Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. Hostility toward
Speaker 1: people who are different from us has always been a
Speaker 1: human flaw, but in the nineteen thirties, Adolph Hitler took
Speaker 1: that hate to a tragically historic level, and for those
Speaker 1: who wanted their animosity validated, Hitler became an icon and idol.
Speaker 1: Over a hundred anti Semitic organizations sprung up all over
Speaker 1: the world. Jewish people fleeing for their lives sought safety
Speaker 1: in the United States, but American radical groups like the
Speaker 1: Friends of Germany, Silver Shirts, Defenders of the Christian Faith,
Speaker 1: the Christian Front, and the Knights of the White Camellia
Speaker 1: rallied behind Hitler protect did by the First Amendment. These
Speaker 1: Nazi groups participated in parades and rallies calling for the
Speaker 1: eradication of the Jewish people. They wore Nazi uniforms and
Speaker 1: flew Nazi flags to flaunt their prejudice. They viciously bullied
Speaker 1: and attacked Jewish people and vandalized their businesses and homes.
Speaker 1: Now we are free to voice our opinions and beliefs.
Speaker 1: It's a fundamental right in America. But we're not free
Speaker 1: of the consequences, and we're not free to move from
Speaker 1: voice to violence. And these groups they thought they were
Speaker 1: free of both consequences and the law. They believed that
Speaker 1: the more brutal they were, the more people would become compliant.
Speaker 1: So when they chose to stake acclaim in New York City,
Speaker 1: they were a bit surprised by the pushback. You see,
Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties, New York was a haven for gangsters,
Speaker 1: and not all of them were Italian. Mayor Landsky and
Speaker 1: other Jewish mobsters ran prostitution and gambling rings and loan
Speaker 1: shark operations, and they had plenty of hired hit men.
Speaker 1: They weren't exactly good men. However, they weren't about to
Speaker 1: let Hitler's version of evil invade America. The Nazis might
Speaker 1: have had some twenty thousand supporters in New York, but
Speaker 1: that didn't frighten Lansky and his allies. While no one
Speaker 1: could legally stop the radicalized groups from marching, they could
Speaker 1: make their own voices. Heard. Of course, that would probably
Speaker 1: lead to a fight, which was perfectly fine with the mob.
Speaker 1: Mayor Lansky had friends in high places like the notorious
Speaker 1: mafia gangster Lucky Luciano. His connections prompted a judge, Nathan
Speaker 1: Pearlman to ask Lansky to help teach the Jewish community
Speaker 1: how to defend themselves. In return, he would grant legal
Speaker 1: protection and supply the funding under one condition, no killing.
Speaker 1: A Lansky agreed to help, though he'd clined funding or protection,
Speaker 1: acutely aware of the Nazi deaf camps in Germany and
Speaker 1: seeing how the marches in America were increasingly destructive, he
Speaker 1: simply refused to make a promise he couldn't keep. Lansky's
Speaker 1: men and their allies taught Jewish and sympathetic communities how
Speaker 1: to fight, and before long, street gangs and mobsters began
Speaker 1: to show up at rallies and shout the Nazis down.
Speaker 1: The hate groups resorted to their usual violence, but the
Speaker 1: street gangs outmatched them, putting many of the Nazis in
Speaker 1: the hospital with broken bones and teeth. Yet Lansky and
Speaker 1: the other mobsters never killed anyone, and while the radical
Speaker 1: groups enjoyed dishing out violence, they didn't like being on
Speaker 1: the receiving end and demanded protection. The mayor agreed on
Speaker 1: the condition that they not wear Nazi uniforms, carry Nazi
Speaker 1: flags or brandish spostikas, and that they refrained from vandalism
Speaker 1: and any violence. Unwilling to meet those demand ends, the
Speaker 1: groups eventually stopped their rallies. Lansky and the others may
Speaker 1: have been gangsters, but when it came to their approach
Speaker 1: to Nazis, many saw them as heroes. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum.
Speaker 1: Welcome to American Shadows. It started on Christmas Eve of
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty. Upset over losing the Civil War and angry
Speaker 1: that enslaved people have been freed, a group of Confederate
Speaker 1: veterans gathered in Pulaski, Tennessee to form a secret society,
Speaker 1: one they dubbed the Invisible Empire of the South. Their
Speaker 1: first order of business was selecting their leader, a former
Speaker 1: Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. The title of leader didn't
Speaker 1: come off as imposing enough for their tastes, so they
Speaker 1: called him a Grand Wizard instead. Forrest ruled over a
Speaker 1: chain of command made of Grand Dragons, grant Titans, and
Speaker 1: Grand Cyclops. No, it wasn't a nineteenth century tabletop role
Speaker 1: playing game. The men, most of whom were extremist members
Speaker 1: of their political party had created a white terrorist hate group,
Speaker 1: the Ku Klux Klan. Unwilling to accept President Andrew Johnson's
Speaker 1: reconstruction Arab policies providing equal protection under the Constitution for
Speaker 1: formerly enslaved people, the men dedicated themselves to civil unrest
Speaker 1: and violence. Their main targets were black schools, businesses, and
Speaker 1: political leaders. They also targeted white sympathizers and politicians. In
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty nine, with Arson lynch Ng's murders and other
Speaker 1: hate crimes out of control, Forrest tried to disband the KKK,
Speaker 1: but to no avail, and by eighteen seventy the clan
Speaker 1: had branches in practically every Southern state. Members ranged for
Speaker 1: poured wealthy, and they rooted themselves into every aspect of
Speaker 1: law enforcement and the courts, making it hard to bring
Speaker 1: them to justice. In eighteen seventy one, President Grant used
Speaker 1: military force to wipe most of the group out. The
Speaker 1: fires of hate rekindled in nineteen fifteen when die hard
Speaker 1: Confederates rallied a new generation to their lost Cause philosophy.
Speaker 1: Advocates of the ideology romanticized the Confederate's efforts, claiming that
Speaker 1: slavery had brought economic prosperity not possible with paid labor. Further,
Speaker 1: they painted themselves as the chivalrous and to bellum South,
Speaker 1: whose state rights had been ignored by the aggressive North.
Speaker 1: The narrative the Confederate veterans spun was one of a
Speaker 1: noble and just cause, that the South's generals were good
Speaker 1: men with ethics and high morals. The South, they said,
Speaker 1: was a gentle, more traditional way of life with strong
Speaker 1: Christian values. They claimed that the Union, with their larger
Speaker 1: population and more militant lifestyle, wanted to exploit the South's
Speaker 1: power and wealth, that the South had a right to succeed,
Speaker 1: and that greedy Northern industrial businessmen and politicians had set
Speaker 1: out to steal the power for themselves by force. The
Speaker 1: film The Birth of a Nation, a silent movie based
Speaker 1: on the novel The Klansmen, also hit theaters in nineteen
Speaker 1: fift To this day, the film is still considered one
Speaker 1: of the most controversial and racist movies Hollywood has ever made.
Speaker 1: It sparked an intense upturn in the Lost Cause movement,
Speaker 1: mostly by Confederate soldiers who were dying and wanted to
Speaker 1: preserve their memories. The film portrayed the ku Klux Klan
Speaker 1: as defenders of women from black sexual predators and as
Speaker 1: heroic protectors of American values. It sparked fresh racism and
Speaker 1: inspired former preacher William Simmons to resurrect the clan. Simmons
Speaker 1: gathered friends and a handful of elderly original clan members. Together,
Speaker 1: they set fire to a cross on top of Stone
Speaker 1: Mountain in Georgia on Thanksgiving Day. The message was clear,
Speaker 1: the KKK had returned. Simmons, who had been honorably discharged
Speaker 1: from the Spanish American War, dropped out of medical school
Speaker 1: and been suspended from the church for inefficiency, finally found
Speaker 1: the attention he sought. He declared himself the Imperial Wizard
Speaker 1: of the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku
Speaker 1: Klux Klan. This time, the clan expanded their hate toward
Speaker 1: other groups, including Native Americans, Italians, Jews, the Irish, Catholics,
Speaker 1: labor unions, certain political parties. Basically, Simmons and the others
Speaker 1: wanted only American born, Anglo Saxon Protestant white men to
Speaker 1: call the shots. They used fear to gain public support,
Speaker 1: preying on people's insecurities during the uncertain times surrounding the
Speaker 1: First World War. They insisted people of specific legions and
Speaker 1: races where the root cause of all their problems, all crime,
Speaker 1: all poverty, immorality, disease, and anything else that troubled America,
Speaker 1: and he and his nights were going to save America
Speaker 1: by putting those people in their subservient place. The clan
Speaker 1: also used labor strikes to stir the pot. The Simmons
Speaker 1: claimed strikers were in league with foreign powers and communists.
Speaker 1: By the nineteen twenties, the clan had over four million
Speaker 1: members across the nation, even in northern states. In Indiana,
Speaker 1: the KKK boasted two and fifty thousand members, quickly becoming
Speaker 1: one of the largest chapters in the country. Heading up
Speaker 1: the Indiana branch of the clan was David Curtis Stevenson,
Speaker 1: one of the most powerful men in the state. Reportedly charismatic,
Speaker 1: Stevenson wasn't short on compliments for himself. He told everyone
Speaker 1: who would listen that he had the biggest brains and
Speaker 1: would be the biggest man in the United States. He
Speaker 1: had moved to Evansville in ninety and had worked for
Speaker 1: a retail coat company. Though he told people he was wealthy,
Speaker 1: and had come from wealth. In reality, had been born
Speaker 1: in Houston, Texas to a family of sharecroppers. Stevenson had
Speaker 1: little schooling, having left to work as a printer's apprentice
Speaker 1: before joining the army. He never saw combat in World
Speaker 1: War One, but his training provided him with the means
Speaker 1: to effectively organize and lead the clan in Indiana and
Speaker 1: six other states. He helped create the white supremacist newspaper,
Speaker 1: The Fiery Cross. He also became the top recruiter for
Speaker 1: the clan, bringing in nearly fifty undred new members and
Speaker 1: offering Protestant ministers free membership and the wealthy brad Dove
Speaker 1: came quickly from the sales of uniforms and other items
Speaker 1: that clan members purchased. Though his vanity and mistruths continued,
Speaker 1: clan members worshiped him. At a gathering for the fourth
Speaker 1: of July in three he addressed a hundred thousand members.
Speaker 1: He arrived late and gave an excuse that thrilled them.
Speaker 1: He had been counseling the President of the United States,
Speaker 1: he told them, and harding had kept him unduly long.
Speaker 1: It was another lie, of course, but the crowd believed him.
Speaker 1: Warren g Harding had denounced lynching and had made some
Speaker 1: efforts to combat the clan. The clan had become so
Speaker 1: angry with the president that they spread rumors that he
Speaker 1: was secretly a klansman himself. It wouldn't be the first
Speaker 1: or the last time Stevenson used the rumor to spread misinformation.
Speaker 1: He had helped two prominent local politicians rise to power.
Speaker 1: After all, he had used the clan to intimidate voters,
Speaker 1: putting Edward L. Jackson in the governor's mansion. I'm proud
Speaker 1: of his effort, Stevenson told the crowd, I am the
Speaker 1: law in Indiana. The clan didn't like Catholics, much less
Speaker 1: Irish immigrants, and the nearby Notre Dame had become a
Speaker 1: thorn in Stephenson's side and something had to be done,
Speaker 1: and he organized a rally in South Bend. Stephenson's clansmen
Speaker 1: had harassed the University of Dayton in Ohio the previous year.
Speaker 1: They had burned crosses and cemeteries and on school grounds.
Speaker 1: After repeated acts of terrorism, the football team successfully chased
Speaker 1: off the clansmen. The clan retaliated, setting off bombs and
Speaker 1: setting an eight foot cross ablaze. On school property. As
Speaker 1: the students doused the flames, fifty cars of clansmen arrived.
Speaker 1: The men surrounded the students and attacked them. Town residents
Speaker 1: joined the fray, eventually beating back the clan. If they
Speaker 1: couldn't intimidate that school, the clan would pick another to harass,
Speaker 1: and Notre Dame was right on Stevenson's door step. The
Speaker 1: students had heard about the attack on the Ohio University,
Speaker 1: so they weren't too surprised when clansmen arrived on school
Speaker 1: property to lecture about the dangers that the Irish and
Speaker 1: other immigrants posed, as well as the problem with Catholicism.
Speaker 1: One clansmen posted up in an auditorium, handing out leaflets
Speaker 1: and telling students and staff that Catholics were horrible Americans.
Speaker 1: The Irish students responded by throwing potatoes at him that
Speaker 1: they had stolen from the cafeteria, and the man fled.
Speaker 1: Stevenson retaliated, and he was playing a long game. He
Speaker 1: used scare tactics to force citizens into voting clan candidates
Speaker 1: into government office. If you couldn't force the school to
Speaker 1: shut down, one way, he'd do it. Another university president,
Speaker 1: father Matthew Walsh began to fear for his student safety.
Speaker 1: He and two other priests went to talk to the
Speaker 1: Chief of Police, Lawrence Lane, to file a complaint. Chief
Speaker 1: Lane didn't want the clan there either, and assured Walsh
Speaker 1: that the group been denied permits for rallies and parades. Relieved,
Speaker 1: Walsh and the others left. What they didn't know was
Speaker 1: that the clan didn't care about the law and South Bend,
Speaker 1: nor did they care about the students. On March seventeenth
Speaker 1: of NTO, a large number of clansmen arrived in South
Speaker 1: Bend by car and train. At first glance, they could
Speaker 1: have been anyone until you noticed the white robes and
Speaker 1: hoods they carried. As the day wore on Moore arrived,
Speaker 1: members who had shown up earlier dawned their robes and
Speaker 1: began directing traffic for even more incoming clansmen. Father Walsh
Speaker 1: knew a storm was brewing. When the word hit Notre
Speaker 1: Dame that the clan had arrived, students began to trickle
Speaker 1: off campus. Though Father Walsh issued a warning for them
Speaker 1: to stay on school ground, the students weren't going to
Speaker 1: sit idly by and let a bunch of men dressed
Speaker 1: in sheets run them off. They loosely formed groups and
Speaker 1: hoofed it the two miles to downtown South Bend. Once there,
Speaker 1: they found a scuffle already in progress. The clan was
Speaker 1: attacking and beating local Catholic citizens who had come to
Speaker 1: voice their opinions against the clan. Seeing an opportunity, a
Speaker 1: few students pretended to wander in alone. The clan members,
Speaker 1: all grown men, saw the boys as easy targets and
Speaker 1: chased them down alleys where other Notre Dame students waited. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: football players charged into groups of clansmen, sending them tumbling,
Speaker 1: making it easier for local citizens to gain the upper hand.
Speaker 1: Beaten and bloody, the clan made a hasty retreat to
Speaker 1: their headquarters. They called Chief Lane, who refused to press
Speaker 1: charges against the students. Well, unless the clan wanted charges
Speaker 1: pressed against them, they did not. Stevenson used the riot
Speaker 1: to paint Notre Dame students as violent hoodlumps. He claimed
Speaker 1: that their behavior only proved his point about the Irish
Speaker 1: and Catholics being menaces that had to be dealt with.
Speaker 1: In Stevenson's eyes, he could spin this into the best propaganda,
Speaker 1: Yet still the clan licked their wounds. Only one klansman
Speaker 1: had walked away unscathed that day. Of policemen, who had
Speaker 1: kept one hand on his gun while threatening the students,
Speaker 1: though he didn't kill anyone that day, had promised they
Speaker 1: would get what was coming to them. The students didn't care.
Speaker 1: They had just kicked the kkks butts. They arrived back
Speaker 1: at campus the souvenirs of torn robes and hoods and
Speaker 1: ran them up the flagpole for the klansmen to see.
Speaker 1: The clan was furious and embarrassed they had been sent
Speaker 1: packing by a bunch of college kids. For damage control,
Speaker 1: Stevenson used his connections to portray the students as potato
Speaker 1: throwing savages in the newspapers and that the clan had
Speaker 1: been peaceful. Father Walsh was angry. The statements in the
Speaker 1: article were not only untrue, they were racist and derogatory,
Speaker 1: but there was little he could do. The clan had
Speaker 1: also pulled strings to get thirty deputies to stand guard
Speaker 1: over their headquarters, where a cross emblazoned with red lights
Speaker 1: sat in the window. To Father Walsh, the clan was
Speaker 1: flaunting their power and to his students that red cross
Speaker 1: was like flashing a red cape in front of an
Speaker 1: angry bull. It had been a chaotic weekend, and all
Speaker 1: sophomore Bill Fooey wanted to do was settle into a
Speaker 1: normal week. It was a Monday, and he sat in
Speaker 1: his dorm room studying chemistry. When the phone rang down
Speaker 1: the hall. He paid little mind until he heard shouting
Speaker 1: and doors slamming. Someone knocked on his door and yelled,
Speaker 1: they've got one of the boys downtown. The messenger didn't
Speaker 1: say who had been taken, but he had an idea
Speaker 1: of why. The Ku Klux Klan was out for revenge.
Speaker 1: Over five hundred students ran down to South Bend the
Speaker 1: cross with the red light bulbs burned brightly in the window.
Speaker 1: Deputies stood guard, many of whom the boys recognized as clansmen.
Speaker 1: While the boys were armed with nothing more than rotten food,
Speaker 1: the deputized clansmen surrounded them and began beating them with clubs.
Speaker 1: The students fought back. Father Walsh got word about the
Speaker 1: fight and drove into South Bend. He climbed on top
Speaker 1: of a cannon that was part of a monument and
Speaker 1: shouted over the crowd, pleading for peace and for his
Speaker 1: students to return to school grounds. It wasn't like Father
Speaker 1: Walsh to plead every single student returned to the school.
Speaker 1: Walsh stayed until everyone students, clansmen, and deputies left. When
Speaker 1: the street was finally empty, he returned to Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: The following day. The clan told the papers that they
Speaker 1: had come across the students beating on women and children
Speaker 1: and had simply been defending the innocent. Then they promptly
Speaker 1: left town, vowing to return in greater numbers to handle
Speaker 1: the issue. They never returned, though, and the students went
Speaker 1: down in history for taking on the clan and winning.
Speaker 1: Father Walsh found him standing before the mayor and the
Speaker 1: chief of police on Tuesday. A few local clan members
Speaker 1: also showed up. For a while, Walsh sat in silence
Speaker 1: as the clansmen repeated their lies about his students attacking
Speaker 1: women and children the previous night. He listened with disinterest
Speaker 1: when some of the townspeople complained about how rowdy the
Speaker 1: students had been. When everyone finished speaking, they turned to
Speaker 1: hear what the father intended to do about his misbehaving students.
Speaker 1: Walsh said, give and their history of boorish behavior in
Speaker 1: our community an incident like this was just a matter
Speaker 1: of time, and then he left. He never punished a
Speaker 1: single student for standing up to the clan. The school
Speaker 1: didn't expel or even suspend anyone who had participated in
Speaker 1: defending the town or themselves against the clan that night.
Speaker 1: Despite Stevenson's best hopes and efforts, the school did not
Speaker 1: dissolve or fall into disgrace. Instead, it flourished the clan,
Speaker 1: and Stevenson didn't fare so well. There wasn't a single
Speaker 1: report of the injured women are children who the clan
Speaker 1: insisted had been viciously attacked. Instead, word about the clan
Speaker 1: getting beaten up and ran out of town by college
Speaker 1: kids spread. Then the second blow hit Grand Dragon. Stevenson
Speaker 1: was arrested for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of twenty
Speaker 1: eight year old Madge Oberholtzer, whom he had met at
Speaker 1: the governor's inauguration back on January twenty five five. He
Speaker 1: had hired her to work as his aid, running messages
Speaker 1: to and from his office, and she had even helped
Speaker 1: him write a book. On March fifteenth, Stevenson's secretary called
Speaker 1: match and told her she was needed immediately. Eight hours later,
Speaker 1: her parents reported her missing. Mad showed up two days
Speaker 1: later in bad shape, bleeding, badly bruised, and with numerous
Speaker 1: bite marks on her body. When questioned, she told her
Speaker 1: parents what had happened at the hands of a man
Speaker 1: she had trusted. Stevenson had been drunk when she had
Speaker 1: arrived that day, and he and his men had forced
Speaker 1: her to the train station and then onto a train
Speaker 1: heading to Chicago. Then they shoved her into a private
Speaker 1: compartment where Stevenson brutally beat bit, cut and assaulted her.
Speaker 1: So she cried out. None of the men stopped him,
Speaker 1: and no one helped match. When she got off the
Speaker 1: train with Stevenson in Hammond, Indiana, he and the other
Speaker 1: clan members took her to a hotel. The next day,
Speaker 1: he had his men take Marge back home, where they
Speaker 1: dumped her. A boarder at her parents home found her
Speaker 1: and summoned help. Madge would die from her injuries. Stephenson
Speaker 1: didn't bother to run from the police. Actually, he seemed
Speaker 1: surprised when his political ties and protectors abandoned him. Stephenson
Speaker 1: was convicted on November twenty four of ninety The Indiana
Speaker 1: clan fell apart soon after. In nine, and by nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty most members found themselves out of work in the
Speaker 1: midst of the Great Depression, unable to pay their dues.
Speaker 1: Membership dropped to just forty five thousand. In nineteen fifty,
Speaker 1: Stephenson was paroled. None of his former connections would have
Speaker 1: anything to do with him, for fear of the stigma
Speaker 1: the relationship would bring. He died in nineteen sixty six, penniless,
Speaker 1: alone and forgotten. There's more to this story. Stick around
Speaker 1: after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it.
Speaker 1: It was the golden age of radio across the nation.
Speaker 1: Families sat in their living rooms to listen to a
Speaker 1: variety of news and entertainment broadcasts. Long before cable TV
Speaker 1: and the Disney Channel. Parents enjoyed a little downtime when
Speaker 1: the kids sat quietly to listen to their favorite shows.
Speaker 1: Superman had long been a favorite of children who read
Speaker 1: comic strips, and they were equally fascinated with the radio show.
Speaker 1: When it first aired in kids hurried home from school,
Speaker 1: did their homework, ate their dinner, and sat wide eyed
Speaker 1: while voice actors and audio producers brought the stories to life.
Speaker 1: In six Stepson Kennedy, an author, journalist and human rights
Speaker 1: activist came up with an idea for the show Superman
Speaker 1: Versus the KKK. He had despised the group ever since
Speaker 1: he was a child. As a teen, had been devastated
Speaker 1: by the loss of his family's maid, a black woman
Speaker 1: whom the family loved. Several clansmen had assaulted and killed
Speaker 1: her for questioning the change. A white bus driver handed her.
Speaker 1: Clan membership had experienced a resurgence in the nineteen forties,
Speaker 1: and they had their sights set on removing anyone who
Speaker 1: stood in their way. Stetson wanted to do something about
Speaker 1: them to bring America's full attention to the terrorist group
Speaker 1: in their midst To give the show the best insight
Speaker 1: and to best humiliate the clan, Stetson knew he had
Speaker 1: to infiltrate the group. He went undercover in Atlanta, visiting
Speaker 1: bars he thought the clan frequented. He told everyone he
Speaker 1: sold encyclopedias. He drank a lot of beer and played
Speaker 1: even more games of pool, and eventually he got an
Speaker 1: invitation to joined the Georgia Fraternity. After receiving his robes,
Speaker 1: he attended regular meetings where he learned the clan's secret passwords,
Speaker 1: and to his astonishment, they turned out to be nothing
Speaker 1: more than adding the letters K and L in front
Speaker 1: of certain words in their minds. Adding the letters would
Speaker 1: confuse any outsiders from understanding what they were talking about.
Speaker 1: There was a secret handshake to a limp, wristed grasp,
Speaker 1: and a wiggle. Members had to pay dues and by
Speaker 1: their uniforms exclusively from the clan for fifteen dollars each.
Speaker 1: That's two dollars today for pretty much a sheet. All told,
Speaker 1: the clan was a profitable pyramid scheme based around hatred.
Speaker 1: Stetson took extensive notes and even risked rating the Grand
Speaker 1: Dragon's waste basket. He learned about the clans secret rituals
Speaker 1: and their plans for violence. The I R S slapped
Speaker 1: the Atlanta chapter with a six five thousand dollar bill
Speaker 1: when he alerted them about the chapter's taxivation. Being a
Speaker 1: mole in the clan was dangerous. They'd kill him if
Speaker 1: they found him out, and he couldn't trust law enforcement
Speaker 1: if he wound up in a bind. The local cops
Speaker 1: were of two minds, those who were afraid and those
Speaker 1: who were members. Instead, Stetson had to trust the Georgia
Speaker 1: Bureau of Investigation and hope he wouldn't be out it.
Speaker 1: Before long, the radio producers had enough material for the
Speaker 1: sixteen part mini series The Adventures of Superman Plan of
Speaker 1: the Fiery Cross. The show pitted Superman against the Clan
Speaker 1: and used fiction to reveal the clan's real rituals, demystifying them.
Speaker 1: Four and a half million listeners tuned in, including clan
Speaker 1: members children. One member reported he came home from work
Speaker 1: to find his son with a towel tied around his
Speaker 1: shoulders like a cape, chasing other kids wearing pillowcases over
Speaker 1: their heads. The kid told his father he was Superman,
Speaker 1: ridding the world of the bad men in the KKK.
Speaker 1: The clan has been worried that his son, who had
Speaker 1: always looked up to him, might now find his robes
Speaker 1: and hood. Stetson promptly left the clan and didn't out
Speaker 1: himself until when he was asked to testify in front
Speaker 1: of a grand jury. The clan had bombed religious and
Speaker 1: community centers in black, Jewish and Catholic neighborhoods. The clan
Speaker 1: tried to silence him with death threats, by shooting his
Speaker 1: dog and with frequent attempts at setting his home on fire.
Speaker 1: Like the Man of Steel himself, Stetson didn't back down.
Speaker 1: The public no longer thought of the clan as something
Speaker 1: arcane and enigmatic. They joked about grown men acting like
Speaker 1: schoolyard bullies with their secret Dakota rings. Recruitment dropped, and
Speaker 1: when the clan held rallies, people flocked to see them,
Speaker 1: not to hear what the hate group had to say, though,
Speaker 1: no the public came to mock them. Stetson Kennedy died
Speaker 1: a hero in his own right. He lived a long life,
Speaker 1: passing away in his home At the Age of American
Speaker 1: Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written
Speaker 1: by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed, and produced by
Speaker 1: Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show,
Speaker 1: visit Grim and Mild dot com. From more podcasts from
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts.