The Klan Of Tomorrow

EVANS, HIRAM WESLEY [IMPERIAL WIZARD]

Publication: Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, 1924, NP

First edition. 9" x 6" in manila printed wrappers. Address delivered at the second Imperial Klonvokation, held in Kansas City, Missouri, September 23, 24, 25 and 26, 1924. [2] 16pp. "Hiram Wesley Evans (September 26, 1881 – September 14, 1966) was the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, an American white supremacist group, from 1922 to 1939. A native of Alabama, Evans attended Vanderbilt University and became a dentist. He operated a small, moderately successful practice in Texas until 1920, when he joined the Klan's Dallas chapter. He quickly rose through the ranks and was part of a group that ousted William Joseph Simmons from the position of Imperial Wizard, the national leader, in November 1922. Evans succeeded him and sought to transform the group into a political power. Evans had led the kidnapping and torture of a black man while leader of the Dallas Klan, but as Imperial Wizard, he publicly discouraged vigilante actions for fear that they would hinder his attempts to gain political influence. In 1923, Evans presided over the largest Klan gathering in history, attended by over 200,000, and endorsed several successful candidates in 1924 elections. He moved the Klan's headquarters from Atlanta to Washington, DC, and organized a march of 30,000 members, the largest march in the organization's history, on Pennsylvania Avenue. Evans' efforts notwithstanding, the Klan was buffeted by damaging publicity in the early 1920s, partially because of leadership struggles between Evans and his rivals, which hindered his political efforts." In his address he talks of the heritage of the KKK, things vital to nationalism, ad true Americanism. Light tanning and light soiling with light wear to the extremities. Very good.

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