Chapter 7: The Purge of the South
The Power Behind America's Golden Throne - (The Dying Days of American Multi-Party Politics, John C. Williamson, New Berlin Publishing Company, 1955)
The halcyon days of the 1920s, interrupted by only turmoil in the American South, instability in the Wiemar Republic, and an insurrectionist Jewish-Bolshevik regime occupying Russia were shattered in the righteous struggle of the Klu Klux Klan and Democratic Party against the Negro-Socialist specter threatening to engulf America. McAdoo, criticized by his own party for absurd adventures such as limiting work hours and some elements of Progressive reform which were quickly quashed by his own supporters, and coming under fire from the Republicans for a harshly conservative Klan-backing policy. McAdoo now faced total political oblivion. Reluctantly renominated by his own party and decisively ousted by his Republican opponents in 1926 and 1928, he was increasingly seen as a less favorable face of the party. He had no fundamental policy, coming into office as a socially conservative Southern Progressive, only to have those aspirations crushed by the Bourbon elements of his party and be pushed into reluctant collaboration with the Klan, who had no concept of 'moderation' or 'restraint'. He was an already unpopular president of an already unpopular party unable to cultivate a real image for himself, and almost losing in the Primaries despite being an incumbent.
After 1928 these resentments which had been building up in the last few years exploded into a massive anti-McAdoo sentiment among Democratic politicians. They wanted somebody who had a clear, long-term message of being pro-Klan, pro-White, anti-Progressive and a strong supporter of the heavily stratified southern society, where both class and race dominated relations. This sentiment had a clear, obvious face: James A. Reed. Putting up impressive resistance to McAdoo's seemingly sure seat as the Presidential candidate, massive portions of the Democratic Bourbon establishment flocked to him as an alternative to the reluctantly Klan-backing, weak and spineless McAdoo. McAdoo's naive hopes of regaining support by putting further resources into the Klan was seen as less of a definitive realignment of his politics and more a desperate last gamble to a post he was bound to lose. In the meantime of McAdoo attempting to hide increased support to the Klan and failing miserably, Reed marched with the Klan through Atlanta, publicly displaying the American Flag with Hiram W. Evans and Georgia Governor Clifford Walker.
In the final months of McAdoo's lame-duck administration, he saw the writing on the wall and ended his attempts to reclaim his supporters, and made a last-ditch effort to introduce Progressive labor legislation. Socialist-Labor delegates found no reason to oppose this, but the Republicans assured the Socialists that a legislative victory would be seen as a victory for McAdoo and the Democrats(1). These last attempts failed miserably, with both the Democrats and Republicans refusing to support it, and Socialist-Labor being pressed into abstinence. With this final failure, McAdoo more or less gave up. When he left office in 1929, his departure would be mourned by few and wouldn't even attempt to compete for the leadership or reforge his reputation in the chaotic days of the 'Purge against the South'. The political party of the presidency had mostly evaporated, and McAdoo functioned, as Norman Thomas quipped 'Like a puppet without a puppeteer'.
The Republican Party Process on Destroying and Weakening the Klu Klux Klan Upon Assumption of the Presidency - (The Invisible Empire, Brian Tackett, Birmingham Premier Publishing Inc., 2009)
The Republican Party Process on Destroying and Weakening the Klu Klux Klan Upon Assumption of the Presidency was a conspiracy authored by the highest officials of the Republican Party on the process of destroying the Klu Klux Klan. The methods and tactics were developed as early as March of 1928, but a rough timeline on when certain actions should be taken to minimize casualties and maximize destruction of the Klan, but the conspiracy was finalized and expanded to a rough timeline of several years and the wideranging political changes that would result, such as the Republican hegemony over American politics. Exact documents are difficult to find, as many were destroyed with the destruction of the old Congressional building, but first-hand accounts and the rough policy followed by Willis and Curtis can be roughly mapped out.
March 4th, 1929 - Early Summer 1929
Attempting to undermine the Klan's power base in the South and Indiana. Increased wages backed by prominent Southern businessmen as well as a temporary stall to African-American liberation as well as the end of federal support to the Klan as done under McAdoo would hope to slow the Klan's growth to a trickle. The Republicans in Congress would set to work silencing the Democrats, and effectively keep Congress quiet and allow the President to spearhead operations.
Early Summer - Late Summer 1929
The border regions of the Klan's control, such as Colorado, Maryland, Maine and Illinois as well as Klan cells throughout the nation would come under a harsh 'no-misbehavior' policy by the police. Any attempted lynchings or violence would result in harsh rebuke from the police, and a harsh, rapid, well-organized response would arrest and detain the Klan's leadership, and drive them away from public organizing.
Hopefully, this harsh policy would only result in further backlash from the Southern Klan, and provide enough atrocity to drum up sufficient domestic and foreign support for a harsher policy. After the neutralizing of much of the Klan outside of the South, once a sufficiently awful opportunity presented itself, an official order criminalizing the Klu Klux Klan could be passed. The Democratic Party would be confronted; Support America, or the Klan. Similarly, the Southern officials would have to choose, and likely support the Klan, providing an impetus to their removal and creation of military districts, a la the Reconstruction. This 'question of allegiance' would hopefully split the Democratic Party, into a majority pro-Klan Democratic Party(which would be subsequently outlawed for conspiring against the Union) and a rump pro-Government Democratic Party, which would likely provide the post-Klan removal opposition to the Republican hegemony.
Late Summer 1929 - Beginning of 1930
It was deemed unlikely to be able to arrest the Klan leadership upon proclamation of the Klan's banning. Therefore, it was decided that a gradual approach be employed, first Illinois, Colorado, and Maryland would be the first. Battles between policemen and Klan paramilitaries were expected to be swift, and with support from the populace, the Klan was expected to melt away in these states. Illinois, however, would require a more thorough approach. Socialist-Labor militants would be recruited and organized to fight the Klan in a guerrilla campaign, and National Guard units under an official jurisdiction of 'special police units' under the executive power of the President would occupy rural regions after a sufficiently atrocious casus belli.
The usage of the 'special police forces' would rely on the expected Democratic schism to work. A massive overreach of Federal power, this would require the Democrats to be unable to prevent this. However, the 'special police forces' were under command of the executive, not Congress, so excepting impeachment(which was impossible, as Congress was majority Republican and many State Legislatures in the South were likely to be officially null in Washington, as many would have supported the now-illegal Klan.)
The Republicans hoped that this rapid crackdown would destroy the Klan in these states over the next few months, and the 'special police forces could be expanded to cover the entire american South.
Early 1930 - 1931
The operation of the Executive Police Department would expand to about 200,000-500,000, and operatives would begin to strike south of the Ohio River, into Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia. Klan leadership on the periphery were likely to flee further South, but that was of little importance. A slow marching occupation of the South would follow, a gradual, easy occupation of the rural areas and a rapid, brutal strike to reoccupy the cities and restore order.
1932 - 1930s
Official military districts are established in the South. Voting rights are temporarily restricted, and a genuine racially-equal reconstruction effort is launched, slowly bringing the South, kicking and screaming, into modern America. It would likely take decades for the situation to fully pacify, and remnants of the old Klan would likely live on in underground resistance.
This plan, as we all know, failed disastrously. The earliest stages of the operation, beating down the Klan's base support and slowly plugging the Klan's growing membership numbers failed with epic proportions. Yet further proof that the white struggle against the Negro-Bolshevik menace was an unshakable force that could not be beaten, in its righteous struggle for the fate of America.
The Final Days of the Second Republic - (The Dying Days of American Multi-Party Politics, John C. Williamson, New Berlin Publishing Company, 1955)
In the depressed, motionless days of McAdoo's lame duck presidency, the people of America looked beyond the calm into the storm ahead, the inevitable collision. The United Front and Democratic Party would have a final conflict over America. The signs were plain and obvious, throughout Winter, Klan paramilitaries openly defied the law, arresting anybody unsympathetic to their cause. W.E.B Du Bois and his NAACP were forced to leave Alabama, resettling in Massachusetts for the time time being. The few Republican stragglers in the South were forced to resign or be arrested, and Klan forces in most Southern cities set up barricades and a sizable quantity of weapons. The Executive Police Department would gather strength, along with National Guard units quietly mobilized slowly and often under fake registrars.
So, with what seemed to be an inevitable confrontation on the precipice, McAdoo formally left office and was replaced by Frank B. Willis, now the 32nd President of the United States. Everything seemed to be at a standstill, neither side would make the first move. Then, what was planned to be the first move in a set of elaborate strategy to dethrone the Klan and the Democratic Party was set down. It was the negotiation with Southern businessmen to rise wages and crackdown on Klan proselytizing in their business. This, which was meant to be seen as simply a development outside of state activity, flopped tremendously.
The increased wages and reluctant support to the few trade unions in the South immediately caused suspicion among the Klan and Democrats. With the crackdown on proselytizing Klansmen in early March, the Klan reacted violently. Union leaders were lynched en masse, and Southern workers were encouraged to not accept 'northern bribery' and give the money to the Klan in dues. Workers flocked to this, joining the Klan's anti-union crusade. Now faced with rioting workers, and effectively paying the Klan with the pay raises, many factories terminated the pay raises on March 9th, only running the pay raise for four days. Now, the Klan was deprived of profit, but this drove further numbers of workers into the Klan, and assemblies of striking workers demanded the Klan be allowed into the factory assemblies again, along with the pay raises. Of course, this would not be allowed, and so much of the South exploded into a Klan and Democrat-backed General Strike. The 'Strike of the South' would be paid for out of pocket by the Klan and Democratic politicians. Police forces would sometimes join with the strikers, and scabs staying behind would find themselves victims of lynchings.
The Ford Company, in this sea of chaos, was profiting nicely. Its opponents in Chrysler and foreign business were mired in chaos and striking, while Ford assembly lines hummed along, with Klansmen and their working acquaintances churning out profit. In response, the Federal Government accused Ford of 'siding against America', and Ford factories outside of the South were rapidly nationalized, as the Northern Ford factories were on the verge of their own general strike by Anti-Klan northerners. This crushed Ford's profits, and so the Ford Company and Klan formally joined, with the Klan's treasury used to prop up Ford in its economic chaos.
Similarly, Southern businesses in the North were placed under control of Northern competitors, or the state. In the final days before secession, many factories were occupied by workers, beginning Socialist-Labor takeover of the Rust Belt. Northern businessmen in the South, over the course of March, April, and May slowly conceded, falling into the ownership of the Klan. The 'Strike of the South' was incredibly successful, drawing a dividing line between the South and North. Businesses no longer competed, now it was a total segregation. Southern businessmen for Southerners, Northern businesses for Northerners. This zone of economic segregation would provide the economic backbone for the New Union following the secession.
PRESIDENT WILLIS IS DEAD! (Seattle Times Front Page, March 31st, 1929)
Terrible news for all of loyal America; the President of the Union has passed away on March 30th at 8:15 A.M according to a report from the White House Medical Department. Due to the ongoing state of emergency provided by the Klu Klux Klan, an official inauguration ceremony cannot and will not be held for Vice President Charles Curtis, now 33rd President Curtis. Curtis' short announcement vowed to 'Continue to isolate and bring down the Klan, and restore democracy to the South' (A full excerpt can be found on page 7) and he seems to have been spending most of his time in the new Presidency dealing inside the White House, with his advisors. Curtis, as well as being the driving force between the United Front, has been known for his 'soft policy' on confronting the Klan, preferring to destroy the fundamental reasons Southerners are joining the Klan, instead of aggressively confronting the Klan itself. It remains to be seen how successful this will be; although we can hope that the Klu Klux Klan's reign of terror shall soon end.
The Klan Will Not Yield; Chaos in the South! (New York Times Editorial, April 17th, 1929)
With the loss of Southern business to the Klan's interstate blockade, the Southern order has completely distanced itself from the rest of the nation. Klan paramilitaries and local police forces have already denied access to Northerners attempting to move into the South, infringing against the Union's sovereignty. Former President William McAdoo has announced his support for the Southern cause, with him and his political opponent and likely replacement James A. Reed shaking hands for a photograph, united in the cause against, what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has dubbed 'an alliance against the Bolshevik specter haunting our nation'. Our police forces have been illegally driven out of American land in St.Louis, with the battle causing a fire, that according to our reports from civilians we're in contact with, is still raging on. It appears that our union is entering a dangerous phase, to which we all know it will recover from, but not without losses to innocent human life. We can only hope that President Curtis will be able to minimize those losses, and reintegrate the south with minimal difficulty.
