Hiram Wesley Evans facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hiram Wesley Evans
Evans in Washington, D.C., 1925
Born	(1881-09-26)September 26, 1881 Ashland, Alabama, U.S.
Died	September 14, 1966(1966-09-14) (aged 84) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Education	Vanderbilt University
Occupation	Dentist
Employer	Ku Klux Klan
3rd Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
In office 1923 – June 10, 1939
Preceded by	William Joseph Simmons
Succeeded by	James Arnold Colescott

Hiram Wesley Evans was an American dentist who became a major historical leader during the 1920s. He led a famous group known as the Ku Klux Klan. Historians study his life to understand the political history of the United States. Evans worked hard to turn his organization into a large voting group. He wanted to influence elections across the entire country.

Evans was born in Ashland, Alabama, and grew up in the state of Texas. He went to college at Vanderbilt University to study healthcare. After school, he became a dentist and ran a clinic in Dallas. Later, he gave up his clinic to become a full-time leader. He replaced the previous national leader named William Joseph Simmons.

During the 1920s, Evans organized massive gatherings and parades in large cities. He wanted his group to help choose lawmakers and governors. However, many citizens and community leaders strongly opposed his unfair ideas about society. Over time, the organization lost members and public trust. Evans eventually retired from his role just before the start of World War II.

Early Life and Education of Hiram Wesley Evans

Hiram Wesley Evans was born on September 26, 1881, in Ashland, Alabama. When he was a boy, his family moved west to Hubbard, Texas. His father worked as a local legal judge in the community. As a young man, Evans decided to pursue higher education. He enrolled in classes at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

While at the university, Evans focused his studies on the field of dentistry. He finished his coursework and earned his formal dental license in 1900. After completing his training, Evans moved to the growing city of Dallas. He opened a dental clinic located in the downtown area. His office provided affordable services to ordinary working people.

In his personal life, Evans married Ellen Hill in the year 1923. Together, the couple raised three children as a family. Evans was a follower of Protestantism and attended a local church. He was a member of the Disciples of Christ congregation. He also joined the civic organization known as Freemasonry.

Evans liked to describe himself to reporters as an average American man. Observers noted that he was a very confident and energetic public speaker. He dressed well in business suits and worked hard to build influence. Soon, he became interested in local community clubs and political organizing.

Involvement with Fraternal Groups

Before entering national politics, Evans joined several community fraternities in Texas. In 1907, he became a member of the local Grand Lodge of Texas. He spent many years learning the traditions of these fraternal clubs. He took part in both the York Rite and the Scottish Rite systems. He even joined the Masonic "Knights Templar" during his travels.

In 1911, Evans joined the fraternal charity group known as the Shriners. He served as a leader in a branch called Pentagon Lodge. Through these various meetings, Evans met many influential businessmen and civic figures. One acquaintance he made during this time was Bertram G. Christie. Christie was interested in starting a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

At that time, many men joined fraternal clubs for business networking and companionship. Evans enjoyed organizing meetings, planning ceremonies, and directing group leaders. These early experiences taught him how to run large organizations efficiently. He realized he enjoyed administration and public speaking far more than dentistry. This discovery soon changed the entire course of his professional career.

Rise to Power in the Organization

The second version of the Klan had started near Atlanta in 1915. It attempted to copy ideas from the historical Reconstruction Era. Leaders claimed a link to nineteenth-century figures like General Nathan Bedford Forrest. In 1920, the organization established a new group in Dallas. Evans joined this local chapter and quickly became very active.

Evans gave up his dental practice to dedicate his energy to organizing. In 1921, the chapter chose him as their head officer, or "exalted cyclops." He worked closely with a recruiting officer known as a kleagle. The Dallas group grew rapidly and became the largest chapter in the country. Leaders in the national office in Atlanta noticed his success.

Soon, Evans was named the leader for the entire state of Texas. He directed a massive campaign to find new members across the region. During this period, some members engaged in unauthorized actions against local citizens. Evans realized that bad publicity would hurt his plans for political power. He began urging his members to stop all public disturbances.

Evans believed that bad press coverage would attract unwanted government investigations. He wanted the public to view the group as a regular civic club. Some local leaders criticized him for changing his rules so quickly. However, Evans remained focused on gaining mainstream political power across the nation.

Moving into National Leadership

In late 1921, Evans received a major promotion to national headquarters. He worked alongside talented publicists named Elizabeth Tyler and Edward Young Clarke. Together, they organized nationwide tours to build support for the group. In 1922, Evans was named the national secretary, or "Imperial kligrapp." In this job, he managed operations across thirteen different American states.

The organization paid Evans a generous annual salary of $7,500 for his work. He spent months traveling by train to meet local organizers. During these travels, he noticed many members were unhappy with the top leader. That leader was William Joseph Simmons, an older organizer from Georgia. Evans met with other leaders, including an Indiana organizer named D. C. Stephenson.

Together, Evans, Tyler, Clarke, and Stephenson decided to reorganize the leadership team. They convinced Simmons to step down from day-to-day command of the group. Simmons later argued that the men had tricked him into leaving his job. In 1923, a national meeting was held in the city of Atlanta. The delegates formally selected Evans as the third Imperial Wizard.

A complicated legal dispute soon followed between Evans and the former leader Simmons. Simmons tried to claim he was still the true head of the organization. Evans firmly refused to step aside and maintained control of the headquarters. He accused Simmons of working with political radicals called a Bolshevik. Eventually, Evans expelled Simmons completely from the entire national organization.

Ideology and Political Campaigns of the 1920s

As the top national leader, Evans promoted a belief known as white supremacy. He linked his ideas directly to a political movement called nativism. He argued that Protestantism was an essential part of American patriotism. Evans claimed that only certain native-born groups had the right to govern. Many historians point out that these ideas were deeply unfair and exclusionary.

To spread his ideas, Evans wrote several booklets for his followers. One of his most widely read publications was Ideals of the Ku Klux Klan. In this booklet, he argued that power belonged to ordinary rural citizens. He insisted that the organization should remain strictly for Protestant native-born men. Evans wanted to build an organization that could control local school boards and governments.

Scholars notice that Evans borrowed ideas from popular political debates of the era. Thomas Pegram, a professor at Loyola University Maryland, analyzed Evans's speeches. Pegram noted that Evans mixed right-wing and left-wing ideas together without a clear plan. Klan publications often praised past leaders such as Woodrow Wilson, William Jennings Bryan, and Grover Cleveland.

Evans also borrowed pseudoscientific ideas from popular writers of his day. He read books by theorists such as Lothrop Stoddard and Madison Grant. These writers promoted false theories about biology called eugenics and scientific racism. Evans tried to make his political arguments sound modern and scientific. In reality, his theories were designed to exclude people from basic civil rights.

Views on Immigration and Religion

During the 1920s, many newcomers arrived in America from Southern and Eastern Europe. Evans argued that new immigrants would introduce radical ideas like anarchism and communism. He claimed that these foreign ideas would harm national unity and democracy. He also blamed newcomers for breaking laws against alcohol during Prohibition. He criticized people who engaged in bootlegging across state lines.

Evans spoke strongly against the growing authority of the Catholic Church. He claimed that American Catholics took orders directly from the Pope. He argued that this structure threatened the separation of church and state. He also claimed that the Roman Catholic hierarchy was trying to control American cities. Many Catholic citizens pointed out that they were completely loyal to America.

Furthermore, Evans wrote negatively about members of the Jewish community. He claimed that Jewish Americans had created a culture that resisted joining broader society. When critics accused him of being an anti-Semite, Evans denied the accusation. However, his writings clearly showed prejudice against Jewish businesses and traditions. His ideas caused great worry among religious minorities across the United States.

Evans also opposed people of different cultural and racial backgrounds marrying. He argued against this practice, which laws then called miscegenation. His rhetoric was designed to appeal to fearful voters during rapid industrial changes. Millions of Americans were moving into cities to find factory work. Evans tried to use their economic fears to build his personal following.

Expanding into the American Midwest

Under Evans, the organization shifted its primary focus away from the Deep South. Instead, he directed his recruiters toward the Midwest and Western states. The group gained thousands of members in Indiana and Illinois. In the state of Michigan, over 40,000 members lived in the city of Detroit.

Many factory workers joined because they worried about competition for factory jobs. Evans also organized large rallies in Nebraska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. In Indiana, Evans chose his ally D. C. Stephenson to be the Grand Dragon. Stephenson was an energetic speaker who recruited thousands of people into the Indiana Klan.

Historian Leonard Joseph Moore of McGill University researched this Midwestern expansion. Moore noted that Evans focused on Indiana because it brought in enormous membership fees. Evans wanted to show that his movement had support across the entire country. The political scientist Arnold S. Rice explained that Evans promoted his work as moral reform. Evans claimed his group helped citizens deal with modern economic distress.

To improve the public image of his club, Evans tightened internal rules. He expelled members who acted disorderly or broke community laws. He told members to work closely with local town police departments. He tried to convince voters that his organization stood for law and order. Despite these publicity efforts, many everyday Americans still viewed the group with suspicion.

Internal Rivalries and Conflicts

As the group expanded, Evans faced intense arguments inside his own leadership team. In 1921, he expelled the national publicist Edward Clarke over major policy disagreements. Evans also clashed with Henry Grady, an influential judge from North Carolina. Grady was a high-ranking Grand Dragon who disagreed with Evans's extreme rules.

Grady refused to support a law attacking the Catholic group called the Knights of Columbus. In response, Evans angrily removed Grady from his leadership post. Grady then released his private letters with Evans to major newspapers. This leak embarrassed Evans and showed that top leaders were constantly arguing.

In August 1923, Evans organized a parade in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. The town had a large population of Catholic industrial workers. Local citizens were angry about the march and came out to protest. A fight started, and a marcher named Thomas Rankin Abbott was killed. Evans called Abbott a hero and tried to use the tragedy to recruit members.

However, the Pennsylvania event angered Stephenson back in Indiana. Stephenson accused Evans of causing unnecessary danger through poor planning. Evans disliked Stephenson's flashy lifestyle and growing national popularity. Even so, Evans avoided an open fight with Stephenson for political reasons. Stephenson was helping elect an ally named Edward L. Jackson as governor of Indiana.

Scandals in the Leadership

The former leader, William Simmons, tried to regain power by starting a women's club. Evans objected immediately and filed an official federal lawsuit against him. Evans won the legal battle and created his own auxiliary organization for women. Simmons's personal lawyer was soon attacked, which caused a huge scandal in the press. Evans denied knowing anything about the attack, but the public remained suspicious.

In 1924, Evans paid Simmons $145,000 to drop all remaining legal claims. Evans then moved the national headquarters from Georgia to Washington, D.C. He hoped that moving to the capital would give him a fresh start. However, Stephenson in Indiana created his own competing auxiliary group anyway. Evans and Stephenson began attacking each other's personal character in the press.

Soon after, Stephenson faced serious legal trouble for harming a young woman. A court convicted Stephenson of second-degree murder and sentenced him to a life sentence. The news shocking the nation, and the trial was heavily covered by newspapers. When regular members read the details, they felt betrayed by their leaders. Thousands of Midwestern members quickly resigned and burned their membership cards.

The scandal permanently destroyed the organization's reputation in Indiana and neighboring states. Evans tried to distance himself from his former partner, but the damage was done. The trial proved to the public that top leaders did not practice their morals. The rapid collapse in the Midwest was a blow from which Evans never recovered.

Peak Influence and the 1924 Elections

Before the major scandals broke, Evans enjoyed significant national influence. Between 1922 and 1924, membership numbers reached an all-time historical high. Researchers estimate the group had between two and six million active members. During this single year, Evans doubled the financial assets of his organization.

He changed the payment rules so local organizers received fixed salaries instead of commissions. This financial change allowed Evans to keep more funds at the central headquarters. Sociologist Rory M. McVeigh of the University of Notre Dame studied this rapid growth. McVeigh found that Evans took advantage of rapid social changes after World War I. Evans boasted that his organization would soon reach ten million total members.

On the Fourth of July in 1923, Evans held a massive gathering in Indiana. Over 200,000 people attended the outdoor event to listen to him speak. In Texas, Evans helped elect Democrat Earle Bradford Mayfield to the U.S. Senate. This victory showed politicians that the group could influence high-level elections. In autumn, Evans attended the Texas State Fair, where 75,000 supporters celebrated with him.

Evans also used his money to fight politicians who opposed his organization. In Oklahoma, Governor Jack C. Walton tried to ban all secret meetings. Evans spent large sums fighting Walton, and lawmakers soon impeached the governor. However, the Oklahoma legislature quickly passed laws restricting masked gatherings anyway. Evans realized that political victories often produced strong backlash from voters.

Educational Views and Books

Evans wanted his movement to appear cultured, so he talked often about schools. He argued that public schools should teach a uniform view of American culture. He claimed that the nation's illiteracy rate showed that local schools needed help. Evans criticized low teacher salaries and spoke out against child labor in factories. He believed poor education held back the progress of rural working families.

Evans strongly supported creating a national United States Department of Education. He hoped a federal agency would promote his favored version of American history. He also wanted to stop the growth of independent religious schools. During this decade, Evans wrote and published four separate political books:

• The Menace of Modern Immigration, published in 1923
• The Klan of Tomorrow, published in 1924
• Alienism in the Democracy, published in 1927
• The Rising Storm, published in 1929

Through these books, Evans tried to present his views as thoughtful philosophy. He sent copies to politicians, libraries, and newspaper editors across the country. However, most educated leaders dismissed his books as shallow political propaganda. His arguments failed to convince major scholars or university professors.

The Presidential Campaign of 1924

The year 1924 represented the absolute height of Evans's political power. The famous newsmagazine Time placed his portrait on its front cover. Evans tried to influence both major American political parties during their national conventions. Leaders of the Republican Party decided not to criticize the group publicly. That autumn, Republican candidate Calvin Coolidge won the race for the presidency.

Coolidge did not support most Klan platforms, though he favored immigration restrictions. Even so, Evans claimed Coolidge's presidential victory was a great triumph for his movement. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party had a fierce internal debate over the group. Democratic presidential candidate Oscar Underwood openly called the organization "a national menace." The convention delegates argued for days before rejecting an anti-Klan resolution by one vote.

Despite the publicity, Evans struggled to elect his candidates outside of Indiana. Most prominent political leaders refused to be seen with him in public. Voters in major cities rejected candidates who took endorsements from secret fraternal groups. Evans discovered that national politics was much harder to control than local chapters.

The Decline of the Organization

Following the trial of Stephenson, membership plummeted dramatically across the entire country. The Indiana branch lost over ninety percent of its members within a few years. Similar collapses occurred in Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, and throughout the Western states. In Colorado, Grand Dragon John Galen Locke resigned following municipal police scandals in 1925.

Local members in Colorado were angry with Evans and refused to take orders. In Pennsylvania, members decided that Evans was behaving like a harsh dictator. Evans retaliated by revoking local group charters and removing leader John Strayer. Strayer was an active state legislator who had supported the organization. The local chapters ignored Evans and continued meeting without his official permission.

Evans filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the Pennsylvania members. In response, the Pennsylvania members hired lawyers to expose Evans's secret operations. They presented evidence of poor management and rule-breaking directly to the judge. Evans lost the court case, and newspapers eagerly published the testimony. This defeat ruined the organization's remaining reputation in the state of Pennsylvania.

Washington Parades and Declining Numbers

To prove he was still influential, Evans organized a march in Washington, D.C. On September 13, 1926, roughly 30,000 members marched down Pennsylvania Avenue. While this was the largest parade in the group's history, Evans was disappointed. He had promised reporters that over 60,000 supporters would participate in the event. The march failed to stop the steady loss of members nationwide.

In 1926, Evans tried to stop senators from voting for a proposed world court. His lobbying failed, and several senators he had supported voted for the court anyway. In 1928, Evans campaigned fiercely against Democratic presidential nominee Al Smith. Smith was the governor of New York and a devout Roman Catholic. Evans traveled across the country warning voters against electing a Catholic president.

Republican candidate Herbert Hoover won the 1928 presidential election in a landslide. Evans claimed credit for Smith's defeat, but voting data told a different story. Much of the South voted for Smith despite the warnings issued by Evans. By 1929, Evans admitted to reporters that his organization had lost millions of members. Sociologist McVeigh noted that Evans failed because he could not build lasting alliances.

Shifting Focus During the Great Depression

When the Great Depression began in 1929, millions of Americans lost their jobs. People could no longer afford to pay membership fees to fraternal groups. By 1930, total membership had fallen to around 100,000 people, mostly in the South. To keep his organization alive, Evans changed his political messaging completely.

He turned his attention toward fighting economic policies and labor unions. In 1932, Governor Franklin Roosevelt won the election for president of the United States. Evans immediately attacked Roosevelt's economic recovery program, known as the New Deal. Evans claimed the New Deal gave too much authority to the federal government. He singled out Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. for heavy criticism in his speeches.

Evans also launched verbal campaigns against workers joining together in a trade union. He claimed that industrial unions were secretly run by foreign radicals. He particularly attacked the Congress of Industrial Organizations during their nationwide factory strikes. Evans claimed that labor organizers wanted to disrupt public law and order.

Despite his attacks on modern liberalism, Evans defended the economic system of capitalism. He tried to convince wealthy business owners to donate money to his group. However, Evans also criticized large corporations for using commercialism to sell cheap goods. He claimed that wealthy elites hired foreign workers instead of paying fair wages. These contradictory arguments failed to attract new followers during the severe economic crisis.

The Feud with Huey Long

In 1934, Evans became involved in a public dispute in the state of Louisiana. The popular governor Huey Long was preparing to run in the 1936 United States presidential election. Long used patriotic themes, often called Americanist ideas, in his colorful populist speeches. Evans announced publicly that he would travel to Louisiana to campaign against Long.

Governor Long heard about the planned visit and gave an angry speech. Speaking to the Louisiana State Legislature, Long mocked Evans's former career as a dentist. Long called Evans a "tooth-puller" and warned him never to enter Louisiana. Facing intense local hostility, Evans quickly canceled his planned travel to the state. Evans issued a statement calling Long un-American, but the retreat embarrassed him greatly.

Retirement, Final Years, and Legacy

By the late 1930s, the national organization was running out of money. In 1936, the leadership sold their grand national headquarters building in Atlanta. Evans realized that his time as a major political figure was over. He began handing over administrative tasks to his assistant, James A. Colescott. Evans announced that he planned to step down from his leadership position.

Before retiring, Evans made a surprising announcement regarding his religious views. He publicly gave up his long-standing campaign against the Roman Catholic Church. In 1939, he announced a new personal era of religious tolerance for his followers. He stated that all citizens who shared basic Christian beliefs should stand together. He also expressed interest in studying Judaism to understand the Old Testament better.

Chester L. Quarles, a professor at the University of Mississippi, studied this change. Quarles argued that Evans abandoned anti-Catholicism because he feared having too many enemies. Furthermore, the Catholic Church bought the old headquarters property that Evans had sold. The church built the Cathedral of Christ the King (Atlanta) on the land. Evans attended the dedication ceremony and praised the church service to reporters.

Klan members were furious that Evans attended a Catholic dedication ceremony. They felt their longtime leader had betrayed the foundational ideas of the movement. Facing fierce anger from his few remaining followers, Evans resigned on June 10, 1939. His assistant, James A. Colescott, took over as the new national leader.

Final Years and Death

During his years as leader, Evans made a comfortable living from membership dues. He owned a large, beautiful home in a wealthy neighborhood in Atlanta. However, when group funds vanished during the Depression, he needed new employment. He worked for an Atlanta construction company that sold materials to the state. He supported Georgia Governor Eurith D. Rivers, a politician he had known for years.

Because of this political friendship, Evans sold road supplies without competing against other companies. In 1940, state investigators discovered this improper business arrangement. The Attorney General of Georgia, Ellis Arnall, took legal action against Evans for price fixing. The state court found Evans guilty and ordered him to pay a $15,000 fine.

Meanwhile, Colescott tried to rebuild the organization during the early years of World War II. However, the group was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid taxes. Unable to pay its debts, Colescott formally dissolved the national organization on April 23, 1944. Small independent groups continued using the name, but the national movement had ended. Evans lived quietly in Atlanta for the rest of his life and died on September 14, 1966.

Historical Assessments and Opinions

Modern historians study Evans to understand how extremist movements gained power in the 1920s. Professor David A. Horowitz of Portland State University analyzed Evans's leadership style. Horowitz noted that Evans transformed local clubs into a centralized political machine. However, historian William D. Jenkins of Youngstown State University argued Evans cared mainly about personal wealth.

During the 1920s, editors at The New York Times called the group's leaders shrewd schemers. Historian Richard Hofstadter noted that Evans wrote in a calm, serious tone. Nicolas Rangel Jr., a communications scholar at the University of Houston–Downtown, examined Evans's speeches. Rangel explained that Evans used polite language to hide the extreme nature of his ideas.

Evans faced brave opposition from many community leaders throughout his career. David Lefkowitz, a prominent leader at Temple Emanu-El (Dallas, Texas), strongly challenged Evans's writings. Lefkowitz pointed out that Jewish citizens had served honorably during World War I. James Weldon Johnson, an executive leader of the NAACP, also challenged Evans publicly. Johnson wrote that all human cultures share a common history and deserve equal respect.

Other prominent critics included the famous Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in Detroit. Niebuhr called the organization one of the worst social movements in modern American history. In Texas, newspaper publisher George Dealey of The Dallas Morning News wrote editorials against Evans. In Atlanta, journalist Ralph McGill criticized Evans for spreading unfair claims about minority citizens. Through the work of these writers and citizens, the unfair ideas of Evans were rejected by the nation.

Images for kids

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  Evans pictured on the cover of Time magazine in June 1924.

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  Evans leading a large parade of followers down the streets of Washington, D.C., in September 1926.