In 1915, the Ku Klux Klan was reborn in Stone Mountain, Georgia. The group had accumulated over three million members and they were determined to help solve America’s immigration crisis. In the 1920’s the Klan felt as though the “Nordic race” was facing major obstacles. The population of immigrants in America had increased and their presence had instilled a fear of foreigners across the nation. Hiram W. Evans addressed the situation in “The Klan’s Fight for Americanism.” Evans addressed the need for the Nordic Americans to remain powerful in the country they had built and helped modernize. He addressed the drawbacks to having a large population of immigrants in America and how he and the Ku Klux Klan believe they should not have to fight for
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With such a large influx of immigrants moving to the United States to find employment and a new life, members of the Klan believed that they were in competition with the “aliens” coming into their country. In “The Klan’s Fight for Americanism,” Hiram W. Evans (the Klan’s Imperial Wizard in the 1920’s) explains his beliefs of how immigrants in America were demoralizing the Nordic race. “One by one all our traditional moral standards went by the boards, or were so disregarded that they ceased to be binding” (Evans, 153). Evans was concerned for the good values that the Nordic race had upheld prior to the large amount of immigrants coming into America. He claimed that their homes and rights were no longer sacred and that the average Nordic American was distressed. The Klan’s beliefs of demoralization were justified because of the trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. After the two immigrants were convicted for robbery and murder, it provided evidence that the good morals and values of the Nordics were slowly being diminished. The nation began rejecting immigrants and they even established a cap on how many immigrants could come into America by passing the Johnson-Reed Act. This act only proved the hatred and fear that provoked the anti-foreign hysteria. The nation was in a state of …show more content…
All of America was panicking and the nation’s leaders had even passed specific acts to restrict alien access to the country. If anything it was the country’s reaction to foreigners that influenced the Klan’s need to do something about the foreigners in America. Had Americans not reacted so wildly to the presence of aliens in their country, the Klan may not have felt such an extreme fear that their country was in trouble. The Klan had a strong desire to restore the good American morals that they felt were being diminished by the presence of immigrants. Hiram W. Evans established the Klan’s goal to savor the good values that the old stock Americans had set in place so many years
With such a large influx of immigrants moving to the United States to find employment and a new life, members of the Klan believed that they were in competition with the “aliens” coming into their country. In “The Klan’s Fight for Americanism,” Hiram W. Evans (the Klan’s Imperial Wizard in the 1920’s) explains his beliefs of how immigrants in America were demoralizing the Nordic race. “One by one all our traditional moral standards went by the boards, or were so disregarded that they ceased to be binding” (Evans, 153). Evans was concerned for the good values that the Nordic race had upheld prior to the large amount of immigrants coming into America. He claimed that their homes and rights were no longer sacred and that the average Nordic American was distressed. The Klan’s beliefs of demoralization were justified because of the trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. After the two immigrants were convicted for robbery and murder, it provided evidence that the good morals and values of the Nordics were slowly being diminished. The nation began rejecting immigrants and they even established a cap on how many immigrants could come into America by passing the Johnson-Reed Act. This act only proved the hatred and fear that provoked the anti-foreign hysteria. The nation was in a state of …show more content…
All of America was panicking and the nation’s leaders had even passed specific acts to restrict alien access to the country. If anything it was the country’s reaction to foreigners that influenced the Klan’s need to do something about the foreigners in America. Had Americans not reacted so wildly to the presence of aliens in their country, the Klan may not have felt such an extreme fear that their country was in trouble. The Klan had a strong desire to restore the good American morals that they felt were being diminished by the presence of immigrants. Hiram W. Evans established the Klan’s goal to savor the good values that the old stock Americans had set in place so many years