In this letter, Arthur James Mann addresses President Warren Harding to protest calls in the press to disband the Ku Klux Klan. He wrote: “I cannot understand why it is un-American because a large group of our citizens who are native born and of the Protestant faith want to have a society of their own, just as those of other creeds and nationalities. I am an American of the 10th generation and rather resent the inference that I am un-American because I see no harm in it.”
Through the years the Ku Klux Klan advocated white supremacy. But the “new” Klan, established in 1915 by William Simms and flourishing in the 1920s, expanded its focus beyond this single issue. Feeding on the antiforeigner and nationalist sentiment of the war years, the KKK promoted itself as a “100% American” organization.” The Klan’s view of true “Americanism” excluded Roman Catholics, Jews, and non-English-speaking immigrants as well as blacks.
