How far do you agree with the view that in the 1920’s the KKK possessed neither sizable support nor significant influence?

The 1920’s marked a period of great racial tension throughout American Society, with the period often regarded as a melting pot due to such strains and tensions. The immigration of new, non-protestant immigrants such as Catholics and Jews since the turn of the century had brought about large scale unease due to the sheer number of immigrants. Combined with Mexicans, Orientals as well as a rapidly growing black population, these minority groups were to suffer at the hands of those concerned with the values of White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants, with these values playing a fundamental role in the American way of life. …show more content…

Due to certain areas regarding these fears, those of farmers, artisans and shopkeepers of small-town america were also addressed, consequently resulting in an increase in popularity leading to the KKK having roughly 5 million members by 1925. Furthermore, membership was not simply restricted to the poor, downtrodden American population who felt marginalised, but also increasingly involved middle classes citizens. Equally it was not exclusively a rural, southern organisation, due to the fact that there were drastic increased in membership from north and central states such as Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. In many locations the local police seemed Klan-dominated, with judges also not remaining to seem impartial. Arguably therefore this suggests that the post-war revival of the Klan led to a drastic increase in the number of members, thus gaining support and influence as an increase in the number of members an organisation has ultimately leads to a greater support base within a population, thus representing a larger number of the population making it more influential as a consequence.

Moreover, the influence of the KKK continued to grow throughout the early 1920s as the the Federal Government did little to alleviate poverty and socio-economic disadvantage amongst the rural population, instead focusing interest and funds on urban locations such as New York where a