0:02

You're listening to American Shadows,

0:04

a production of I Heart Radio and Grim

0:06

and Mild from Aaron Manky. Hostility

0:22

toward people who are different from us has

0:24

always been a human flaw, but

0:27

in the nineteen thirties, Adolph Hitler took

0:29

that hate to a tragically historic

0:31

level, and for those who wanted

0:34

their animosity validated, Hitler

0:36

became an icon and idol.

0:39

Over a hundred anti Semitic organizations

0:42

sprung up all over the world. Jewish

0:44

people fleeing for their lives sought safety

0:46

in the United States, but American

0:49

radical groups like the Friends of Germany,

0:51

Silver Shirts, Defenders of the Christian

0:53

Faith, the Christian Front, and the Knights

0:56

of the White Camellia rallied behind

0:58

Hitler protect did

1:00

by the First Amendment. These Nazi

1:02

groups participated in parades and

1:04

rallies calling for the eradication

1:06

of the Jewish people. They

1:09

wore Nazi uniforms and flew Nazi

1:11

flags to flaunt their prejudice. They

1:14

viciously bullied and attacked Jewish people

1:16

and vandalized their businesses and homes.

1:20

Now we are free to voice

1:22

our opinions and beliefs. It's a

1:24

fundamental right in America. But

1:26

we're not free of the consequences,

1:29

and we're not free to move from voice to

1:31

violence. And

1:33

these groups they thought they were free

1:36

of both consequences and the law. They

1:39

believed that the more brutal they were, the

1:41

more people would become compliant. So

1:44

when they chose to stake acclaim in New York

1:46

City, they were a bit surprised

1:49

by the pushback. You

1:52

see, in the nineteen thirties, New York

1:54

was a haven for gangsters, and not

1:56

all of them were Italian. Mayor

1:58

Landsky and other Jewish mobsters ran

2:01

prostitution and gambling rings and loan shark

2:03

operations, and they had plenty of

2:05

hired hit men. They weren't

2:07

exactly good men. However,

2:11

they weren't about to let Hitler's version

2:13

of evil invade America. The

2:16

Nazis might have had some twenty thousand

2:18

supporters in New York, but that didn't

2:20

frighten Lansky and his allies. While

2:24

no one could legally stop the radicalized

2:26

groups from marching, they could

2:28

make their own voices. Heard. Of

2:30

course, that would probably lead to a fight, which

2:33

was perfectly fine with the mob. Mayor

2:36

Lansky had friends in high places

2:39

like the notorious mafia gangster Lucky Luciano.

2:42

His connections prompted a judge, Nathan

2:44

Pearlman to ask Lansky to help

2:47

teach the Jewish community how to defend

2:49

themselves. In return, he would

2:51

grant legal protection and supply the funding

2:54

under one condition, no killing.

2:57

A Lansky agreed to help, though he'd

3:00

clined funding or protection, acutely

3:02

aware of the Nazi deaf camps in Germany

3:05

and seeing how the marches in America were increasingly

3:08

destructive, he simply

3:10

refused to make a promise he couldn't keep.

3:14

Lansky's men and their allies taught Jewish

3:16

and sympathetic communities how to fight, and

3:19

before long, street gangs and mobsters

3:22

began to show up at rallies and shout

3:24

the Nazis down. The

3:26

hate groups resorted to their usual violence,

3:29

but the street gangs outmatched them,

3:31

putting many of the Nazis in the hospital with

3:33

broken bones and teeth. Yet

3:36

Lansky and the other mobsters never killed

3:38

anyone, and while

3:40

the radical groups enjoyed dishing out violence,

3:43

they didn't like being on the receiving end and

3:45

demanded protection. The

3:47

mayor agreed on the condition

3:49

that they not wear Nazi uniforms, carry

3:52

Nazi flags or brandish spostikas,

3:54

and that they refrained from vandalism

3:56

and any violence. Unwilling

3:59

to meet those demand ends, the groups eventually

4:01

stopped their rallies. Lansky

4:04

and the others may have been gangsters, but

4:06

when it came to their approach to Nazis, many

4:09

saw them as heroes. I'm

4:12

Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to

4:15

American Shadows. It

4:26

started on Christmas Eve of eighteen

4:28

sixty. Upset

4:30

over losing the Civil War and angry

4:33

that enslaved people have been freed, a

4:35

group of Confederate veterans gathered in

4:37

Pulaski, Tennessee to form a

4:39

secret society, one they

4:41

dubbed the Invisible Empire of the

4:43

South. Their first

4:46

order of business was selecting their leader,

4:48

a former Confederate general Nathan Bedford

4:51

Forrest. The title

4:53

of leader didn't come off as imposing

4:55

enough for their tastes, so they called him

4:57

a Grand Wizard instead. Forrest

5:00

ruled over a chain of command made of Grand

5:02

Dragons, grant Titans, and Grand

5:05

Cyclops. No, it

5:07

wasn't a nineteenth century tabletop

5:10

role playing game. The men, most

5:12

of whom were extremist members of their political

5:14

party had created a white terrorist

5:17

hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Unwilling

5:21

to accept President Andrew Johnson's reconstruction

5:23

Arab policies providing equal protection

5:26

under the Constitution for formerly enslaved

5:28

people, the men dedicated themselves

5:30

to civil unrest and violence. Their

5:34

main targets were black schools, businesses,

5:36

and political leaders. They

5:38

also targeted white sympathizers and politicians.

5:42

In eighteen sixty nine, with Arson

5:44

lynch Ng's murders and other hate

5:47

crimes out of control, Forrest

5:49

tried to disband the KKK, but

5:51

to no avail, and by

5:53

eighteen seventy the clan had branches

5:56

in practically every Southern state. Members

5:59

ranged for poured wealthy, and they

6:01

rooted themselves into every aspect of law

6:03

enforcement and the courts, making it

6:05

hard to bring them to justice. In

6:08

eighteen seventy one, President Grant

6:10

used military force to wipe most of the

6:12

group out. The

6:14

fires of hate rekindled in nineteen

6:17

fifteen when die hard Confederates

6:19

rallied a new generation to their lost Cause

6:21

philosophy. Advocates

6:23

of the ideology romanticized the

6:25

Confederate's efforts, claiming that

6:27

slavery had brought economic prosperity

6:30

not possible with paid labor. Further,

6:33

they painted themselves as the chivalrous

6:35

and to bellum South, whose state rights

6:38

had been ignored by the aggressive North.

6:41

The narrative the Confederate veterans spun

6:43

was one of a noble and just cause,

6:46

that the South's generals were good men with

6:49

ethics and high morals. The

6:51

South, they said, was a gentle,

6:53

more traditional way of life with strong

6:55

Christian values. They

6:57

claimed that the Union, with their larger population

7:00

and more militant lifestyle, wanted

7:02

to exploit the South's power and wealth,

7:05

that the South had a right to succeed,

7:07

and that greedy Northern industrial businessmen

7:10

and politicians had set out to steal

7:12

the power for themselves by force. The

7:16

film The Birth of a Nation, a

7:18

silent movie based on the novel The Klansmen,

7:21

also hit theaters in nineteen fift

7:24

To this day, the film is still considered

7:26

one of the most controversial and racist

7:28

movies Hollywood has ever made. It

7:31

sparked an intense upturn in the Lost Cause

7:33

movement, mostly by Confederate

7:35

soldiers who were dying and wanted

7:37

to preserve their memories. The

7:40

film portrayed the ku Klux Klan as

7:42

defenders of women from black sexual

7:45

predators and as heroic

7:47

protectors of American values. It

7:50

sparked fresh racism and inspired

7:52

former preacher William Simmons to resurrect

7:55

the clan. Simmons

7:57

gathered friends and a handful of elderly

8:00

original clan members. Together,

8:02

they set fire to a cross on top

8:04

of Stone Mountain in Georgia on Thanksgiving

8:07

Day. The message was clear,

8:10

the KKK had returned. Simmons,

8:13

who had been honorably discharged from the Spanish

8:16

American War, dropped out of medical school

8:18

and been suspended from the church for inefficiency,

8:21

finally found the attention he sought.

8:24

He declared himself the Imperial Wizard

8:26

of the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the

8:28

Ku Klux Klan. This

8:31

time, the clan expanded their hate toward

8:33

other groups, including Native Americans,

8:35

Italians, Jews, the Irish,

8:38

Catholics, labor unions, certain political

8:40

parties. Basically, Simmons

8:42

and the others wanted only American born,

8:45

Anglo Saxon Protestant white

8:47

men to call the shots. They

8:50

used fear to gain public support, preying

8:52

on people's insecurities during the uncertain

8:55

times surrounding the First World War. They

8:58

insisted people of specific legions

9:00

and races where the root cause of all their

9:02

problems, all crime, all poverty,

9:05

immorality, disease, and anything

9:07

else that troubled America, and

9:10

he and his nights were going to save

9:12

America by putting those people in

9:14

their subservient place. The

9:18

clan also used labor strikes to stir

9:20

the pot. The Simmons claimed strikers

9:22

were in league with foreign powers and communists.

9:26

By the nineteen twenties, the clan had

9:28

over four million members across the

9:30

nation, even in northern states.

9:33

In Indiana, the KKK boasted

9:35

two and fifty thousand members,

9:38

quickly becoming one of the largest chapters

9:40

in the country. Heading

9:54

up the Indiana branch of the clan was David

9:56

Curtis Stevenson, one of the most

9:58

powerful men in the state. Reportedly

10:01

charismatic, Stevenson wasn't

10:03

short on compliments for himself.

10:07

He told everyone who would listen that he had

10:09

the biggest brains and would be the biggest

10:11

man in the United States. He

10:14

had moved to Evansville in ninety

10:16

and had worked for a retail coat company.

10:19

Though he told people he was wealthy, and had

10:21

come from wealth. In reality, had

10:24

been born in Houston, Texas to a family

10:26

of sharecroppers. Stevenson

10:29

had little schooling, having left to work

10:31

as a printer's apprentice before joining the army.

10:34

He never saw combat in World War One, but

10:37

his training provided him with the means to

10:39

effectively organize and lead the clan

10:41

in Indiana and six other states.

10:44

He helped create the white supremacist newspaper,

10:46

The Fiery Cross. He also

10:49

became the top recruiter for the clan, bringing

10:52

in nearly fifty undred new members

10:54

and offering Protestant ministers free membership

10:57

and the wealthy brad Dove came quickly

11:00

from the sales of uniforms and other items

11:02

that clan members purchased. Though

11:05

his vanity and mistruths continued,

11:07

clan members worshiped him.

11:10

At a gathering for the fourth of July in three

11:13

he addressed a hundred thousand members. He

11:16

arrived late and gave an excuse

11:19

that thrilled them. He had been counseling

11:21

the President of the United States, he told them,

11:23

and harding had kept him unduly long.

11:27

It was another lie, of course, but the

11:29

crowd believed him.

11:31

Warren g Harding had denounced lynching

11:33

and had made some efforts to combat the clan.

11:36

The clan had become so angry with the president

11:38

that they spread rumors that he was secretly a

11:40

klansman himself. It

11:43

wouldn't be the first or the last time Stevenson

11:46

used the rumor to spread misinformation. He

11:48

had helped two prominent local politicians

11:50

rise to power. After all, he

11:53

had used the clan to intimidate voters,

11:56

putting Edward L. Jackson in the governor's

11:58

mansion. I'm proud of his effort, Stevenson

12:00

told the crowd, I am the law

12:03

in Indiana. The

12:05

clan didn't like Catholics, much

12:07

less Irish immigrants, and the

12:09

nearby Notre Dame had become a thorn

12:12

in Stephenson's side and

12:14

something had to be done, and he organized

12:16

a rally in South Bend. Stephenson's

12:20

clansmen had harassed the University

12:22

of Dayton in Ohio the previous year.

12:25

They had burned crosses and cemeteries and on

12:27

school grounds. After repeated

12:29

acts of terrorism, the football team

12:32

successfully chased off the clansmen. The

12:35

clan retaliated, setting off bombs

12:37

and setting an eight foot cross ablaze.

12:39

On school property. As the students

12:42

doused the flames, fifty cars of clansmen

12:44

arrived. The men surrounded the

12:46

students and attacked them. Town

12:48

residents joined the fray, eventually

12:51

beating back the clan. If

12:53

they couldn't intimidate that school, the clan

12:55

would pick another to harass, and

12:58

Notre Dame was right on Stevenson's door step.

13:01

The students had heard about the attack on the Ohio

13:03

University, so they weren't too surprised

13:06

when clansmen arrived on school property to

13:08

lecture about the dangers that the Irish

13:10

and other immigrants posed, as well

13:12

as the problem with Catholicism.

13:15

One clansmen posted up in an auditorium,

13:18

handing out leaflets and telling students

13:20

and staff that Catholics were horrible Americans.

13:23

The Irish students responded by throwing

13:25

potatoes at him that they had stolen from the cafeteria,

13:28

and the man fled. Stevenson

13:31

retaliated, and he was playing a long

13:33

game. He used scare tactics

13:35

to force citizens into voting clan candidates

13:38

into government office. If you couldn't

13:40

force the school to shut down, one way, he'd

13:42

do it. Another university

13:45

president, father Matthew Walsh began

13:47

to fear for his student safety. He

13:50

and two other priests went to talk to the Chief

13:52

of Police, Lawrence Lane, to file

13:54

a complaint. Chief Lane

13:56

didn't want the clan there either, and assured

13:59

Walsh that the group been denied permits

14:01

for rallies and parades. Relieved,

14:04

Walsh and the others left. What

14:06

they didn't know was that the clan didn't

14:08

care about the law and South Bend, nor

14:11

did they care about the students. On

14:14

March seventeenth of NTO, a

14:16

large number of clansmen arrived in South

14:18

Bend by car and train. At

14:21

first glance, they could have been anyone until

14:24

you noticed the white robes and hoods they carried.

14:27

As the day wore on Moore arrived,

14:30

members who had shown up earlier dawned their robes

14:32

and began directing traffic for even more

14:35

incoming clansmen. Father

14:37

Walsh knew a storm was brewing.

14:50

When the word hit Notre Dame that the clan had

14:52

arrived, students began to trickle

14:54

off campus. Though

14:56

Father Walsh issued a warning for them to stay

14:59

on school ground, the students weren't

15:01

going to sit idly by and let a

15:03

bunch of men dressed in sheets run them off.

15:06

They loosely formed groups and hoofed

15:09

it the two miles to downtown South Bend.

15:12

Once there, they found a scuffle already

15:14

in progress. The clan was

15:16

attacking and beating local Catholic

15:18

citizens who had come to voice their opinions

15:21

against the clan. Seeing

15:23

an opportunity, a few students pretended

15:26

to wander in alone. The

15:28

clan members, all grown men, saw

15:31

the boys as easy targets and chased

15:33

them down alleys where other Notre Dame

15:35

students waited. Meanwhile,

15:37

football players charged into groups of clansmen,

15:40

sending them tumbling, making it easier

15:42

for local citizens to gain the upper hand.

15:46

Beaten and bloody, the clan made a

15:48

hasty retreat to their headquarters. They

15:51

called Chief Lane, who refused to press

15:53

charges against the students. Well,

15:55

unless the clan wanted charges pressed

15:57

against them, they did not.

16:01

Stevenson used the riot to paint Notre

16:03

Dame students as violent hoodlumps.

16:06

He claimed that their behavior only proved his point

16:08

about the Irish and Catholics being menaces

16:10

that had to be dealt with. In

16:13

Stevenson's eyes, he could spin this

16:15

into the best propaganda, Yet still

16:18

the clan licked their wounds. Only

16:20

one klansman had walked away unscathed

16:23

that day. Of policemen, who had

16:25

kept one hand on his gun while threatening

16:27

the students, though he didn't

16:29

kill anyone that day, had promised

16:31

they would get what was coming to them.

16:34

The students didn't care. They had just kicked

16:36

the kkks butts. They

16:38

arrived back at campus the souvenirs of

16:41

torn robes and hoods and ran them

16:43

up the flagpole for the klansmen to see. The

16:46

clan was furious and embarrassed

16:49

they had been sent packing by a bunch of college

16:51

kids. For damage control,

16:54

Stevenson used his connections to portray

16:56

the students as potato throwing savages

16:58

in the newspapers and that the clan

17:00

had been peaceful. Father

17:03

Walsh was angry. The statements in the

17:05

article were not only untrue, they were

17:07

racist and derogatory, but

17:09

there was little he could do. The

17:12

clan had also pulled strings to get thirty

17:14

deputies to stand guard over their headquarters,

17:17

where a cross emblazoned with red lights

17:19

sat in the window. To

17:21

Father Walsh, the clan was flaunting

17:24

their power and to his students

17:26

that red cross was like flashing a

17:29

red cape in front of an angry bull.

17:32

It had been a chaotic weekend, and all

17:35

sophomore Bill Fooey wanted to do was

17:37

settle into a normal week. It

17:39

was a Monday, and he sat in his dorm room

17:42

studying chemistry. When the phone rang

17:44

down the hall. He

17:46

paid little mind until he heard shouting and

17:48

doors slamming. Someone knocked

17:51

on his door and yelled, they've got one of the

17:53

boys downtown. The

17:55

messenger didn't say who had been taken,

17:57

but he had an idea of why.

18:00

The Ku Klux Klan was out for revenge.

18:03

Over five hundred students ran down to South

18:05

Bend the cross with the

18:07

red light bulbs burned brightly in the window.

18:10

Deputies stood guard, many of whom

18:12

the boys recognized as clansmen. While

18:15

the boys were armed with nothing more than rotten food,

18:18

the deputized clansmen surrounded them

18:20

and began beating them with clubs. The

18:23

students fought back. Father

18:25

Walsh got word about the fight and drove into

18:27

South Bend. He climbed on top

18:29

of a cannon that was part of a monument and

18:31

shouted over the crowd, pleading

18:34

for peace and for his students to return

18:36

to school grounds. It

18:38

wasn't like Father Walsh to plead every

18:41

single student returned to the school. Walsh

18:44

stayed until everyone students, clansmen,

18:47

and deputies left. When

18:49

the street was finally empty, he returned

18:52

to Notre Dame. The

18:54

following day. The clan told the papers

18:56

that they had come across the students beating on women

18:58

and children and had simply been defending

19:01

the innocent. Then they

19:03

promptly left town, vowing

19:05

to return in greater numbers to handle

19:07

the issue. They

19:09

never returned, though, and the

19:11

students went down in history for taking

19:13

on the clan and winning. Father

19:29

Walsh found him standing before the mayor

19:31

and the chief of police on Tuesday. A

19:34

few local clan members also showed up.

19:37

For a while, Walsh sat in silence

19:39

as the clansmen repeated their lies about

19:41

his students attacking women and children the previous

19:44

night. He listened with

19:46

disinterest when some of the townspeople

19:48

complained about how rowdy the students had been.

19:51

When everyone finished speaking, they turned

19:53

to hear what the father intended to do about

19:56

his misbehaving students. Walsh

19:59

said, give and their history of

20:01

boorish behavior in our community

20:03

an incident like this was just a matter

20:05

of time, and then he left.

20:08

He never punished a single student for

20:10

standing up to the clan. The

20:12

school didn't expel or even suspend

20:15

anyone who had participated in defending the

20:17

town or themselves against the clan that

20:19

night. Despite Stevenson's

20:21

best hopes and efforts, the school did

20:23

not dissolve or fall into disgrace.

20:26

Instead, it flourished the

20:29

clan, and Stevenson didn't fare

20:31

so well. There wasn't a

20:33

single report of the injured women are children

20:36

who the clan insisted had been viciously attacked.

20:39

Instead, word about the clan getting

20:41

beaten up and ran out of town by college

20:43

kids spread. Then

20:46

the second blow hit Grand

20:48

Dragon. Stevenson was arrested for

20:50

the kidnapping, rape, and murder

20:52

of twenty eight year old Madge Oberholtzer,

20:55

whom he had met at the governor's inauguration back

20:57

on January twenty five five.

21:01

He had hired her to work as his aid, running

21:03

messages to and from his office, and

21:05

she had even helped him write a book. On

21:08

March fifteenth, Stevenson's

21:11

secretary called match and told

21:13

her she was needed immediately. Eight

21:16

hours later, her parents reported her missing.

21:19

Mad showed up two days later in

21:21

bad shape, bleeding, badly

21:24

bruised, and with numerous bite marks on her

21:26

body. When questioned,

21:28

she told her parents what had happened at the hands

21:31

of a man she had trusted. Stevenson

21:34

had been drunk when she had arrived that day,

21:36

and he and his men had forced her to the train station

21:39

and then onto a train heading to Chicago.

21:42

Then they shoved her into a private compartment where

21:44

Stevenson brutally beat bit, cut

21:47

and assaulted her. So she

21:49

cried out. None of the men stopped him,

21:52

and no one helped match. When she got off the train

21:54

with Stevenson in Hammond, Indiana, he

21:57

and the other clan members took her to a hotel.

22:01

The next day, he had his men take

22:03

Marge back home, where they dumped her. A

22:06

boarder at her parents home found her and summoned

22:08

help. Madge would die

22:11

from her injuries. Stephenson

22:14

didn't bother to run from the police. Actually,

22:17

he seemed surprised when his political

22:19

ties and protectors abandoned him.

22:23

Stephenson was convicted on November twenty

22:25

four of ninety The

22:27

Indiana clan fell apart soon after. In

22:30

nine, and

22:32

by nineteen thirty most members found

22:34

themselves out of work in the midst of the Great

22:36

Depression, unable to pay

22:38

their dues. Membership dropped to just

22:40

forty five thousand. In

22:43

nineteen fifty, Stephenson was paroled.

22:46

None of his former connections would have anything

22:48

to do with him, for fear of the stigma

22:51

the relationship would bring. He

22:53

died in nineteen sixty six, penniless,

22:56

alone and forgotten. There's

23:04

more to this story. Stick around after

23:06

this brief sponsor break to hear all about it.

23:17

It was the golden age of radio

23:20

across the nation. Families sat in their

23:22

living rooms to listen to a variety of

23:24

news and entertainment broadcasts.

23:27

Long before cable TV and the Disney

23:30

Channel. Parents enjoyed a little downtime

23:32

when the kids sat quietly to listen to their

23:34

favorite shows. Superman

23:37

had long been a favorite of children who read comic

23:39

strips, and they were equally fascinated

23:42

with the radio show. When it first aired in

23:45

kids hurried home from school, did their homework,

23:48

ate their dinner, and sat wide eyed while

23:50

voice actors and audio producers

23:52

brought the stories to life. In

23:56

six Stepson Kennedy, an author,

23:59

journalist and human rights activist came

24:01

up with an idea for the show Superman

24:04

Versus the KKK. He

24:07

had despised the group ever since he was a child.

24:10

As a teen, had been devastated by the loss

24:12

of his family's maid, a black woman

24:14

whom the family loved. Several

24:17

clansmen had assaulted and killed her for

24:19

questioning the change. A white bus driver

24:21

handed her. Clan membership

24:23

had experienced a resurgence in the nineteen forties,

24:26

and they had their sights set on removing

24:28

anyone who stood in their way.

24:31

Stetson wanted to do something about them

24:33

to bring America's full attention to the

24:35

terrorist group in their midst To

24:38

give the show the best insight and to

24:40

best humiliate the clan, Stetson

24:43

knew he had to infiltrate the group.

24:46

He went undercover in Atlanta, visiting

24:48

bars he thought the clan frequented. He

24:50

told everyone he sold encyclopedias. He

24:54

drank a lot of beer and played even more

24:56

games of pool, and eventually

24:58

he got an invitation to joined the Georgia Fraternity.

25:02

After receiving his robes, he attended regular

25:05

meetings where he learned the clan's secret passwords,

25:08

and to his astonishment, they turned out to be

25:10

nothing more than adding the letters K and

25:13

L in front of certain words in

25:15

their minds. Adding the letters would confuse any

25:17

outsiders from understanding what they were talking

25:19

about. There was a secret

25:22

handshake to a limp, wristed

25:24

grasp, and a wiggle. Members

25:27

had to pay dues and by their uniforms

25:29

exclusively from the clan for fifteen

25:31

dollars each. That's two dollars

25:34

today for pretty much a sheet. All

25:37

told, the clan was a profitable pyramid

25:39

scheme based around hatred. Stetson

25:43

took extensive notes and even risked

25:45

rating the Grand Dragon's waste basket. He

25:48

learned about the clans secret rituals and their

25:50

plans for violence. The

25:53

I R S slapped the Atlanta chapter with

25:55

a six five thousand dollar bill

25:57

when he alerted them about the chapter's taxivation.

26:01

Being a mole in the clan was dangerous.

26:04

They'd kill him if they found him out, and

26:07

he couldn't trust law enforcement if he wound

26:09

up in a bind. The local cops were

26:11

of two minds, those who were afraid

26:13

and those who were members. Instead,

26:16

Stetson had to trust the Georgia Bureau of

26:19

Investigation and hope he wouldn't

26:21

be out it. Before

26:23

long, the radio producers had enough material

26:25

for the sixteen part mini series The

26:28

Adventures of Superman Plan of

26:30

the Fiery Cross. The

26:32

show pitted Superman against the Clan and

26:35

used fiction to reveal the clan's real rituals,

26:38

demystifying them.

26:41

Four and a half million listeners

26:43

tuned in, including clan

26:45

members children. One

26:47

member reported he came home from work to find

26:50

his son with a towel tied around his shoulders

26:52

like a cape, chasing other kids wearing

26:54

pillowcases over their heads. The

26:56

kid told his father he was Superman, ridding

26:59

the world of the bad men in the KKK. The

27:02

clan has been worried that his son, who had always

27:05

looked up to him, might now find his robes

27:07

and hood. Stetson promptly

27:09

left the clan and didn't out

27:12

himself until when he

27:14

was asked to testify in front of a grand jury.

27:16

The clan had bombed religious and community

27:18

centers in black, Jewish and Catholic neighborhoods.

27:22

The clan tried to silence him with death threats,

27:24

by shooting his dog and with frequent

27:26

attempts at setting his home on fire. Like

27:30

the Man of Steel himself, Stetson

27:32

didn't back down. The

27:34

public no longer thought of the clan as something

27:37

arcane and enigmatic. They

27:39

joked about grown men acting like schoolyard

27:41

bullies with their secret Dakota rings. Recruitment

27:44

dropped, and when the clan

27:47

held rallies, people flocked to see them,

27:49

not to hear what the hate group had to say,

27:51

though, no the public

27:54

came to mock them.

27:57

Stetson Kennedy died a hero in

27:59

his own right. He lived a

28:01

long life, passing away in his

28:03

home At the

28:05

Age of American

28:18

Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum.

28:21

This episode was written by Michelle Muto,

28:24

researched by Ali Steed, and produced

28:26

by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with

28:29

executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex

28:31

Williams, and Matt Frederick. To

28:34

learn more about the show, visit Grim and Mild

28:36

dot com. From more podcasts from

28:38

iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio

28:40

app, Apple Podcasts, or

28:42

wherever you get your podcasts.