Hiram Wesley Evans, "The Klan's Fight for
Americanism," The
North American Review, March 1926
We are a movement of plain people, very weak in the manner and culture,
intellectual support, and trained leadership. We are demanding, and we expect
to win, a return of power into the hands of the everyday, not highly cultured,
not overly intellectualized, but entirely unspoiled and not de-Americanized,
average citizen of the old stock. Our members and leaders are all of this class
- the opposition of the intellectuals and liberals who held the leadership,
betrayed Americanism, and from whom we expect to wrest control, is almost
automatic.
This is undoubtedly a weakness. It lays us open to the charge of being
"hicks" and rubes" and "drivers of second-hand Fords."
We admit it. Far worse, it makes it hard for us to state our case and advocate
our crusade in the most effective way, for most of us lack skill in language. .
. .
The Klan, therefore, has now come to speak for the great mass of Americans of
the old pioneer stock. We believe that it does fairly and faithfully represent
them, and our proof lies in their support. To understand the Klan, then, it is
necessary to understand the character of the present mind of the mass of
old-stock Americans. The mass, it must be remembered, as distinguished from the
intellectually mongrelized "Liberals."
These are, in the first place, a blend of various peoples of the so-called
Nordic race, the race which, with all its faults, has given the world almost
the whole of modern civilization. The Klan does not try to represent any people
but these.