A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them

Hate groups are certainly not exclusive to the United States, but they do have a history of resurfacing there after periods of dormancy. The rise of hate groups like the KKK or the Proud Boys do not happen in a vacuum but as a response to other social or political developments. The resurgence of the Klan in the 1920s was in part a reaction to World War I and to the surge in immigration from southern and eastern Europe. Post-war America retreated into itself, resisting efforts to engage in geopolitics. Fighting a war in which many Americans did not have a personal stake created an isolationist political environment. Coupled with that isolationism was a desire to preserve the sanctity of what many believed America was destined to be: white and Protestant. With the arrival of Jews and Irish and Italian Catholics, many feared the dilution of that white, Protestant homogeny. Conveniently forgotten or disregarded was the ethic of America as a welcoming place of diversity. In its place were now-debunked theories of eugenics, of the superiority of whiteness over all others, and The Links Between Racism and Religion. The proclamations of Jesus to “love thy neighbor” were replaced by admonitions from preachers to protect women “from predatory Blacks and lecherous Catholics” (114).

Cultural influences, such as D. W. Griffith’s 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, also played a role in softening the KKK’s image. The film played upon the “Lost Cause” narrative, falsely depicting the Klan as a noble band of warriors protecting a wronged South from profit-seeking Northerners and the predation of formerly enslaved Black men. The film further entrenched Reconstruction-era stereotypes and false narratives about the Civil War and primed Americans for the Klan’s revival and expansion.

While attitudes have evolved since Stephenson’s time—George Floyd’s murder resulted in protests and convictions, laws against hate crimes are commonplace, and a greater number of Americans see immigrants as an asset rather than a liability—social gains by marginalized peoples, changing demographics, and surges in immigration have once again spawned a backlash. Proponents of “replacement theory” have taken a page directly from history, arguing that Jews are engaging in “white genocide.” Theories of eugenics have resurfaced, and Confederate flags still fly proudly. Large swaths of “White America”—seeing the country shift from majority white to barely majority white—are frightened, and immigrants are a convenient target, especially when blame issues from the mouths of ideologues. Culturally, the US has always struggled to balance the tension between its promise as a place where, according to the Statue of Liberty’s plaque, “your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” are welcome and encouraged (Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.” 1883. Poetry Foundation) and a place of fear, where the racial “other” is seen as a pollutant and must be excluded to preserve some imagined ideal America. Egan suggests that tension will never be resolved, but advocates of a better America must be diligent, ready to oppose racism whenever it resurfaces.