657. The Ku Klux Klan: American Fascists (Part 4)

The Kokomo on which the sun rose on July 4th was not the same Kokomo on which the orb of day set at the close of America's 147th birthday. Kokomo had had an awakening. A spiritual awakening. It had witnessed the spectacle of two hundred thousand men and women, filled with patriotism and love of country, one-fifth of a million men and women who by their attendance signified their belief in a living Christ and an open Bible. journey from points afar to be present at a vast meeting, wherein there were to be no carnival features, sporting events, circus stunts, or spectacular events.

It saw staunch American farmers with their wives, merchants of repute, Bankers of integrity, honest and hard working mechanics, doctors and men of all professions, leaders in their communities, ministers and devout church workers, in fact, men and women from every walk of life. Today Kokomo may well boast that she has royally entertained the biggest crowd of 100% red-blooded Americans that ever assembled at any one place at any one time in the history of America to do homage to God, the flag, and the home. So stirring stuff there in the newspaper The Fiery Cross, which was published in Indianapolis on the 13th of July 1923, and it's describing an enormous Independence Day picnic.

And I'm guessing, Dominic, from the name of that newspaper, The Fiery Cross, that the Ku Klux Klan. may have something to do with this. Yeah, you're not wrong, Tom. So this picnic was one of many bizarre and extraordinary episodes in the history of the second Ku Klux Klan, which we'll be talking about today. So last time, to give people a bit of a reminder, we talked about how the clan was reborn thanks to Thomas Dixon's book and play, The Clansman, the film The Birth of a Nation, and the vision of a man called William J.

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