's growth in Oregon began as soon as the Klan's growth in the South did. Organizers of local chapters, named Kleagles(2) arrived in early 1921 across the West Coast. Fred L. Gifford became the Grand Dragon following his predecessor's ousting, and began to work on developing the Klan from a fraternity with costumes to a legitimate and powerful political institution. The first local offices were won for the Oregon Klan in 1922, and the Klan campaigned for Democrat Walter M. Pierce's election as governor. A widely influential newspaper, The Western American, and the support of many Protestant ministers, such as Reverend Reuben H. Sawyer gave speeches praising the Klan and their Anti-Protestant crusade allowed the Klan to rapidly gain traction in Oregon. A series of 1923 Bills passed by Klan Loyalists and Democrats successfully restricted the property rights of Japanese Immigrants, and a bill to enforce public schooling on all Oregon students gained national attention due to controversy, and was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court, 3-6. The Oregon Klan would also find itself as one of the best funded Klan Realms proportional to membership, allowing them to hold increasingly ceremonious parades, with a famous 1926 Independence Day March coming under criticism as many believed a Klan march held on the same day was the real military parade, as it was larger and better-funded than the state parade. Klan-friendly governor Walter M. Pierce would win a 1926 reelection, and by 1928 the pre-Insurrection Oregon Klan would find itself at a membership height of 220,000 members in over three hundred local chapters with the Portland chapter boasting an impressive 45,000 members, slightly less than one sixth of the city's total population.

The years of 1928-1929 would not find the Klan under significant pressure from the Federal Government. The 'Plot Against the Klan' focused mainly on the Rust Belt and South, and Republican leaders hoped the Klan elsewhere, in places like Maine and Oregon would rapidly melt away after the decapitation of their leadership in Atlanta. Nevertheless, the significant depletion of the Klan elsewhere led to a large drop in Klan membership, with roughly 30,000 members officially quitting the Klan, forty chapters being forced to shut down, and local Klan rallies having an estimated 50% turnout compared to 1928 figures. During the purge, Walter M. Pierce would cede significant political powers to local Klan officials with Great Titans functioning as de facto administrators of regions in a ranking between Pierce himself and local mayors. The Insurrection would face little opposition in the Klan and state leadership, and the Oregon State Legislature would vote overwhelmingly for secession.

Chapter 4 - The Klan in the State of Maine
The Klan is first and foremost with Southern white supremacy and racism, but Anti-Catholicism and Nativism were major secondary tenets to the organization, and were the main drawing points Kleagles would emphasize in states without a black population large enough to cause discord. In Maine, the black population was insignificant, but intolerance of Quebecois and Catholic immigrants moving in to work in textile and paper mills was running especially high. The charismatic King Kleagle(3) of Maine F. Eugene Farnsworth began giving speeches to larger and larger crowds throughout 1922-1923 denouncing the "Growing specter of Catholic-Jewish power onto the State of Maine".

The Maine Klan's first tangible victory came in the 1923 Portland Referendum where the City of Portland, Maine voted overwhelmingly to end the mayor-and-alderman election system based on equal representation that allowed Irish, Catholic, and Jewish neighborhoods and schools tangible influence in local politics. A broad coalition of Irish-Catholics, Jews, African-Americans and Labor Unions failed to defeat the bill, and it represented a great blow to the local NAACP and the Anti-Klan Front.

By 1924, the extent of Klan influence in Maine became truly apparent. Many of Maine's cities, such as Westbrook, Saco, and Dexter, as well as many others elected unashamed Klansmen as their mayors. The 1924 Gubernatorial election would also ride on the wave of the Teapot Dome Scandal, but the Pro and Anti-Klan alignments would switch parties. Elements of the Maine Republican Party endorsed the Klan running on an Anti-Catholic, Anti-Immigrant sentiment beat out the 'Old Guard' of Governor Percival Baxter and Senator Frederick Hale to nominate pro-Klan Owen Brewster as the Republican gubernatorial candidate. The Democrats fixated their campaign on an anti-Klan platform, failing to substantively address actual policy. While much of the nation was shaken by the Democrats sweeping into office, the Maine Republican Party overwhelmingly brought Brewster in as the next Governor of Maine.

By the end of 1924, the Klan had an estimated 40,000-50,000 members, and the first Maine Census on April 9th, 1925 produced 63,300-63,600 members in Maine. Further censuses in 1926 and 1927 produced 72,000-72,300 and 78,200-78,500 respectively. This slow growth might seem poultry in comparison to the exploding membership rolls of the South, but as DeForest H. Perkins, Grand Dragon of the Maine Klan put it "We have exactly as many members as we could need, to ensure proper politicians are elected to office and proper Americans continue to run Maine. We might have one hundredth of the Maine population in the Klan, but the other ninety-ninth are standing with us." DeForest wasn't wrong; The Klan continued to dictate Maine affairs.

In 1926, Maine Senator Bert M. Fernald passed away, leaving a special election to determine the next Senator. Republican nominee Arthur R. Gould took up an Anti-Klan platform. The previous support he had from factions of the Republican Party melted away, and Republican Governor Owen Brewster even denounced his own party's candidate. Arthur R. Gould was swept away, with Klan members interrupting the voting process in Irish-Catholic and Quebecois regions, with two separate incidents of lynching occurring on that night. An official police report alleged that the two victims were throwing stones at a local Protestant family, and that the Klan arrived on scene to prevent their deaths. The two victims, Annie O'Brien and Jonathan Collins have become somewhat of a staple of crime fantasy, the late-night Soviet four part Drama series О, эти бедные ирландцы! (Oh, those poor irishmen!) being probably the most famous.

Brewster would decisively win the 1928 Maine Gubernatorial Election, nominating him for a third term. By this point, the Maine Klan was so integrated into the Maine power structure that even after the Insurrection, little actually changed in terms of Maine politics, besides DeForest becoming the official 'Secretary' to Brewster. The power of the Maine Klan was made even more apparent by the lack of weakening during the 'Purge of the South'. Little Federal focus was placed on Maine, believing the Maine Klan would dissipate following the leadership's destruction, but even then the members who left the Klan between 1928-1929 were a far smaller percentage than in other non-Southern states. Out of the 82,000 or so Klan members on April 9th, 1927, only an estimated 1,500 left the organization. Every electoral level, from city halls to the Governor's office was thoroughly poisoned by the Klan's membership. A secret report from the Federal Commission for the Destruction and Pacification of the Klu Klux Klan written on the 28th of March, 1928 says:

"Despite Maine's place in the greater region of New England, a portion of the Union not prone to the Klan's activities, the existing French-Canadian and Irish-Catholic immigrant minorities have caused much discord amongst the Maine population, and the Klu Klux Klan has abandoned its traditional primary focus on African-Americans to antagonize the minorities of Maine. This attitude is propagated by much of Maine's population, creating a safe and flowering environment for the Grand Dragon's activities. Klansmen hold many offices on different echelons of Maine leadership, even in the National Guard and Police units. A recently drafted operation, Operation Spring Flower scheduled for after the completion of the main objectives in the South and Indiana, details a possibly necessary scenario of the suppression of habeas corpus in Maine, the calling up of National Guard and police units from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and the arrest and trial of prominent Maine politicians. A low-level insurgency is expected, and violent crimes against immigrant minorities are likely to occur until the situation pacifies."

No policy was carried out in Maine before the Second Insurrection. The state of Maine unanimously voted to join the Secession, and anti-Klan politicians like Percival Baxter and Frederick Hale were arrested without due process and summarily executed. Maine would become a hotbed of New England insurrection, with most rebelling organizations having some connections to official authorities in Maine. Maine would be decisively important in the early days of the Second Civil War, stymying the Loyalist response to the fronts in Ohio and Maryland from New York and Boston. [...]

Chapter 5 - The Klan in Colorado
Although perhaps one of the better known non-southern Klan-backing states, Colorado is still seen as a periphery of Klan activity compared to the hotbed of the South. The lack of focus on Colorado is surprising, given that Colorado's Klan began organizing as soon as the Klan across the South. As early as 1920, Klansmen began activity recruiting members. These early efforts were pitifully small, and lacked any real organization or support from the central headquarters in Atlanta. The Invisible Empire's leadership structure wasn't exported to Colorado until 1922, when an official Grand Dragon, John G. Locke, was appointed. The atmosphere of Colorado was perfectly suited to the Klan's platform. Like other non-Southern states, the Klan emphasized a dislike of immigrants and dropped most of the anti-black rhetoric when it wasn't advantageous. Rapidly, Klan officials were swept into the highest offices in Colorado. Benjamin Stapleton was elected Mayor of Denver, the largest city in Colorado, as early as November 1922. Although not openly a Klansman, he was highly sympathetic and appointed many Klansmen into Denver offices. Much like in Maine, the Republican Party conformed to the Klan's agenda, as the state Democratic Party was much of a rump organization, although it would gain support from Klan-backed Republicans in the 1924 Presidential Election, steering Colorado into the Democratic Party's grasp. The Governor, Clarence Morley was heavily in the pocket of the Klan, and allowed their activities to continue unheeded. He was not totally onboard, as he opposed the Klan's takeover during the Second Insurrection, but was rapidly liquidated and replaced.

The Expulsion of the Socialist-Labor Party From the Comintern - (A Human Face for Socialist Treason, 1956)
Morris Hillquit played a difficult game running the Socialist-Labor Party. Emerging as the leader with the loss of their national figurehead and now with a chafing, excessively Orthodox Stalinist Comintern breathing down his neck, Hillquit hoped to recruit many dissatisfied Progressive elements into the party while also not enraging the Comintern. This would prove to be impossible for Hillquit, for as far back as the political union between Farmer-Labor and the Socialists, the Comintern had been decrying Socialist-Labor as a bourgeois deviation from Marxist theory. Accusing the S-L Party of being 'Bourgeoisie capitalist running-dog opportunists like the SPD', the Socialist-Labor Party was formally expelled from the Comintern in August of 1924. The Comintern moved towards officially endorsing the rump Communist Party of America as the 'Comintern Party', and many committed American leftists were now viewing Socialist-Labor as Social Democratic deviations from Marxism. Hillquit hoped to pacify these dissidents and portray it as excessive orthodoxy on behalf of Stalin's Comintern rather than any legitimate opportunism of Socialist-Labor, while also not antagonizing Progressive elements. This would prove to be an ultimately unsuccessful gambit, as in the end he could not appeal to both the Progressives and hardline Comintern supporters. This failure is best exhibited in the fact that Socialist-Labor is remembered as a Social Democratic party that ultimately acquiesced to the bourgeois Republicans, giving it a less than positive impression among modern Communist intellectuals, although some have the foresight to place the ideological decay of Socialist-Labor partially on Stalin's excessive orthodoxy.

The Dying Days of the Second Republic - (The Invisible Empire, 2009, Authored by Brian Tackett)
As the last Presidential Elections the nascent United States of America would have, the 1928 Presidential campaign was suitably divided. Class and race warfare was becoming increasingly common, with lynch mobs terrorizing the South. On four separate times, Klan members marched into New Orleans from some provocation, and returned with blood on their hands. Illinois was rapidly succumbing to anarchy, with groups of Klan-backed rural gangs mounting attacks on larger cities like Chicago and Springfield. Japanese Immigrants from Oregon spilled across the border into Northern California, stirring up anti-Japanese sentiment in the region that rapidly led to thousands of Japanese families losing their homes to Oregonian Klan groups and their freedom to north Californian police officers. To many in the Rust Belt, Midwest and Northeast, Socialist-Labor seemed a viable alternative, and while a side show to the Republican-Democratic showdown, they shored up support and increasingly large membership rolls. Socialist-Labor militants would fight corrupt Illinois police officers, Pinkerton strikebreakers and Klan paramilitaries throughout the later months of 1928 in an ongoing low-level street war that seemed to be yielding to neither side. Through the chaos, however, a plan was being set in motion that could hopefully restore political power back to local elected governments, and break the leadership of the Klan once and for all.

This concept, a multi-step multi-year plan officially named the Republican Party Process on Destroying and Weakening the Klu Klux Klan Upon Assumption of the Presidency, drafted by the highest figures in the Republican Party, would form an entirely unconstitutional and extralegal framework for a plan that hoped to totally decimate and destroy the Klu Klux Klan. Involving a total suspension of Habeas Corpus for suspected Klan members, the arrest of many influential Democratic Senators, Governors, Representatives, Mayors, and statesmen, the temporary lockdown of the abilities of the U.S Congress and Supreme Court, the establishment of military districts throughout much of the South, the extralegal assassination of prominent Klansmen, and the recruitment of local militias and National Guard forces to suppress an uprising, the Klan was nothing short of turning the United States into a temporary dictatorship. Even the concept of temporarily arresting Socialist-Labor leadership and detaining them during the Purge to cause a scandal and drop in membership numbers was considered, but the protests of Charles Curtis brought it to the backroom. One important factor was necessary; appointing the Republican candidate for President. Calvin Coolidge was considered briefly, but rejected on the grounds of his unpopularity among many Americans due to the Teapot Dome Scandal.

The Republican 1928 Primaries began with a series of ballots that clearly divided the candidates on one value; the extremity at which they were willing to enforce the destruction of the Klan. Many establishment Republicans, left-leaning populists and rich financiers wished to remove the Klan as a force that threatened their power, but they feared their market might be damaged by confronting that too aggressively. Charles Curtis, the face of the Socialist-Labor and Republican front was lauded as the 'soft' choice, favoring trials and detaining only the leadership of the Klan, and retaining many of the Democratic political structures in place. Curtis' policy was seen as against the Klan's leadership and that alone. The opposite face, however, was Herbert Hoover who had firsthand witnessed the brutality of the Klan and wished to 'tear down this rot with all due haste'. His approach to the Klan was highly militant and involved trials for many respected Southern statesmen. Although gaining the support of many of the people, few within the leadership echelons did not wish to see him in power. The Populist and Progressive wings of the Republican delegates, unaware of the size of the conspiracy, continued to vote for him throughout the ballots. Eventually, the National Convention narrowed the vote down to three candidates: Herbert Hoover, Charles Curtis, and Frank B. Willis. Willis, who had far less name recognition, was simply holding on through sheer virtue of the fact that he was the moderate, not too 'soft' and not too hard' the highest leadership in the Party saw him as the safest choice, and Hoover accepted dropping out of the race after pressure from many party factions. Afterwards, Curtis was successfully convinced into latching onto Willis as his Vice President. By the end of the primaries, the choice had been made. Hoover was disgraced, and the plan moved closer to real execution every single ballot inserted and every single second passed.

Comments and Questions always appreciated !!!!

(1) Thank you NHBL!

(2) Yes, really.

(3) Commanding Kleagle of a Realm(state)

 

[Unknown]

My guess: The Klan gets defeated, but the death toll will be in the millions...

 

[NHBL]

I would expect that Maine would, at worst (or best from the Klan point of view) be very divided, and likely not rebel. If it did rebel, I'd anticipate a lot of conflict within Maine. Also, if Maine's government did turn traitor, I can see a "Joshua Chamberlain Brigade" being raised from loyal Mainers.