Adam Fairclough related a similar narrative of backlash, response and desegregation, for the communities of Plaquemine, Clinton, Jonesboro, Monroe and Bogalusa Louisiana, confirming Klarman’s thesis.1 Fairclough also pointed out, that after massive resistance failed, frustrated white supremacists resorted to terrorism. In some communities-Jonesboro and Bogalusa, for example-the terrorists were vigilantes, who acted with the complicity of local law enforcement officials.2 LINK TO LUDERS: In traditional slow growth city like NO (as opposed to Dallas/Atlanta), a less vibrant buisiness community could only intervene only after substantial violence had transpired.3—change lang result was sig eco harm as a decline in the tourist trade hurt retail sales, motels and restaurants.4

Bt NAACP ests 100 units in 55.5 There is no other evidence, however, that any significant Klan organizing or activity took place. As the Citizens Councils led a State drive that purged 11,000 black voters from the rolls in 1956,6 the AGK entered state.7 The Anti-Defamation League reported that the first Klan charter in 30 years was granted to a group in Baton Rouge, in 1956. Officers Edgar Taylor Pres, Perry E.

1 Adam Fairclough, Race and Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972, (Athens, 1995), 148, 319-320, 330-332, 377. 2 Ibid, 322, 338, 340-343. 3 Numan F. Bartley, The Rise of Massive Resistance: Race and Politics in the South During the 1950s, (1969), 336-337; James C. Cobb, The Selling of the South: The Southern Crusade for Industrial Development, 1936-1980, (1982), 132; David R. Goldfield, Black, White, and Southern: Race relations and Southern Culture, 1940 to thepresent (1990), 111-113; McMillan, Citizen’s Council, 291; Morton Inger, “The New Orleans School Crisis of 1960,” in Jacoway and Colburn eds., Southern Businessmen and Desegregation, 94, 97; Elizabeth Jacoway, “An Introduciton,” in ibid, 8-9, 11.4 Morton Inger, The New orleans School Desegregation Crisis of 1960,” in Jacoway and Colburn eds., Southern Businessmen and Desegregation, 93-94; Cobb, Selling of the South, 133-134. See also Cobb, Selling of the South, 122-123, 137-137 (check for locales)5 “List of Klan Type Organizations,” December 28, 1955, Papers of the NAACP, Part 20, Reel 13, Frame 334.6 McMillan, Citizens Councils, 224-225. 7 Moseley, 163-164.

Strickland vp, Oscar W land secretary, GR latfield treas.8 Citizens Councils and Klan organizers enforced right to work laws and supplemented union organizers in communities such as Opelousas.9 Klan organizers Edgar C. Taylor Jr. and Perry Strickland organized a group affiliated with the US Klans in Baton Rouge that December, but the two soon fell out, with Strickland removing to Denham Springs. Neither faction had much success and, after 1957, Klan activity tapered off again.10 Despite an exceptional FBI investigation of the disenfranchisement in October, a federal grand jury convened in December found no impropriety.11

1960 New Orleans school desegregation: In late October and early November the city was “flooded” with copies of the Thunderbolt, as the WCC allied with the National States Rights Party, holding a mass rally in a city auditorium on November 15. Attended by “pro-segregationists from over the South” it also attracted thousands of local white teenagers. The next day, police prevented a riot, as blacks began retaliating against roving mobs of white youths who insulted and slashed them.12 Greatest Klan activity 2 Klaverns around Shreveport, one at Bossier City-Webster with 52 members and possiby 1 at coushatta. Activity at denham Springs, baton Rouge. Believe will spread rapidly due to New Orleans int-seg situation13 Dec 1960 five organizers two units at Baton-Rouge-denham Springs.14

8 ADL, “The Ku Klux Klan Revival,” Facts, VII:6, November-December 1956, 94. See also Mosely, “Invisible Empire,” 163-164. 9 Greta de Jong, A Different Day: African American Struggles for Justice in Rural Louisiana, 1900-1970, (Chapel Hill: Universityof North carolina Press, 2002), 166, 262n69. 10 FBI Report, “The Ku Klux Klan,” Section II, 1944-1958, (May 1958), downloadable from www.thememoryhole.org/fbi/kkk.htm, 42-44; Chalmers, Hooded Americanism, 325-368; Wade, Fiery Cross, 297, 300. 11 McMillan, Citizens Councils, 225. 12 New Pittsburgh Courier, 31 December 1960, 25. 13 SA to SAC, New Orleans, 2/13/61, FBI file 157-93 “Klan Infiltration of Law Enforcement,” Lazar archive. 14 SAC Letter No 63-4, 1/23/63, 27-28, FBI San Francisco file 100-44462, “Bombings and Attempted Bombings,” Lazar archive.

The direct action tactics of the sit-in movement “offered an impetus and occasion for the type of direct violence in which the Klan excelled.”15

In August 1962, the Congress of Racial Equality launched an intensive voting rights drive in rural Louisiana. Aided by the NAACP, campaign participants filed more than 300 discrimination complaints with the Department of Justice, resulting in and FBI investigations of voter registration records in Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, West Feliciana, Tangipahoa, and Iberville parishes. The barrier was broken in October 1963, when Joseph Carer, the first black man since 1902 registered in West Feliciana Parish. CORE activists also helped local blacks in their efforts to desegregate schools, so as o expand equal opportunities.16

In addition to threats, intimidation, arrests, legal delays, economic reprisals, vigilantes targeted subsequent applicants with violence. The night after he registered, he prepared to fight off nightriders who shot at his neighbor’s house.17 Such “determination to fight back against violence,” according to Greta De Jong, “was crucial to the survival of the civil rights movement in rural Louisiana.”18 In the absence of protection from local state or federal authorities, rural blacks posted armed guards to protect meetings, and returned fire against white vigilantes.19

In 1960, Roy E. Davis, a veteran Klansman who had joined the Second Ku Klux Klan after World War I, had organized his own Klan group, recruiting in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, a state that had not seen substantial Klan activity for several decades. Davis could not control the scattered Klaverns of his realm, however, and the Louisiana units soon formed an independent organization known as the Original 15 Chalmers, Hooded Americanism, 368.16 De Jong, A Different Day, 196-197.17 De Jong, A Different Day, 175-187, 189-191. 18 De Jong, A Different Day, 193. 19 De Jong, A Different Day, 188-194.

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Led by Grand Dragon J. D. Swenson of Bossier City, a northwest Louisiana community located across the Red River from Shreveport, the Original Knights expanded southeastward across the State. Eventually, Swenson appointed Royal Young Acting Grand Dragon, and Jack Young, his brother, became Klan chaplain (Kludd). Murray Martin was appointed Grand Giant, or second in command and Grady Wilder became Assistant Grand Giant. Robert Fuller, of Monroe, was appointed Klabee, or head of the Klan Bureau of Investigation, and Charles Pearson became his assistant.

Between 1960 and 1964, Swenson’s Kleagles (Klan organizers) Royal V. Young and Houston P. Morris, organized Klaverns near and Monroe, respectively, and together, the three officers established Klaverns in most parts of Louisiana.20 Klan organizing was accompanied by violence. A rash of Klan bombings in 1961-1962, seriously impeded voting registration efforts in Shreveport. In Ferriday, a secretive Klan cell undertook a campaign of bombing, arson and murder.21 As Roman Catholic schools desegregated in September 1962, the FBI investigated “threats of physical violence” and cross-burnings by the Ku Klux Klan in 16 Louisiana towns.22

In February 1962, the Shreveport home of a local black leader was bombed, and two months later, the local Negro Masonic Lodge was bombed. The Simpkins home was bombed in May, and the home of a white integrationist was bombed in September. In May 1963, 20 Klaverns were established in Winsboro, Ouachita Parish, Sterlington, Concordia, Clinton, Deere, Jena, Tensas, Black River, Arcadia, West Carrol, Watson, Delta, Okalossa, Many, Catahoola, Deville, Folsom, Turkey Creek, Hineson, madison parish, Boeuf River, Varnado, Vidalia, New River, Homer, Roseland, East Baton Rouge, Swartz, Choudrant, Valley, Covington, Pine Grove, Big River and Northeast Louisiana.21 “KKK Reported Growing Fast In Shreveport," New Pittsburgh Courier, 18 February, 1961, 6; Fairclough, Race and Democracy, 288-289, 399. 22 Robed, hooded Klansmen also demonstrated, mostly in Northern Louisiana towns. UPI, “Klan Active as Church School Enroll Negroes in Louisiana,” Washington Post, 3 September 1962, A6. Crosses were burned before three Negro schools in Hodge, and near Bosco. A fourth targeted a black minister's home in Bastrop, while another was set alight on a bridge connecting Monroe with West Monroe. “We'll Burn 1,000 Crosses Says KKK,” New Pittsburgh Courier, September 15, 1962, 22.

violence occurred on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.—ADD from fairclough/belknap etc??

[in October 1963 five carloads of armed white men fired upon the house of a bus driver who had transported aspiring registrants to St. Francisville, and vandals broke windows in an East Feliciana church that hosted civil rights meetings. When 23] A wave of cross burnings occurred in East and West Feliciana parishes in January 1964. Arsonists attempted to burn a Masonic Hall in West Feliciana in February, and again in December.24

Six thousand people attended a Klan rally near the northeast Louisiana community of Rayville, in November 1963, and membership in the Original Knights increased significantly the following spring. During this same period, however, Swenson and Young fell out with three of their Klan officers, who, in turn, led a revolt against their leadership of the Original Knights in Louisiana. Winnsboro Klansman Murray Martin, Grady Wilder and Billy Skipper, had argued with Swenson and Young, over the distribution of proceeds gained from the sale of Klan robes. The dissidents also chafed under Swenson’s ban on cross-burnings at the polls, during the 1963 elections. Swenson was removed from office in December 1963, and Martin became the new Grand Dragon, with Houston P. Morris remaining as his chief Kleagle. They marked their new recruiting campaign with a well-publicized cross-burning at Black Lake, in Red River Parish. As of September 1964, Franklinton unit leader Russell Magee supervised Martin’s Klansmen in the Sixth Congressional District. Robert fuller.

In 1964-1965, as COINTELPRO got underway, the largest concentrations of Klansmen remained near Shreveport, Bossier City, and around Monroe, an area roughly corresponding to the old East Florida parishes of the Sixth Congressional district. In the spring of

23 De Jong, A Different Day, 188. 24 De Jong, A Different Day, 188.

1964, as city officials began to concede to integration, the Washington Parish City of Bogalusa proved particularly fertile recruiting ground.25 As in central Alabama, some officers in the main AFL-CIO union at the Crown-Zellerbach paper plant, which employed 3300 of Bogalusa’s 25,000 residents, were Klansmen.26 These Klansmen had close relations with law enforcement officers. A similar situation existed in Jonesboro. Between 1963 and 1965 civil rights workers were met with threats, intimidation, violence and murder in areas of Louisiana.27

In December 1964, members of the “Silver Dollar Group,” made up of militant Mississippi and Louisiana Klansmen firebombed the apartment of Ferriday shoe repairman Frank Morris. Forced at gunpoint to remain in the burning building, Morris died within days.28 150 crosses burnt to demonstrate Klan revival in five parishes include 5 in Baton Rouge, plus E Feliciana, Aesension, Livingston and St. Tammany.29 In April 1964, WDSU-TV New Orleans reporter Robert Wagner, who had investigated the Klan for months, was caught and beaten with a gun belt by Klansmen.30 As Catholic High Schools desegregated in Baton Rouge,31 a reporter who wrote an expose of the Klan was stripped, beaten and temporarily imprisoned in a hound cage.32 Two Washington Parish deputies were arraigned in federal 25 Director to New Orleans, 11/8/63, Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (FBI File 105-71801) available at www.foia.fbi.gov/kkk.htm; Belknap, Federal Law, 130; US Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities. Activities of Ku Klux Klan Organizations. 89th Congress, 1st Session, 1966, 2334-2339, 2359-2360, 2362, 2368-2374, 2398-2399; U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities, Report: The Present-Day Ku Klux Klan Movement, 90th Cong., 1st Sess., 1967, 31-32, 46, 48; Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 356; Fairclough, Race and Democracy, 348-351; Robert E. Baker, “KKK Revival Noted in the South,” Los Angeles Times, 5 November 1964, 33.26 W. B. Ragsdale, “EEOC’s Bogalusa Job Cited,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 29 January 1966, 6. 27 Belknap, Federal Law, 125-126, 134-135; Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 58-59, 261, 444, 481; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2415-2437, 2450-2520, 2529-2531; 2475-2625; HUAC, Present-Day KKK, 99-102.28 Although investigated by the FBI, no prosecution involving this group ever resulted. Whitehead, Attack on Terror, 226-230. 29 UPI, “Klan’s Revival Feared in Burning of Crosses,” Los Angeles Times, 20 January 1964, 2.30 Robert E. Baker, “Revived KKK Isn’t Funny Any More,” Washington Post, 5 July 1964, E1. 31 “Classroom Mixing,” Birmingham News, 6 September 1964, A15. 32 “Southern Exposure,” Newsweek, 72, 25 November 1968, 111-112.

court that month, on charges of beating black demonstrators.33 In late April, Black brickmason Dody Stone reported that a group of whites fired at him from a car as he walked home in a black neighborhood.34 Between March and May 1965, Klansmen firebombed two New Orleans churches, a furniture store and several residences used by civil rights workers.35 The Carrollton area residence of Mrs Jane Dunn was firebombed.36 Police say o ties to civil rights.37 A fire bomb was also thrown from a vehicle into a city street.38 In all, six firebombings were perpetrated in April-May, at a church, an ADL office, an integration workers’ house and car, and a black home.39

In Lafayette, a furniture store was bombed with a grenade.40 April 1965 black youths stone a white youth to death in Baton Rouge when drive through neighborhood.41 In Ferriday, five bombings were perpetrated in a single six-month period. After vigilantes bombed the home of Ferriday Freedom Movement activist Robert Lewis Jr. on November 22 1965 police arrested him as he guarded his home with a shotgun.42

The UKA, which would become the largest Klan organization of the 1960s, moved into Louisiana and Mississippi in spring 1964. In April, the 97 member Bernice Klavern split off from the Original Knights and joined the UKA. By June 1965 several Louisiana Original Knights Klaverns, including Jonesboro and Monroe would join Shelton’s group,

33 “Beating Charge Plea Innocent,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 5 January 1965, 9.34 “Race Harmony Talks Planned,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 25 April 1965, 4.35 Five alleged Klansmen were indicted for the bombings in June 1966. “Alleged Klansmen Indicted in 1965 New Orleans Fires,” New York Times, 22 June, 1966, 32. 36 “Fire Bombing’ Damages Home in Carrollton Area,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 12 April 1965, 11.37 “No Tie in Four Bombings View, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 13 April 1965, 15.38 “Car’s Occupants Toss Fire Bomb,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 20 April 1965, 2.39 Three white youths were arrested for firebombings in the vicinity of St. Thomas Housing Project area. Leroy Horn admitted participation in four of them. “Suspect in Arson Cases Confesses, Claim Police,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 9 May 1965, 1. April 1965, 19. On June 21 1966 New Orleans resident Nicholas Glover and four others were also arrested for the bombings. Newton KKK Encyclopedia, 230. Cites NYT-Check40 “Blast Shatters Show Windows,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 22 March 1965, 14. 41 “Four are Found Guilty in Death,” New Orlean Times-Picayune, 16 January 1966, 2.42 Roy Reed, “His Home Bombed, Negro is Arrested,” New York Times, 22 November 1965, 25.

and the Louisiana UKA continued to grow under Grand Dragon (state leader) James Malcolm Edwards and state treasurer Bobby G. Kelley. 43

When FBI executives launched COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE in September 1964, the largest Klan organization in Louisiana was still the Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a group composed of perhaps 1000 members, concentrated in northern Louisiana and along the Mississippi border. Internal strife however, soon led to Swenson and Young’s removal on charges of misappropriating funds. Murray H Martin and Billy Skipper took command, promising that a proper election would be held in six months time. Martin became Grand Dragon, and Skipper became KBI chief for the Sixth Province. Houston P. Morris, a lesser officer, received assurances that he would attain high office. Martin and Skipper, however, used the intervening months to consolidate their own control and eliminate the influence of Morris and his supporters.44 Internal rivalries and the external threat of UKA recruiting in Louisiana would provide a promising opportunity for disruptive covert action.

FBI agents began by interviewing militant and high profile Knights in the New Orleans and Bogalusa areas, to let Klansmen know that the Bureau had identified them, and to develop informants. They deliberately chose not to interview everyone immediately. In this way, members of the second group would blame the first group for having identified them to the FBI. This resulted in infighting among Klansmen throughout Washington and St. Tammany parishes. Many Klansmen became upset, and resigned from the organization. FBI agents also

43 Evelyn Rich, “Ku Klux Klan Ideology, 1954-1988” Ph.D. diss., (Boston University, 1988), 44-48; Present-Day KKK, 21-22, 30-32, 48; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2629-2630, 2637. 44 John Herbers, “The Klan: Its Growing Influence,” New York Times, 20 April 1965, 1.; “The Ku Klux Klan On The Way Back,” US News and World Report, 57:16 19 October 1964, 52; HUAC, Present-Day KKK, 48-50, 147-148; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2365-2366, 2407, 3872-3875, 3888-3889; Newton KKK Encyclopedia, 443-444. Swenson became an organizer for the United Klans of America. HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2234-2263.

investigated sales Klan robes and paraphernalia by Bossier City and Shreveport based officers in the Original Knights. They reviewed the Shreveport Klavern’s bank account and income statements and compared them with tax returns, which they had acquired from the IRS. They determined that Klan leader Royal Young may have violated the tax laws, and informed the tax authorities.45 The FBI also forwarded tax information to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, in 1965.46 OKs regional KKK headquarters Jonesboro Louisiana 1500.47

In early 1964, Mayor Cutrer had given the Klan a permit to rally in city where, in defiance of state law, Klansmen wore hoods at a rally that was broadcast on the local radio station as a “public service.” Vandalism and ties to local police were met with official silence.48 Moreover, persistent unwillingness of the Louisiana governments to suppress Klan mobilization had allowed bombing, arson, and brutal violence to take place with great regularity.49 But Under Gov John McKiethen 1964-1972 finally plotted course toward moderation given fed changes and calc of cost of continued resistance. N LA continue to thwart, but governor shift haltingly toward acceptance of token integration and dimunation of overtly racist appeals to white voters.50

FBI agents would alert law enforcement authorities (which/where?) about "any unlawful operation of business or conduct" by Klan members.51 Mitch Klavern Cyclops Howard M. Lee 45 New Orleans to Director, 9/9/64, 11/3/64 10/31/64, 12/8/64, 1/5/65, 2/18/65 11/15/65; Baumgardner to Sullivan 9/22/64 (New Orleans file); Director, to New Orleans 9/23/64, 11/3/64, 11/14/64, 8/24/65. Newton, Ku Klux Klan Encyclopedia, (New York, 1991), 58-59, 402-403 580. 46 Baumgardner to Sullivan, 6/28/65, (Section 1); Baumgardner to Sullivan, 3/12/65 and Attachment: "The Klan Today," and DeLoach to Mohr, 3/22/65, both in FBI File on the House Committee on Un-American Activities, (Wilmington, 1986). 47 Robert S. Allen and Paul Scott, "Klan Probe Hits Pay Dirt: Tax Returns Said Under Deep Probe, " Birmingham News, 25 June 1965, 8.48 Rowland Eveans and Robert Novak, Inside Report . . . CORE vs. th e Klan,” Washington Post, 5 may 1965, A25. 49 Luders, “Countermovements,” in Goldstone ed., “States, Parties,” 43.50 Luders, “Countermovements,” in Goldstone ed., “States, Parties,” 38.51 New Orleans to Director, 1/5/65.

held a license to sell firearms, but he also allowed other Klansmen to sell hundreds of weapons from his stockpile. Between May and August 1964, numerous sales were made to Louisiana and Mississippi based members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, and the Original Knights. Among the Louisiana Klansmen who bought weapons, were Billy Skipper, Bush Klavern leader and Klan “wrecking crew” member Eric Peterson, who distributed 25 rifles and 700 rounds of ammunition, and Bogalusa Klansmen Kinch Wilson Miley, and James M “Buser” Ellis, who redistributed four cases of rifles. In October, the FBI notified the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Treasury Unit (ATTU), as well as the Secret Service, about these sales. Ellis dropped out of the Klan after ATTU agents questioned him. The ATTU arrested Lee and charged him with violating the Federal Firearms Act. The agency compiled a list of persons who had bought weapons from Lee, and provided it to the FBI. FBI agents then interviewed the purchasers to cause further infighting and disruption.52

As a result of aggressive interviews by FBI agents, Klavern meeting attendance and membership declined in St. Tammany and Washington Parishes during fall 1964. The Bogalusa unit was particularly hard hit. Average attendance at Klavern meetings declined from 75-100 to "a maximum of about 25."53 Two church burnings in Jonesboro, 1/17/65.54 FBI investigations of two January 1965 church burnings in Winnsboro facilitated a decline in Franklin

52 Lee was convicted and incarcerated in Federal prison. Ellis joined a Klan fron group, the Anti-Communist Christian Association. The lists were also obtained by the HUAC, and published in the January 1966 Hearings on Louisiana Klan organizations. New Orleans to Director, 10/13/64; Director, to New Orleans, 11/4/64; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2410-2414, 2535-2538, 2543-2544, 2449, 2527-2529, 2535-2536, 2540, 2543, 2554, 2556, 3036, 3884; HUAC, Present-Day KKK, 106-107, 118; Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 345.53 New Orleans to Director, 1/5/65. 54 Michael and Judy Ann Newton, Racial and Religious Violence In America: A Chronology, (New York: Garland, 1991), 479.

Parish Klan activity.55 In the winter, the Original Knights split into three factions.

Murray, Skipper, and their ally in Coushatta P. L. Morgan, retained their greatest loyalty from Shreveport-Bossier City area Klansmen. Membership in their group continued to decline however, and many of their Klaverns became inactive. On January 2, Monroe Klan leaders Houston P. Morris, Chosota Parish Klan officer Jack Saucier, Swartz klavern leader Willis J. Kidd, and Klansmen George Bonner, Henry I Bayles, and Tommy Frank Reagan, along with the Sixth Province Klansmen whom they controlled, formed the Original KKK of America Inc. In December, Amite-based Klan organizer Charles Christmas and Bogalusa Klansman Saxon Farmer had taken their Sixth Congressional District Klansmen and, using the cover-name Anti Communist Christian Association (ACCA), formed their own faction. Bogalusa City attorney Robert T. Restor and Saxon Farmer registered the front-group’s incorporation papers with the Washington Parish recorder, with Varnado resident W. J. Williams, and Ponchatoula resident Lloyd Joiner listed as directors. Franklinton Klansman John Magee, who had helped lead the opposition to Martin, became the ACCA Treasurer. In February and March, meetings of Louisiana Klan leaders were held in Amite and Baton Rouge, in a failed attempt to bring the factions back together.

In May or June, Morris, Bayles, Kidd, Reagan, and the bulk of their Monroe –based Original KKK members joined the United Klans of America. The Alabama-based Klan group was recruiting in Louisiana during this period. A rally at Tioga on May 24, featuring Grand Dragon

55 New Orleans report, 8/7/65, United Klans of America, New Orleans, File 105-1057, Section 23, p 41 in UKA-New Orleans File, (FBI File 105-1057), [hereafter cited as UKA File]. This file was acquired by this author under the Freedom of Information Act (FIOA).

J. M. Edwards and New Orleans Klan officer Jack Helm, attracted 600 people.56

As CORE planned voter registration campaigns in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Congressional Districts, areas where the Ku Klux Klan was reportedly strong, 57 the UKA gained about 500 members mostly spread across Klaverns in northern Louisiana. As of January 1966, Great Titan Thomas Frank Reagan and State Secretary George Gill Harris of Bernice, a small community west of Monroe, administered this area. Based in Monroe, Reagan had split from Murray Martin to join the UKA along with Exalted Cyclops and Grand Klaliff Jack Helm. Helm, who also headed the local branch of the Citizens’ Council, organized one or two Klaverns in New Orleans with the help of South Louisiana Grand Titan and city resident Lloyd Barnett. The Original Knights retained about 200 members in the eastern part of the state.58

It was the ACCA, under Grand Dragon Charles Christmas and Grand Titan Saxon Farmer, who became the most infamous of the three factions, by spearheading the violent opposition to black demonstrations in Bogalusa during early-mid 1965, which resulted in federal injunctions later that year. With an estimated 800 Klansmen residing in the town, Bogalusa had the highest per capita Klan membership in the United States. Ruled through a military-like command structure, ACCA vigilantes received protection from local power brokers. City Attorney Robert T. Rester, for example, was a 56 “’Invocation at Klan Rally Is Not According to Grand Dragon’s Style,” Alexandria, LA., Town Talk, 24 May 1965.57 The White Citizens Council was strongest in northern Louisiana. 100 CORE Workers Go To Louisiana,” New Pittsburgh Courier, 26 June, 1965, 12. 32% of Louisiana’s blacks were registered as of 1964. Lawson, Running for Freedom, 81.58 Morris and his followers maintained some autonomy from the UKA, until the fall. Martin and P. L. Morgan made a loose affiliation with Georgia Klan leader James Venable and the National Knights of the KKK. Newton KKK Encyclopedia, 356, 404, 443-444, 523, 379, 109, 192, 19-20; HUAC, Present-Day KKK, 31-32, 49-50, 147-148; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2365-2369, 2467-2469, 2378-2379, 2384, 2398, 2407, 2438-2469, 2523, 2574-2575, 2582, 2584-2588, 2591, 2593, 2595, 2599, 2606-2607, 2627; Patsy Sims The Klan, (New York, 1978), 227-228; Hayes Johnson, The Last Stand of the Ku Klux Klan, Washington Evening Star, 12 April 1965.

both a member of the Original Knights and a registered agent of the ACCA. Marvin Foster acted as an official liason with the city administration. In January 1965, Bogalusa Klansmen forced former Arkansas Congressman Brooks Hays to cancel a speech to an integrated group of business and community leaders in the city aimed at promoting improved race relations. Presumably due to a ‘leak’ to the Klan from someone in the City administration, intimidation began before any public announcement of the planned meeting had even been made. Threats of political reprisal and economic boycott accompanied an OKKKK propaganda and intimidation campaign against the sponsors. As the Bogalusa City Council issued a statement declaring opposition to violence, Gov McKiethen offered that the cancellation of Hayes’ talk was a good thing, arguing that “talk about Bogalusa” would only bring vigilante violence and murder. Yet the Klan’s campaign continued. In order to enforce a boycott against radio station WBOX, Klansmen made intimidating phone calls to businessmen who advertized on the station. They burned crosses, spilled nails in the driveway of station manager Ralph Bumberg, and broke windows in his home. They shot up the staiton’s transmitter tower, firing seven bullets with a high-powered rifle.59 As Governor McKiethen maintained that Klan’s role in the boycott was being exaggerated and attempted to downplay the significance of the shooting, the Louisiana ACLU telegrammed President Johnson to urge immediate federal action against the Klan.60 FBI disseminated information about the vandalism and intimidation to one of their media

59 As a result of the Klan boycott, the number of radio sponsors dropped from seventy, to four. Baumgardner to Sullivan 3/30/65 Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 58, 261; Time, 5 November 1965; UPI, “Hays Talk Cancellation is Praised,” Washington Post, 9 January 1965, A5 (quote); HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2415-2438, 2448, 2454-2458, 2475 passim; HUAC, Present-Day KKK, 100. Defeated in his federal-state intermediary efforts during the Little Rock desegregation crisis, hayes Freyer, Little Rock Crisis, 106-107, 123-124. 60 James M’Lean, “Jonesboro Trip M’Kiethen Aim,” New Orleans Times Picayune, 27 March 1965, 1, 11; “Action on Klan in LA. Sought,” New Orleans Times Picayune, 27 March 1965, 9.

contacts. Although the Associated Press carried the story, the Klan enforced boycott soon drove Blumberg out of town.61

The violence continued. According to a report by a three judge panel issued in September 1965, CORE worker William Yates was assaulted by three Klansmen and two other persons on February 3. On February 15, a group of 30 whites, including Klansman Vurgil Corkren attacked a group of Negroes who attempted to obtain service at a gasoline station. Later that day, brandishing clubs and threatening murder, they forced an integrated group out of a Bogalusa restaurant. On March 29, Klansmen Hardie Goings and Franklin Harris threw an ignited tear gas canister at a group of blacks. On April 4, [as CORE Director James Farmer announced a summer anti-segregation drive across Louisiana,.62] a group of Klansmen demonstrated with a coffin near a CORE sponsored rally, and 20 shots were fired into Hicks’ home housing CORE activists the following night and Hicks returns fire. [Bogalusa Deacons heavily armed. In Jonesboro and Bog “if they come inhere to hit us, we will hit back.”63] Three days later Klansmen Lattmore McNeese and E. J. Dixon brandished a gun at negro demonstrators. The following day, a mob broke through police lines to assault civil rights demonstrators, and, on April 9, Klansman Randall C. Pounds assaulted civil rights activist James Farmer with a blackjack. Two other Klansmen, Charles McClendon and James Burke assaulted a newsman and a FBI agent, [even as Klan leaders met with the mayor.64] [April 17 FBI investigates firebomb thrown at house in Bog.

61 Baumgardner to Sullivan 3/30/65 and attached Editorial, 18 March 1965. As a result of the Klan boycott, the number of radio sponsors dropped from seventy, to four. Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 58, 261; Time, 5 November 1965; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2415-2438, 2448, 2454-2458, 2475 passim; HUAC, Present-Day KKK, 100.62 John Fahey, “CORE Director to Lead March,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 9 April 1965, 1. 63 Bill Crider, “New Rights Groups Plan Reaction with Violence,” Washington Post, 13 April 1965, A4. 64 John Fahey, “CORE Activities respite Called,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10 April 1965, 1.

Black section.65] Corkern and a group of whites armed with clubs, belts and other weapons, drove blacks from a public park on May 19.

On May 23, police broke up street fights and arrested two men for attempted arson outside a Baptist church where James Farmer was scheduled to speak. The next day, [as April 24 US Dist Court ordered doubling of speed of school integration.66], 300 white demonstrators tore down the gates of a city park that officials had closed to avoid desegregation violence. Most ominously, O'Neal Moore and Creed Rogers, the County's first black deputies, were ambushed and shot on June 2. After Moore died from his wounds, a paramilitary self-defense group called the Deacons of Defense[67] began guarding the homes of local black leaders and provided armed escorts for James Farmer. [A member of the Citizens Council, the NSRP, and the Poplarville UKA unit68] named E. R. McElveen was charged but never convicted for this crime. The White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi voted to send $500 for his defense. On June 5, shots were fired into the home of a police officer investigating the murder, but no arrests resulted. [McKeith shifts to center, sending in troops to Bog in spite of pressure from Leander Perez, and quietly passed word to C-Z that he will support its decision to abide by the fair employment section of the CRA, scheduled to take effect in Aug. then infuriated CCs and KKK by offering $25,000 reward for capture of murderer of county police deputy. Growing and potential black vote having an impact.69] [Although public hearings would not 70take place until October, press coverage of the investigation was substantial.71]

65 AP, “Counter-Pickets Boost Tension in Bogalusa,” Washington Post, 17 April 1965, A5. 66 “Doubing Speed of Mix Ordered,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 24 April 1965, 1.67 On the Deacons, see Lance Hill, The Deacons of Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement, (Chapel Hill,: University of North Carolina Press, 2004); Strain, Pure Fire, Chapter 5.68 Newton 221n13; Honigsberg, Crossing Border Street, 85. 69 Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, “Inside Report . . . Louisiana Revolution,” Washington Post, 30 June 1965, A25. 70 “Wilkinns Fired at Liuzzo Car, Says FBI Witness,” New Orleans Times-Picayune,5 May 1965, 1.71 W.F. Minor, “Hearings on Probe of Miss. Klan Seen,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 18 April 1965, 19.

During a civil rights march on July 8th, Deacon Henry Austin shot and killed Alton D. Crowe when he and a mob of whites attacked deacons as they attempted to drive a wounded girl to the hospital. That evening and two nights later, National States Rights Party activists J. B. Stoner and Conrad Lynch harangued crowds of 1500-2000 persons with racist invective, urging them to arm and take to the streets.72 A white man slugged a black youth, resulting in a scuffle.73 A black woman in Feriday shot back at nightriders who shot into her house, as the Deacons organized chapters in Homer and Tallulah that month. Federal Judge Herbert W. Christenberry enjoined Bogalusa Police from using threats or violence to prevent exercise of civil rights and ordered them to protect civil rights activists from white harassment, but a Klan rally that month attracted thousands of people. On July 16, whites attacked black demonstrators six times at a Bogalusa shopping center. The following day, marchers were pelted with stones, fruit and firecrackers, and on July 30, a civil rights demonstrator was killed.74 On August 12, bombs exploded at a Baton Rouge motel housing civil rights workers.75

Protection from the Deacons of Defense was instrumental in sustaining civil rights activity, yet FBI interviews and COINTELPRO also

72 This from a total population of only 23,000. Austin was arrested, but since his action was clearly in self-defense, he was not prosecuted, in return for promising that he would not return to Bogalusa. Roy Reed, “Moderates fail to Aid Bogalusa,” New York Times, 11 July 1965, 46; Jack Nelson, “White Man in Bogalusa Shot, Two Negroes Held,” Los Angeles Times, 9 July 1965, 1; Heleniak, “John McKeithen,” 249; Honigsberg, Crossing Border Street, 84-86. 73 Jack Nelson, “Mass Picketing Causes New Bogalusa Violence,” Los Angeles Times, 11 July 1965, D1. 74 Point Coupe residents also defended themselves against vigilantes. De Jong, A Different Day, 189-190; Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 59, 402-403; Newton, Racial and Religious Violence, 482-483; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2450-2520, 2529-2531, 2938-2939, 3821; FBI Monograph, "WHITE EXTREMIST ORGANIZATIONS, Part II, National States Rights Party," May 1970, 10; “CORE-Night Riders,” Los Angeles Times, 8 April 1965, 1; Christopher Strain, Pure Fire: Self-Defense as Activism in the Civil Rights Era, (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2005), 102-104, 107-108; The Tablet, July 29 1965. The case against McElveen was reopened in 1999. Investigators have also implicated two former members of the Mississippi based White Knights. "Justice Delayed," ABC News: 20/20, 29 November 1999; Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan File, FBI Files 105-71801 and 173-2015, both available at www.foia.fbi.gov/kkk.htm.75 Newton, Racial and Religious Violence, 486.

disrupted the OKKKK. During the Federal Hearings in September, Saxon Farmer told the Judge Christenberry that the Klan and ACCA had destroyed all records after the FBI “continued to come to our homes day and night and ask the same questions.”76 Little did he know that during the Bogalusa crisis, COINTELPRO agents had also sent a letter from a "long time customer" to the company where the leader of the Bogalusa Klan worked, protesting against Klan violence and threatening to launch a boycott of the company’s products.77 Meanwhile, the Louisiana Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American Activities cleared the KKK of any responsibility for violence in Louisiana, calling it a "political action group" with "a certain Halloween spirit." The Klan, they found, was "designed to express frustrations with the current national administration."78 On July 19, however, using information acquired through FBI intelligence, the Justice Department had sued the Original Knights, the ACCA and 38 individual Klansmen.79 Farmer was forced to produce a list of Klansmen in September and by November, rank and file members of Farmer’s Klan would be criticizing the leadership for having cooperated with the inquiry.80

In late August, the chief of police in nearby Franklinton provided the FBI with license plate numbers for vehicles driven by Klansmen. State police showed up at Klan meetings to demonstrate that they were aware of Klan activities. The presence of State Police, as well as FBI agents who took photographs of Klansmen at desegregation marches and picketing, as well as courthouse voter registration facilities, forced Klansmen to refrain from public intimidation and

76 AP, “Bogalusan Says Klan Destroyed Its Records,” Washington Post, 10 September 1965, A4. 77 New Orleans to Director, 7/1/65, 11/15/65; Director to New Orleans 7/13/65.78 Report, State of Louisiana, Joint Legislative Committee on Un-American Activities, Activites of the ‘Ku Klux Klan’ and certain other organizations in Louisiana, 26 July, 1965. available at www.foia.fbi.gov/kkk.htm. See Part 3c, 18-59. 79 United States v. Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan et. al.,, 250 Fed. Supp. 330 (1965), reprinted in HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2475-251980 AP, “Klan Titan Lists More members,” Washington Post, 12 September 1965, A9; New Orleans to Director, 11/15/65.

violence.81 During the fall 1965?, an IRS judgment required the ACCA to furnish receipts and pay taxes on an automobile raffle after FBI agents alerted the tax authorities that the Klan had collected money. This caused consternation among Klansmen. Klansmen also lost the use of a local Disabled American Veterans hall, after a New Orleans TV exposé.82 [To confirm rumors that one Bogalusa Klan officer had communist affiliations, agents took out a subscription to the People’s World in his name.83]

In January 1966, white union members in Bogalusa voted better than three to one for an agreement to dovetail white and black seniority lists at Crown Zellerbach.84 By then, the New Orleans Special Agent in charge could report that the OKKKK membership was in a state of consternation. Klansmen were becoming agitated because fellow members were failing to show up for Klavern meetings. Suspicion arose that particular Klansmen were informing to the FBI. One Klansman was threatened to shoot a FBI agent who trespassed on his property.85 RECHECK PREVIOUS NOTES HERE This did not mean however, that racial violence ended. On July 30 Clarence Triggs, who had recently joined civil rights protests in Bogalusa was shot and killed in his automobile. Citing the existence of their fingerprints inside Trigg’s car, police arrested two white men, but they were acquitted at trial and the case remains unsolved.86

81 FBI Informant Report, 8/5/66 and SA to Inspector, 8/7/65, UKA File, Section 23, 158, 179; New Orleans Report, 8/25/65 and Informant reports, [date deleted], 8/26/65, 8/31/65, UKA File, Section 24, p30, 50-62, 105-106, 117 128, 196.82 ???83 ew Orleans to Director, 10/1/65; Director to New Orleans 10/8/65?84 “Union Links Both Races in Bogalusa,” Washington Post, 6 January 1966, A2. 85 The Klansman had told FBI interviewers that he had worked in Hollywood, where he had associated with a co-worker who might have had communist associations. The People’s World was a West Coast communist publication. New Orleans to Director, 10/1/65, 10/4/65, 11/15/65, 1/4/66; Director to New Orleans, 10/8/65, 9/2/66. HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2450-2451, 2609-2625; Fairclough, Race and Democracy, 372-375; Newton KKK Encyclopedia, 59, 192.86 Apparantly, the FBI did not investigate. Bullard, Free at Last, 89.

New Orleans agents now attempted to disrupt the activities of a leading OKKKK recruiter, a Shreveport based Klan officer who was responsible for “organizing and strengthening” Klan units throughout Louisiana.87 The recruiter worked for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, which had been commissioned by the Veteran’s Administration to inspect houses for a VA home-loans program, and the VA had authorized him as an inspector. Hoping to preclude any further associations, and to convince the recruiter to act as an informant, the Bureau alerted the VA and Metropolitan Life, about his Klan recruiting activities. 88 The recruiter did not lose his commission, but he did have difficulty securing any additional “productive employment interest.”89

After the FBI “fed” information acquired by an informant, to the local Sheriff’s office, two Klansmen were arrested on charges of kidnapping.90 Slidell Louisiana Klansman John Gipson resigned from the Pearl River Klavern and turned states evidence in the resulting flogging case. Klavern membership dropped off as a result. Gipson also confirmed that two church arsons had been committed by his associates, and testified about Klan violence before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC).91 Gipson described the procedures of the Oscar Anderson led Klan “wrecking crew,” how it had gone about burning churches and, in July 1964, whipping Clarence O’Berry, a white boy accused of drinking and not taking care of his family. He also provided the names of Pearl River klavern officers.92

87 Director to New Orleans, 1/11/66; New Orleans to Director, 1/27/66.88 Ibid; New Orleans to Director, 3/23/66; Director to New Orleans, 10/12/66, 11/17/66.89 New Orleans to Director, 9/20/66.90 Ibid.91 Ibid; Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 230; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2617-2620, 2622-2623.92 HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2609-2616; “Ex-Klansman Details Church Burning in LA.,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 12 January 1966, 1; “La. Youth Testifies Of Burning, Beating,” Baton Rouge State Times, 11 January 1966, 1; James A. haswell, “Ex-Klansman Tells of Church Burnings and Belt-Whipping,” Shreveport Times, 12 January 1966, 2-A.

"The Klansman in charge," presumably Pearl River Klavern leader Ewell W. Rowley, became a "nervous wreck."93

In September, hearings arising out of the Justice Department suit, based on a massive FBI investigation, revealed that Bogalusa City attorney Robert Rester and several auxiliary policemen were or had been Klan members. On December 10, shots were fired into the home of Robert Hicks, a black leader active in the Bogalusa Civic and Voters League. Federal authorities finally responded with sweeping injunctions barring Klansmen from inerfering with Court orders and the exercise of civil rights by blacks in Washington Parish. [OK injunction: sytematic eco coercion, intim and phys violnce to frustrate natl policy expressed in cr leg-vote/use pub facilities/accomodaitons/equal employment opps. Nationa has proper interest in preserving the integgrity of its judicial system, in prevent K interference w ct orders, and make meaningful both nationally created and nationally guaranteed civil rights.exploited hate nd vio. admitted this, so list of members and officers admissable, not precluded by rights to associate freely. dummy front ACCA assn. conspiracy against society. not leaders in or rep of community but ignorant bullies, callous and lacking in sufficient understanding to comprehend the chasm between their own twisted Konstitution and the noble charter of liberties under law that is the AM const. legal tol of secret societies must cease at point where members assume supra-govtmental poweres and take law own hands.94] The frequent acquittals of local Klansmen, coupled with vigorous prosecution of black civil rights activists also prompted contempt proceedings against Bogalusa law

93 New Orleans to Director, 1/4/66. Rowley was identified as the unit leader by HUAC investigators. HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2552.94 United States v. Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, 250 F. Supp. 330 (E.D. La. 1965). Reprinted in Church Hearings, Vol 6, 843-869.

enforcement authorities and criminal charges against a Deputy Sheriff.95

In January 1966 U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach announced that the Justice Department would act forcefully to register blacks and crack down on intimidation and harassment before the fall elections. Cited land owners who tried to evict negroes who went to register in West Feliciana against whom a federal case has been brought.96 Informants reported that OKKKK leaders, fearful of police pressure and anticipating more federal pressure, had told their Klansmen to avoid violent activity and to keep their financial records straight.97 Even literature distribution was curtailed for fear that police would make arrests for littering. In March 1966, the FBI disseminated information to the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations that an employee at a "key facility under the responsibility of the US Air Force" was a Klansman.98

The OKKKK, then, was beset with legal troubles, disruption, factionalism and membership loss between 1964 and 1967. By Autumn 1966, when the integration of Bogalusa Jr High School precipitated interracial fights, and armed Deacons forced armed Klansmen to back down, the groups was a shadow of it’s former self.99 In August 1965, New Orleans FBI agents estimated the total membership of all three Original Knights factions, including women and units in Arkansas, to total 1000-1200 members.100 An OKKKK rally led by Monroe Klansman George Bonner in Mangham that month had 95 Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 59-60; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2450-2520, 2529-2531, 2580, 3821; O’Reilly, Racial Matters, 205; Fairclough, Race and Democracy, 356-375. For a list of former OKKK members and ACCA members submitted to the court by Farmer and Christmas at this time, see HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2467-2469.96 AP, “Night Riders Can expect U.S. Agents--Katzenbach,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 3 January 1966, 3:6. 97 New Orleans report, 11/30/65, UKA file, Section 27, 110; Informant reports [date deleted], 1/31/66, 1/8/66, 2/3/66 2/1/66 and FBI memorandum, [date deleted] Section 24, 202, Section 27, p. 82, 73, Section 28, 126, 134, 133-134.98 New Orleans to Director, 3/31/66; Director to New Orleans, 4/26/66.99 Hill, Deacons of Defense, 1-2. 100 New Orleans report, 8/7/65, UKA File, Section 23, 10.

drawn 250 spectators, but the dwindling unit was unable to sign up any new members that fall.101 From a peak of 1000 active Klansmen in 1964, membership had plunged to no more than 250 by spring 1966, divided among the three factions.102 Much of this diminution had been facilitated by COINTELPRO.

COINTELPRO-UKA

Yet violence continued. 2/6/66, black home bombed in Zachary LA, just n of Baton Rouge.103 3/11 black army captain shot in the neck by a sniper. 2 whites charged.104 4/2/66 bombs at swimming pools scheduled for integration in Baton Rouge.105

As mentioned above, Robert Shelton's Alabama based United Klans continued to grow-at the expense of the Original Knights-during late 1965-1966. UKA Grand Dragon J. M. Edwards, based in Jonesboro, recruited in Washington Parish and other parts of eastern Louisiana. Saxon Farmer spoke at a UKA rally in Poplarville Mississippi during the height of the Bogalusa disturbances, and after the December injunctions, he and his Bogalusa Klansmen joined the UKA, which soon became Washington Parish's dominant Klan. The spring 1965 acquisition of Houston P. Morris’s Monroe Klansmen, was another coup. By October 1965, the UKA had also become the dominant faction in the New Orleans area.106 Six months later, in March 1966, FBI agents would tabulate 483 UKA members in Louisiana. One UKA rally in April,

101 New Orleans report, 11/30/65, UKA file, Section 27, 42, 45.102 New Orleans to Director, 4/26/66. HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2609-2625; Director, to New Orleans 4/26/66. A list of Original Knights and UKA Klaverns existing during 1965, appears in HUAC, Activities of KKK, 1588-1589. As of early 1967, membership numbers remained at about this level. HUAC, Present Day KKK, 32; Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 356.103 Newton, Racial and Religious Violence, 491. 104 Newton, Racial and Religious Violence, 491. 105 Newton, Racial and Religious Violence, 491. 106 HUAC, Present Day KKK, 31, 152; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2463; Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 192.

drew 1000 people.107 A rally near baton Rouge in late April 1966, drew 1800-2200.108 30 klaverns at one time or another 64-66. In January 1967, 700 UKA.109

COINTELPRO operations related to the UKA began in April 1965, when FBI agents visited a Klansman on a pretext. They proceeded to make an immediate telephone call, to the local police department, advising the police about plans for a cross burning, which they had acquired from an informant. The telephone was on a rural, party line. Other Klansmen assumed that it was the interviewee who had provided the agents with their information. Not only were the cross burnings canceled, the Klansman whom the agents had visited, was effectively framed as an informant.110

Two months later, the Government Printing Office prepared a photo engraved plate for the FBI that allowed it to manufacture UKA business cards for use in informant penetration.111 During the summer and early fall, as new informants worked to gain the confidence of their fellows, the New Orleans office field office agents refrained from directly disrupting the UKA.112 They did, however mail out cartoon-postcards from Baton Rouge, which portrayed Klan leaders spending Klavern dues on drink and women, to 17 selected Klansmen.113

107 New Orleans to Director, 11/15/65; 3/8/66; New Orleans Informant Report, 4/13/66, UKA File, Section 29, p. 38. 108 SAC Report, 9/29/66, in personal archive of FIOA researcher Ernest Lazar. http://ernie1241.googlepages.com/home109 HUAC, Present-Day KKK, 37, 62. 110 New Orleans to Director, 4/5/65.111 The bureau produced one hundred such cards. Director, to New Orleans, March 12 and June 28, 1965; New Orleans to Director, March 16, 1965; Baumgardner to Sullivan April 9, 1965 (New Orleans file), Griffith to Conrad May 19 and June 15, 1965, (New Orleans file); J. Edgar Hoover to Government Printing Office, June 16, 1965 (Section 1), Belmont to Tolson, Aug. 31, 1965 (Section 1; Baumgardner to Sullivan Oct. 1, 1965 (Section 1). 112 New Orleans to Director, 7/7/65. On July 27 a bomb damaged the CORE office in New Orleans. Bombs wrecked a black nightclub in Baton Rouge in August. Newton, Racial and Religious Violence, 485, 487. 113 Baumgardner to Sullivan, 4/20/66, and postcards (Section 1); New Orleans to Director, 9/6/66, 10/24/66.

The FBI also mailed out letters inviting Klansmen to join “The National Committee for Domestic Tranquillity.” The NCDT was, in counterintelligence parlance, a "notional organization." Ostensibly made up of former Klansmen who had seen the light, this Christian, patriotic, anti-Communist organization was dedicated to exposing the duplicity and immorality of Klan leaders. The NCDT letters portrayed the United Klans of America as unconscious agents of the international communist conspiracy. Klan violence, according to the communications, disturbed the domestic tranquillity, giving aid and comfort to the Communist cause. In spring 1966, the FBI sent two NCDT recruiting letters to Klansmen whom it hoped to draw away from the Klan. 114

During the fall, agents continued to collect intelligence on the defection of various OKKKK units to the UKA, the size of UKA rallies, ACCA boycotts and other activity, as well as to interview Klansmen to obtain information on the O’Neal Moore killing the previous June.115 The UKA organized units across the border in Arkansas during this period. One rally in September 1965 attracted 2500-3000 people. Robert Shelton’s acquisition of 150 Klansmen, however, was never considered significant enough to warrant significant COINTELPRO operations in that state 116

In September, a FBI informant advised his handler that an delivery of an ultimatum to expel a particular Klansman, had been discussed at a recent UKA meeting. Another Klansman was suspected

114 Baumgardner to Sullivan, 3/10/66 (Section 1), 5/4/66 (Section1); Director, to Atlanta and 19 other offices 4/20/66 (Section 1). For an analysis of NCDT discourse, see John Drabble, "To Ensure Domestic Tranquillity," Journal of American Studies, 38:3 (August 2004): 297-328.115 UKA File, Section 25-26. 116 Informant report, 9/22/65, UKA file, Section 25, 95. Robert Shelton’s acquisition of 150 Klansmen, however, was never considered significant enough to warrant significant COINTELPRO operations in Arkansas. Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 23; COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE, Little Rock field office file.

of talking to police.117 Three UKA informants came to be "held in high esteem by their fellow Klansmen."118 By November, the Special Agent in Charge of New Orleans could advise FBI headquarters that his office planned to gain "the ultimate in control" during the next UKA election.119

In January 1966, as the House American Activities Committee interrogated Louisiana OKKKK and UKA officers, Governor McKiethen announced that the FBI had informed him that 2500 Klan members were operating in Louisiana.120 He offered an opinion that most Louisiana Klansmen were “misguided people who think they are patriotic Americans,” and that only a few, without “any direction from higher-ups,” were “given to violence.”121 Beginning in October 1965, the Committee published officer lists, information about Klan finance, and evidence of criminal activity by Klan members.122 HUAC: conflict, split, robe sales, Swenson against intimidation in 63 cross burnings, financial squabbles, record burning and purge. Willis produced checks from Klan bank account cashed by Swenson. Klavern locations. OK witnesses too identified leaders.123 Terrorism in Bog and Blumb and

117 Talk of expulsions was also raised within the Original Knights, as Klansmen in both groups worried about informant activity. Informant reports, 8/17/65, 9/3/65, 9/20/65, UKA File, Section 23, p. 4, Section 24, p. 234-236, Section 25, p. 11; New Orleans reports, 11/8/65, 11/30/65, Section 26, p. 37, Section 27, p. 31, 41-42, 53. 118 New Orleans to Director, 11/15/65.119 Ibid120 “McKiethen Discusses State Racial Issues,” Baton Rouge State Times, 15 January 1966, 10A. 121 Daniel Rapoport,” “Probers Showing Klan Adversely-McKeithen,” Shreveport Times, 16 january 1966, 14A. 122 HUAC, Activities of KKK, 1542-1543, 1544, 1586, 1584-1585, 1588-1589, 1594-1596, 2334-2647, 2665, 2678, 3045, 3512, 3577, 3598-3599, 3856-3859, 3862, 3864, 3867-3883, 3891-3892. 123 “Former Klansman Tells of Bowing Out in 1964,” Shreveport Times, 5 January 1966, 2-A; “Probe bares Klan Squabble,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 5 January 1966, 6; “Klan Leader Mum During House Probe,” and “Louisiana men Called to Testify,” Baton Rouge State Times, 4 January 1966, 1; Sam A. Hanna, “Klan Probers Told of Bitter Feuds, Burned Records,” and UPI, “State Klan Chies Accused of Lining Pockets with Dues,” Shreveport Times, 5 January 1966, 1; .

MM Dewey Bernard Smith.124 In the wake of the Hearings, Klan membership in southern Louisiana declined.125

Helm shared platform in Philadelphia w MIBURN defendants. Lloyd H. Barnette of Algiers as GT southern LA. Restor/Saxon denials that K organizer. B. J. Saucier of Monroe id’d as head Coushatta unit, Willis J. Kidd as head Schwartz unit. Unit locations.126 Hayes-Bumberg.127 Cover names.128 Bumberg and Wrecking crew, gun sales Lee.129 Lee.130 Express amusement at Klan lit that supports constitution as originally written.(not reconstruciton amendments.131

Robert Shelton accused the Committee of trying to intimidate future witnesses by threatening to cite them for Contempt of Congress if they to, refuse to disclose Klan records, expressing “contempt . . . toward the gestapo tactics and vicious half-truths and lying innuendos voiced by the power-drunk committee staff.”132

In South Louisiana, many klansmen dropped away as a result of the hearings.133 Unhappy about the amount of information that HUAC had obtained, Louisiana UKA officers tightened security at all Klan meetings. In order to restrict informant activity, Klavern meetings were closed to Klansmen from other units. Some Klansmen believed, however, this move was actually “political,” aimed at influencing the upcoming Klan elections in March.134 In February, one district leader admonished his Klansmen for “loose talk,” and warned them to file 124 Sam A. Hanna, “Klan Probers Cite Terrorist tactics in Bogalusa Strife,” Shreveport Times, 5 January 1966, 1. 125 James K. Batten, “Once Robust Klan is Clearly Ailing,” Charlotte Observer, 27 February 1966, 1. 126 “L.A. Men Silent at Klan Probe,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 8 January 1966, 1; “N. O. Klan Orator Is Mute on Stand,” Baton Rouge State Times 7 January 1966, 1; “Says Klan Strength is Exaggerated,” Baton Rouge State Times, 8 January 1966, 1; J.M. haswell,” “Prober Doubts 4,000 Klan Members Exist in Bogalusa,” Shreveport Times, 8 January 1966, 1. 127 “Klan death Threat Told at Hearing,” Baton Rouge State Times, 5 January 1966, 1. 128 UPI, Several ‘Cover’ Names of La. KKK Revealed,” Baton Rouge State-Times, 5 January 1966, 13A. 129 “Bogalusa Witnesses Mum on Klan Action,” Baton Rouge State-Times, 6 January 1966, 1; James Haswell, “Sales of Scores of Guns to Alleged Klan Officials Cited in House Hearing,” Shreveport Times, 7 January 1966, 1. 130 “N.O. Klan Orator.” 131 “House Probers Amused by LA. Klan Literature,” Baton Rouge State-Times, 6 January 1966, 12A.132 Haswell, “Prober Doubts.” 133 James K. Batten, “Once Robust Klan is Clearly Ailing,” Charlotte Observer, 27 February 1966.

their income tax forms in a proper manner.135 Also that month, an infiltrator using one of the counterfeit UKA cards, who had written to a Klan recruiter in Hodge Louisiana, was contacted by the Klan unit in Baton Rouge.136 Bureau agents, meanwhile, continued to identify more Klansmen for their files.137

Amid infighting, attendance fell at a number of UKA meetings that month.138 Moreover, soon after the HUAC hearings ended, the UKA national office banished Louisiana Grand Dragon James Malcolm Edwards. Edwards, it seems, had believed that the Louisiana UKA would be given an easy time by the Committee, and wrote letters to HUAC that welcomed the investigation. Jack Helm, a New Orleans based Citizens Council activist and UKA state vice president, replaced him.139 The FBI reported to the Attorney General that high-level informants were responsible for defeating “notoriously militant incumbent leaders.” As a result, a UKA leader had removed a Klan official and, since he hadn't been replaced, this contributed to disorganization and disruption of the Realm.140

According to HUAC investigators, Helm had warned of an imminent Communist takeover, telling a Poplarville, Mississippi crowd that “No congressional investigation will ever deteriorate this organization. We’ll still be here when they are dead and buried-and I hope it will be soon.”141

At the HUAC hearings, Rep. John Buchanen warned Helm, 134 New Orleans Office Informant Report, February 2, 1966, UKA File, Section 28, p. 27-32.135 Informant report, 2/2/66, UKA File, Section 27, p. 99.136 New Orleans to Director, 3/31/66.137 Ibid, February 3, 1966.138 Informant reports, 2/2/66, 2/3/66, 1/18/66, UKA File, Section 27, p. 96, 99, 113, 117-119, 121. 139 HUAC, Present Day KKK, 31; Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 181; Haswell, Prober Doubts”; HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2650-2651.140 Report, Director, FBI to Attorney General, December 19, 1967, KU KLUX KLAN INVESTIGATIONS FBI ACCOMPLISHMENTS. Reprinted in Church, Hearings, Vol 6, 523.141 HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2588.

If this is your attitude, there are forces in this country that have for a long time tried to destroy this committee and the vital function it fulfills for the Congres and the American people, and I would predict if the Ku Klux Klan joins hands with the Communist Party to detroy this committee that you will be unsucessful in that endeavor.

Yet Helm was facing problems, including the loss of his job.142 The Fiery Cross, alleged that HUAC investigators also pressured Helm’s employer into firing him by threatening to cancel government contracts. Louisiana Congressmen Hale Boggs and J. H. Morrison, according to the allegation, "made a special flight to Louisiana" to offer Helm the security of his job if he would "sing."143 [Klan bitterly opposed to Rep, Hale Boggs, who voted for VR Bill.144]

During the hearings, someone threw a home made bomb into the vestibule during services in a Baptist church in Gretna, continuing an eighteen-month campaign of vandalism that police had dismissed as “pranks” with no racial implications.145 Hundreds of fiery crosses blazed through East Baton Rouge, Ascension, Livingston and Tangipahoa Parishes.146 About 600 people attended a UKA rally led by fifty robed Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas Klansmen.147 Ralph Blumberg testified before HUAC, that despite federal court action and a

142 Ibid., 2593.143 "Congressmen Swayed on Contempt of UKA" Fiery Cross, February 1966, in The Right Wing Collection of the University of Iowa Libraries, 1918-1977, [microform] (Glenn Rock NJ, 1978) (Hereafter cited as RWCUIL), Reel 51:F16. Helm worked for the L. P. Smith Construction Company, in New Orleans. HUAC, Activities of KKK, 2587. In April, Helm was suspended from his position as head of the largest Draft Board in Louisiana, a position he had held since 1957, after a successful campaign by the NAACP. James E. Westheider, Fighting on Two Fronts: African Americans and the War in Vietnam, (New York: New York University Press, 1997), 25.144 Also opposed Sen. Russell Long and supported Sen. Allen Ellender. Drew Pearson, “Factors Underlying Klan Influence,” Washington Post, 22 October 1965, D15;145 “Bomb Damages Gretna Church,” New Orlean Times-Picayune, 19 January 1966, 1; AP, “Bomb Blast Hits Church at Orleans,” Shreveport Times, 19 January 1966, 5-A; “Church ‘Bomb’ Case Explained,” idem, 20 January 1966, 27.146 “Rash of Fiery Crosses Reported in 4 Parishes,” Baton Rouge State Times, 8 January 1966, 6A; UPI, “Crosses Burn in Wide Area of Louisiana,” Shreveport Times, 8 January 1966, 5B. 147 “Klan Bids for Members At Rally South of LSU,” Baton Rouge State Times, 10 January 1966, 5A; AP, “Klan Holds Rally Near Baton Rouge,” Shreveport Times, 9 January 1966, 14-A; “600 Attend Rally,” Shreveport Times, 10 January 1966, 4-C.

struggle for free speech by some residents of the city, the Bogalusa Klan had not been dislodged from it’s influence in Bogalusa city government.148 Only a couple of weeks later, five crosses were burned at a Bogalusa Baptist church, where a protest rally was going on.149 A. Z. Young responded with a warning during a rally that if any more crosses were burned in Black neighborhoods, “We shall strike a match to you, baby,” drawing loud applause.150

A few days later, Caddo deputies investigated a cross burning in the Southern Hills addition of Shreveport, and two Jefferson County youths were arrested for burning a cross and sending a threatening letter near Little Farm.151 Two deputy sheriffs and a Bogalusa police detective were arraigned in federal court, charged with violating a federal court order requiring police to protect Negroes and civil rights workers in Bogalusa, by beating two blacks.152 Joint FBI-police operations also continued. After learning the identity of Klansmen who had sprayed acid on cars in black neighborhoods a year earlier, for example, New Orleans agents informed a local sheriff.153 In February, Klan leaders admonished Klansmen that they should not succumb to law enforcement pressure, which was causing serious disruption. Believing that the sheriff’s office had bugged Klan meetings, one

148 HUAC, Activities, X; “Klan Death Threat Told at Hearing,” Baton Rouge State Times, 5 January 1966, 1; Sam A. Hanna, “Klan Probers Cite Terrorist Tactics in Bogalusa Strife,” Shreveport Times, 5 January 1966, 1; AP, “House Probe Told Klan in Bogalusa Remains Powerful,” Shreveport Times, 6 January 1966, 1; “Bogalusa Witnesses Mum on Klan Action,” Baton Rouge State-Times, 6 January 1966, 1; AP, “KKK Still Grips Bogalusa, View,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 6 January 1966, 6. 149 “Negro March Slated in Bogalusa Today,” Baton Rouge State Times, 28 January 1966, 10-A. 150 UPI, “Bogalusa Rights Chief warns Cross Burners,” Shreveport Times, 29 January 1966, 19-C. 151 The letter had falsely claimed Klan affiliation. “Cross Burning is Investigated,” Shreveport Times, 30 January 1966, 8-B; “Cross Burning Brings Arrests,” New Orlean Times-Picayune, 27 January 1966, 16. 152 UPI, “Bogalusa Men Face Charges in Beating,” Baton Rouge State –Times, 4 January 1966, 6A. They pleaded innocent. “3 Officers Enter Innocent Pleas in Beating Case,” Baton Rouge State-Times, 6 January 1966, 6B; UPI, “Bogalusa Injunction Briefs Are Studied,” Baton Rouge State Times, 17 January 1966, 10-A. 153 LHM, FBI, New Orleans to Secret Service et al, “Spraying of Cars. . .” and Airtel, New Orleans to Director, (dates deleted), Section 28, 54-55 in UKA-New Orleans File, (FBI File 105-1057), FOIA.

leader advised Klansmen to cease activities for a few weeks.154 In April, the Bureau alerted local authorities that Klansmen planned to burn crosses throughout the state, and police made a number of arrests.155

In response to Committee findings, Louisiana newspapers published editorials and cartoons ridiculing and condemning the Klan.156 The Louisiana Civil Liberties Union wired Governor McKiethen, urging state action against Klan violence. The Governor responded that the State had already indicted several persons in the Slidell flogging case.157 Louisiana State University and the Baton Rouge Better Business Bureau prevented a student from selling Klan medallions.158 Two Monroe UKA members were convicted of attempted aggravated rape of a 13 year old black girl.159 Paranoia wracked the Original Knights, members of which had been interrogated in an arson investigation. Threats were made that informers would be killed. UKA Klansmen picketed to demand a Grand Jury investigation of police brutality.160 On June, 5 UKA Klansmen were indicted for a series of firebombings against a church, two residences and an automobile in New Orleans in 1965.161

In May, to prevent the formation of a UKA Klavern in Hammond Louisiana, a FBI handler directed one of his informants to facilitate a 154 New Orleans Office Informant Reports, 2/8/66(quotes), 2/28/66, 3/3/66, Section 28 61-63, 102-105, 115-116, Section 29, 55, in UKA-New Orleans File, (FBI File 105-1057), FIOA. 155 Director to Attorney General, 12/19/67, reprinted in Church Committee, Hearings, Vol. 6, 516-527. 156 Editorial, “Laughter is Killing the Klan, Lake Charles American Press, 10 January 1966, 4; Cartoons, “The Fifth,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 16, January 1966 2, and “Ku Ku Kluxing,” idem 20 January 1966, 18. 157 “LCLU Asks Klan Violence Halted,” New Orlean Times-Picayune, 14 January 1966, 8; “State Already Acted on KKK Violence, Governor,” New Orlean Times-Picayune, 15 January 1966, 2. 158 “Klan Medallion salesman Quits Business Here,” Baton Rouge State-Times, 7 January 1966, 8-A.159 “Find White Men Guilty of rape try on Negro,” Baton Rouge State-Times, 8 January 1966, 3-A. 160 LHM, 3/23/66, Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, in Ibid, 195; Informant report, 4/26/66, Section 29, p. 68.161 Lester Dickerson, William E. Cross Jr., James S. Reynolds, Lloyd Barnette, Nicholas E. Glover, and Donald Cross. “Jury Indicts 6 in fire Blasts,” New orleans Times-Picayune, 22 June 1966, 1; HUAC, Activities, 2593.

situation whereby a particular Exalted Cyclops (local unit leader) would appear to be a police informant.162 Meanwhile, up North, Monroe police arrested three members of the College Unit Klavern on May 1, after receiving a tip from FBI?. To influence the UKA administration in the area, a Monroe Klan leader was warned by FBI? that a federal conspiracy prosecution would ensue, unless he dismissed one of his officers, located in Province 5. In fact, no violation of federal law was involved and the agents threatened the Klan leader, simply to bring pressure upon his officer. FBI informants confirmed that the Klan leader became worried about the prospect of a conspiracy case. In the last week of May, the officer in question was told to step down. Despite his attempt to win a vote of confidence by the Klansmen in Province 5, the officer was appointed to a powerless position.163

By this time, FBI informants had provoked a full-blown split in Louisiana. An opposition faction had gained power during the March UKA elections, by exploiting the issue of missing UKA records. The incumbents had claimed that the records had been stolen, but the opposition became convinced that the leadership had hid them to prevent the opposition candidates from inspecting them. The incumbents, in turn, accused the opposition of stealing the records. Sixteen of the UKA’s 34 units pulled out to form an independent Klan group. The attempt to form a new independent Klan group was a complete failure. By October, the organization consisted of only one unit.164

In fact, the FBI had acquired the missing Klan records by conducting a surreptitious entry. Illegal, such burglaries were conducted by specially trained squads of Bureau agents.165 In this 162 New Orleans to Director, 5/18/66; Director, to New Orleans, 5/25/66 .163 New Orleans to Director, 5/6/66, 6/10/66, 7/1/66. 164 One unit returned to the UKA fold. The others had ceased to exist. Director to Attorney General, 12/19/67, reprinted in Church Committee, Hearings, Vol. 6, 516-527; New Orleans to Director, 10/24/66.165 Athan Theoharis and John Stuart Cox, The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition, (Philadelphia, 1988), 11-15; Frank Donner, The Age of

case, the agents obtained an index of Klan officers and members throughout Louisiana, and lists of active UKA units along with their records, by entering a room at the Francis Hotel in Monroe. This included information regarding, for each unit, the status of dues payments to State and national offices, the number of voting delegates, monthly reports, locations of bank accounts, and financial records.166 Black Bag Job Procedures and Klan Black Bag Job for LA.167 A memorandum contained in the highly-secret "Do Not File" file, located in J. Edgar Hoover's personal office, reveals that:

[The Bureau] obtained records in possession of three high-ranking officials of a Klan organization in Louisiana. These records gave us the complete membership and financial information concerning the Klan's operation which we have been using most effectively to disrupt the organization and, in fact, to bring about its near disintegration.168

As agents instructed informants to demand a turnover of records from the incumbents, a policeman interested in Klan activity received a copy of them in the mail. New Orleans agents had secretly mailed the documents to him, from Ruston Louisiana.169

FBI counterintelligence operations had created the impression that the former leadership had panicked and mailed them to free themselves of an IRS investigation. As a result, suspicion had grown, even among members of the loyalist faction. On September 27, 1966

Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America’s Political Intelligence System, (New York, 1981), 12, 130-132. 166 Brennan to Sullivan, 7/23/69 in FBI Wiretaps, Bugs and Break-ins,” (Frederick: University Press of America, ) Reel 2, Frame 787-789.167 Sullivan to DeLoach, 7/16/66, Do Not File, in Alexander Charnes Papers, Collection #4866, Series 8, Folder 413, Southern History Collection, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.168 Sullivan to DeLoach, 7/19/66, reprinted in Athan Theoharis ed. From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover; (Chicago, 1991), 129. 169 New Orleans to Director, 10/24/66.

Monroe Police Chief James C. Kelley issued a news media release concerning his receipt of Klan records, announcing that the records indicated that Louisiana UKA had no more than 800 dues paying members. The Associated Press carried the news nationwide, in a 14 column long story. The policeman forwarded a thirty-page summary report on the documents, to all law enforcement officers who requested it, and to the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He also embarked on an anti-Klan speaking tour, appearing before civic and law enforcement groups as well as associations of police intelligence officers. The following month, he made an additional news release to local newspapers, enumerating acts of violence committed by Klansmen in the Monroe area.170 The widespread publicity surrounding these events, “caused tremendous dissension, disillusionment, and internal strife” among Klansmen.171

In order to aggravate this situation, the Washington DC FBI field office had mailed out National Park Service and Chamber of Commerce travel brochures for the District of Columbia, in August, to seventy-five Northeast Louisiana Klansmen. FBI agents underlined the hours when Congress would be in session and enclosed the brochures in a folder stating “For your comfort and guidance during your trip to Washington.172 Recipients concluded that the FBI had sent the brochures and that their Klan membership had been exposed.

170 New Orleans to Director, 7/20/66, 10/24/66; AP, “Monroe Police Posess Secret LA. Klan Records,” Baton Rouge State Times, 28 September 1966, 13-E.171 New Orleans to Director, 1/18/67.172 Baumgardner to Sullivan 8/8/66 (New Orleans file). See also, Director, to WFO 7/24/66, 8/19/66.

Klansmen lost interest in Klan activities, and Klan membership numbers declined.173

Around the same time, New Orleans agents had sent a letter to the Assistant Grand Dragon at his State Office.174 The letter commended [7], a Monroe based Klan officer for his interest in the "National Committee for Domestic Tranquility" and offered him a leadership position in the organization. It thanked him for the "analysis of the Louisiana situation" that he had furnished "through our mutual friend in Virginia."175

A second NCDT letter, sent in May, had asked Klansmen “to return to a Christian life and give up the Klan.”176 This letter upset an officer of the UKA Klavern in Tallulah, and Bastrop unit UKA members began to suspect that two Klansmen who had not received the letter were FBI informants.177 This third NCDT communication endeavored to achieve similar results, but it was also used as part of the concurrent operation to frame a Monroe Klan officer named Windham, as a police informant. 178 Elected to office during the March controversy, he was regarded by FBI agents as “the most energetic, devoted and competent Klansman in the UKA organization in Louisiana.”179

Windham fell under heavy suspicion. He protested that the letter was "some kind of mistake."180 Subsequently, FBI agents sent a brief

173 New Orleans to Director, 11/30/66, 10/24/66.174 New Orleans to Director, 7/6/66, 7/12/66.175 [7] denotes a seven character long bureau deletion, ie. The Klansman’s last name has seven characters in it. Director to New Orleans, 7/19/66; Baumgardner to Sullivan 8/8/66 (first of two in the New Orleans File). The NCDT is discussed above.176 Baumgardner to Sullivan, 5/4/66 (Section1).177 New Orleans to Director, 10/24/66.178 Director to New Orleans, 7/19/66; Baumgardner to Sullivan, 10/11/66.179 Director to New Orleans, 10/24/66.180 New Orleans to Director, 8/26/66.

note, again referring to "mutual interest" and the friend in Virginia.181 It offered the recipient a leadership position as a representative of the NCDT in Louisiana's Fifth Congressional District. The operation succeeded. Fellow Klansmen became convinced that he was an informant. On September 5, a "furious" argument took place at a meeting of twenty Fifth Province Exalted Cyclopses in West Monroe, after [4] accused [7] of informing and releasing information. FBI agents worked to further a burgeoning split, which worsened as each of two Klan leaders attempted to solicit support from other UKA members, in anticipation of a Klan trial.182 Completely disillusioned, [7] submitted his resignation in mid-September. The College Unit #566 Klavern, with which he had been affiliated, broke from UKA.183 Windham and four other Klansmen got drunk, and “attempted to maliciously destroy a Negro’s automobile.”184 Windham was arrested, and pleading guilty to malicious destruction, paid a fine.185 By October, [7] was a “broken and disillusioned individual,” who had also lost his job for having distributed 'un-American' Klan literature. 186

The Sterlington #552 and Brownsville #553 Klaverns completely disbanded. The NCDT letters had convinced leaders of both units to stop paying dues to a Klan organization that could not maintain secrecy of membership, and the units dissolved.187 Moreover, the continual suspicion of Klan leaders and Klan members exhibited by [3, 181 NCDT note, attached to New Orleans to Director, 8/26/66, 10/4/66; Director to New Orleans, 9/7/66.182 New Orleans to Director, 9/16/66.183 New Orleans to Director, 10/4/66, 10/7/66.184 Baumgardner to Sullivan, 10/11/66.185 Ibid186 New Orleans to Director, 10/7/66.187 Agents predicted that the College unit #566 would also soon dissolve. New Orleans to Director, 9/20/66, 10/7/66.

5] had led both of them to believe that [5] was intentionally causing trouble in order to break up the Klan.”188 The College Unit #566, with which Windham had been affiliated, was also on the verge of dissolving.189

The multiple operations launched by New Orleans FBI agents between March and October, caused tremendous dissension, disillusionment and internal strife. According to one FBI informant, the security failure within the Louisiana UKA, would soon result in “the destruction of the UKA as an effective Klan organization” in Louisiana.

To recount, in March 1966, there had been thirty-four UKA units in Louisiana. In a failed attempt to create an independent Klan group, sixteen of these had units pulled out of the UKA after the election controversy, leaving eighteen UKA units in Louisiana. Nine additional UKA units had disbanded, as a result of the public exposure of Klan records, the demand for funds to fight the HUAC contempt convictions, and COINTELPRO operations that facilitated and built upon these setbacks.

In combination, the public pressure and covert attacks created suspicion, infighting, disillusionment and resignation, effectively preventing the UKA leadership from mounting an effective defense or response. By October, only fourteen units existed in Louisiana. At a State board meeting that month, one discouraged Klan officer stated that the public disclosure of UKA records "has destroyed the power of the Klan oath to maintain secrecy."190 He reported that average hard-188 New Orleans to Director, 10/7/66.189 Baumgardner to Sullivan, 10/11/66 (New Orleans file).190 One of the independent units had returned to the UKA fold, and four new UKA units were chartered. Only 10 of the UKA units that had existed in March, were still functioning. New Orleans to Director, 10/24/66.

core membership in each individual Klan unit was only six. If new units were not chartered, and more money not contributed to the UKA treasury he planned to resign.191

The UKA was “operating under a cloud” according to the FBI Special Agent in charge of the New Orleans office, due to suspicion and mistrust among Klan officers. “No Klan action can be accomplished at the present time,” he reported, “because Klan leaders are too busy watching each other.”192 By November, a “drastic reduction” in Klan membership had occurred.193

Encouraged by this success, the Bureau continued the NCDT campaign. In September 1966, Imperial Wizard Robert Shelton and other high-ranking officials had been cited for Contempt of Congress when they refused to turn over UKA membership lists. When Shelton requested $50 from each unit to pay his legal fees during the subsequent contempt trials, another NCDT letter was sent to all active and former UKA Klaverns. Since the average income of Louisiana Klansman was $75 per week, Shelton's continual demand for money was causing further disillusionment.194 The letter declared that money had not been sent because Klansmen "are getting disgruntled and disgusted with SHELTON’s continual appeals for money." It accused the Imperial Wizard of trying to sway “loyal American members of the Ku Klux Klan from supporting their American government.” Shelton was claiming to oppose “the Federal Dictatorial takeover of the United States . . . in order to maintain his personal financial power,” this at a 191 Ibid192 New Orleans to Director, 10/24/66.193 New Orleans to Director, 11/30/66.194 New Orleans to Director, 9/20/66, 10/4/66, 12/1/66; Director to New Orleans, 9/30/66, 11/25/66; Norfolk to Director, 12/2/66.

time when “the threat of an actual Communist takeover demands the solidarity of the American people.”195 The small UKA unit that survived in Monroe would be completely neutralized in July 1968, when an FBI assisted police raid recovered weapons and ammunition.196 That fall, an unidentified Klansman described the inner workings of the Klan and it’s influence in State politics to a journalist.197

In Southern Louisiana, meanwhile, members of the North Baton Rouge unit had become so distrustful of each other that they could not attend to Klan affairs.198 At the State Board meeting on December 17, Robert Shelton declared that he was “extremely dissatisfied with the progress of the UKA under its present leadership.”199 As of January, according to HUAC, the UKA controlled about 700 of the 950 Klansmen in Louisiana.200 As a federal Court integrated industries previously controlled by all-white unions in New Orleans,201 total Klan membership in Louisiana had fallen well below 1964 levels.

In early January, Shelton informed Monroe Klan leaders that he was seriously considering the suspension of the Grand Dragon, as well as the Louisiana UKA State Board. In this event, he would appoint a new UKA organizer for the state. He was leaning toward the incumbent State Secretary. By mid-January, informants would report that the Grand Dragon, New Orleans based Klansman Jack Helm, had become "preoccupied with FBI pimps."202 The Klansmen in Baton 195 NCDT letter, attached to New Orleans to Director, 9/20/66.196 New Orleans to Director, 10/3/68. See also, idem, 6/7/68; 1/7/69; "Chief Kelly Warns Klan on 'Littering'" Monroe News Star 23 May, 1968.197 “Southern Exposure.” 198 Baumgardner to Sullivan, 10/11/66.199 New Orleans to Director, 1/17/67.200 HUAC, Present Day KKK, 32.201 Annual Report of the Attorney General, 1966, 169-170.202 Ibid

Rouge were complaining that because Helm did not trust anyone, they still could not accomplish anything.

A group of UKA state officers informed Helm that they would formulate Klan policy from then on, and that he would be responsible for carrying them out. In a countermove, Jack Helm appointed two loyalists to a new State Board and called for state elections, to be held in March. This caused an "immediate furor" among the Northern Louisiana Klansmen as well as three units in Baton Rouge, who threatened to pull out. After another meeting, however, the opposition decided to participate in the poll and campaign to unseat Helm. By this point, according to FBI informants, Shelton too, had become “disgusted with [Helm]’s neurotic attitude and want[ed] [him] replaced.”203

To exacerbate the growing factionalism, New Orleans agents worked to support the anti-Helm campaign. They also sent an anonymous complaint to Robert Shelton, purporting to come from a member of Baton Rouge Unit # 564.204 It alleged that Helm was so distrustful of everyone that units are “ready to quit the United Klans of America and form and independent Klan organization.”205 It declared that "help is needed desperately" and asserted that Helm "is either sick or a paid Government informer."206 Shelton intervened in the first few days of February, meeting with 119 representatives from Monroe, Baton Rouge and Lake Charles. Referring to the COINTELPRO communication and other protest letters, Shelton called for an Imperial

203 Ibid204 Director to New Orleans, 1/19/67.205 New Orleans to Director, 1/17/67.206 Ibid

investigation of the Louisiana situation. He said that he would bring his Imperial officers to a hearing in Monroe on February 4. New Orleans agents alerted all FBI offices where Imperial officers resided, to make sure that those officers “whose activities we are able to control,” would support the anti-Helm forces.207

On February 4, Shelton and four Imperial officers met with 75-100 leading Louisiana Klansmen in West Monroe. Shelton promised to interview Helm, who did not attend the meeting, and then make a decision within a few days. As of mid-March, however, no decision had been made. FBI informants had contacted Shelton numerous times, as he procrastinated during the intervening period.208

Finally, on March 20, a UKA State Klonvocation was held in Alexandria Louisiana. Robert Shelton removed the State Board, and appointed Titans to run each of Louisiana’s Congressional districts. Each of them, would report directly to National Headquarters.209 Shelton appointed Monroe Klansman Houston P. Morris and Coy Neal as new UKA state recruiters. He also banished Jack Helm, who had resigned by this time, from the UKA. Taking a majority of the Southern Louisiana UKA membership with him, Helm created the Universal Klans of America, also known as The South. As in Mississippi, UKA headquarters placed Louisiana under their direct supervision.210

207 New Orleans to Director, 1/30/67 (quote); Birmingham Report, 4/17/67, 12 “Racial Matters,” FBI HQ File 157-552 #44 “Robert M. Shelton,” Lazar archive. 208 New Orleans to Director, 2/6/67, 3/16/67.209 New Orleans to Director, 4/10/67. Sixty Five Klansmen attended. Birmingham Report, 10/24/67, 2 FBI HQ File 157-552 #44 “Robert M. Shelton,” Lazar archive.210 Newton KKK Encyclopedia, 263; HUAC, Present-Day KKK, 31-32. Shelton retained northern Klan units, as well as majorities in both the Imperial and Louisiana State Boards. New Orleans to Director, 7/1/67.

This reorganization left New Orleans FBI field office agents "in a very advantageous position," according to a report they sent to FBI headquarters.211 "Well-placed informants," according to the Special Agent in Charge, were now "officially in charge of the various Titans in the state."212 New Orleans now intended to "closely follow and direct" any UKA reorganization efforts, and "to insure through the informants that the Louisiana UKA remains affiliated with the National UKA under Robert Shelton,” in order to exercise "greater control . . . over the membership."213 The Louisiana Realm of the UKA, they reported, was “in a state of chaos.”214 A speech by J.B. Stoner in Northern Louisiana around this time, seems to have drummed up little interest.215

Informants continued to cause dissension and distrust. 216 Since the State Grand Dragon position was vacant during the period of Shelton’s reorganization, FBI informants worked to discredit [7], a potential candidate, and elect a Bureau informant who could “keep violence ot a minimum.” Working together with an ally in, or close to the Monroe police department, FBI agents were able to embarrass the potential candidate, by effecting his arrest on speeding, and concealing of dangerous weapons charges. The FBI ‘source’ issued a

211 New Orleans to Director, 4/10/67.212 Ibid This implies, either, that the Titans were informants, or that an Imperial officer, responsible for overseeing them, was an informant. The latter seems more likely.213 Ibid William Sullivan, probably referring to this situation, has claimed that an FBI informant convinced Klansmen under his influence to abandon violence. William Sullivan with Bill Brown, The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover’s FBI, (New York: Norton, 1979), 130. 214 Evidently, this was not the first time that the FBI had informants running a state Klan operation. “Success in the past" according to report, “was affected mainly because we had [bureau deletion] shoot down." Ibid See also, William Sullivan with Bill Brown, The Bureau: My Thirty Years in Hoover's FBI (New York, 1979), 130.215 Edward Fields, Personal Newsletter, nd, 1:44 RIGHT WING POLITICAL COLLECTION, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA LIBRARY, ATHENS GA.216 New Orleans to Director, 9/25/67,

press release on the arrest, the literature and [7’s] position as a state official of the UKA. As a result, [7] was “completely neutralized” as a state leader, and did not attend any subsequent state UKA meetings.217

Moreover, campaign literature found in [7]’s automobile, caused some embarrassment, possibly effecting the defeat of [6], another Klansman, in the primary election. The northern Louisiana UKA was especially disrupted as a result. In the December elections, the New Orleans FBI field office “was able to have its own sources elected, not only to the position of Grand Dragon but also to other top state offices.”218

Thereafter, given the extent of informant control, internal disruption became the main vehicle for neutralization of UKA activity in Louisiana over the next three and one-half years. When deemed necessary, FBI agents interviewed selected Klansmen, in order to cause disruption and develop new informants.219 Aside from internal disruption, Jackson Mississippi FBI agents managed to thwart the attempt by a Concordia Louisiana Klansman to affiliate his paramilitary group with the National Rifle Association in September 1967. They sent an anonymous letter to the National Rifle Association, and to Louisiana Governor John McKeithen , to prevent the group from using state facilities for organizational meetings. The Minutemen unit did not receive a charter.220 As of spring 1968, the FBI had indentified seven

217 New Orleans to Director, 1/2/68.218 Ibid. W.J. Kidd, a member of the Schwartz unit since 1961 and longtime EC of that klavern, became Louisiana’s Grand Dragon sometime in 1969. He retained that office until 1978, when Jerry Neathery took over. Fiery Cross, Vol 16, Special Edition, 1978. 219 New Orleans to Director, 1/7/68, 3/28/68. 4/7/69, 10/8/69, 1/4/70, 7/8/70, 9/30/70, 21/31/70, 3/29/71.220 Jackson to Director, 5/30/67, 6/7/67, 6/19/67, 7/31/67, 2/5/68; Director to Jackson, 6/2/67, 7/28/67; New Orleans to Director, 9/25/67,

Klansmen on the Minutemen’s mailing list, but by fall, they had elevated an informant into a position of control over this group.221

[Bog police arrest three white teens who were urging crowd to attack television cameramen222] 28 cases of bombing and arson in Louisiana during last 12 months.223 [b firebombs and white vigilantism in Baton Rouge 8/21/67224] 10/8/67 two hunters injured by a booby-trapped rural KKK hangout in Bastrop.225 1968 Bogalusa case aainst all-white union at crown Zellerbach. JD wins case against seniority policy that perpetuates discrim. Sev other companies volutarily comply.226

In late May, 1968, FBI agents conducted surveillance on the meeting place of a “small violent-prone” Klan unit in Monroe, which called itself the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Louisiana. After the meeting, they followed and observed two Klan leaders throwing leaflets from their car. The Monroe police department arrested two Klansmen, for violating a local anti-littering ordinance and convinced them that they had enough evidence to convict them in court. They failed to show up for arraignment and forfeited bond.227

221 Jackson to Director, 6/28/68, 10/7/68. 222 “125 Negroes Begin Bogalusa March,” New York Times, 24 July 1967, 15. 223 Robert Sherril, “A Look Inside the Invisible Empire,” New South, 23:2, Spring 1968.224 Newton, Racial and Religious Violence, 507. 225 Michael and Judy Ann Newton, Racial and Religious Violence In America: A Chronology, (New York: Garland, 1991), 508. 226 Atorny general Annual Rport 1968, 62. 227 New Orleans to Director, 6/7/68, 6/19/68; “Chief Kelly Warns Klan On ‘Littering’,” Monroe News Star, 23 May, 1968, 1; “Two Booked In Monroe Litter Case,” Monroe News Star, 24 May 1968, A. As of summer 1966, a highly placed informant in the White Knights of Mississippi, had found no indication of any affiliation between these groups. Informant report, 7/8-13-15/66, (FBI HQ file 1250177), “Delmar Dennis,” Lazar collection.

On July 25, 1968, FBI agents conducted a raid on a farm and recovered a large cache of weapons and ammunition belonging to the Klan. The raid created a great amount of internal friction, among members of a Klan cell called the “Inner Six,” and the cell was completely neutralized. Other Klan members, who did not know about the cache, became angry that money they had contributed had been spent without their knowledge. This caused the White Knights to begin breaking up. In December, the home of a person named Brown was shot at, and Monroe police charged a Klansman named Works with aggravated assault and property damage.228 In March 1969, the Office of Economic Opportunity announced that it was investigating the takeover of an antipoverty program by men alleged to have Klan connections.229

In April 1970, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Louisiana shut down their organization. Sheriff’s Deputies and Firemen kept showing up at Klan meetings, because they were receiving anonymous calls about non-existent shootings and fires, and the deputies took down license plate numbers of meeting attendees. “These tactics,” according to a New Orleans report, caused Klansmen to conclude that either there was an informant in their group, or a tap on their telephone.230

In southern Louisiana, meanwhile, Jack Helm and his followers embraced National Socialism, and affiliated with members of the paramilitary anticommunist Minutemen organization. They built a 228 Two Memoranda, New Orleans to Director, circa July, 1968, January 1969 (dates missing or illegible).229 The author has found no further information about this investigation. Christian Science Monitor, March 19, 1969, 2.230 New Orleans to Director, 4/7/70.

guerrilla warfare training camp in St. Bernard's Parish, which they decorated with Nazi flags and stocked with American Nazi Party literature.231 In New Orleans, American Nazi Party member Jim Lindsay, led a separate, 35 member Klan.232 New Orleans FBI agents instructed their UKA informants “to harass [Helm unti]l he gives up trying to organize a new organization."233 In June, Helm held an open rally in Baton Rouge that attracted 200 people.234

Then on July 19, 1967 a bomb damaged Louisiana AFL-CIO President Victor Bussie's home in Baton Rouge, and destroyed his automobile. Another bomb targeted the home of civil rights activist Mrs. Viola Logan. Bussie had opposed massive resistance during the desegregation crises and after passage of the Voting Rights Act, had intervened on behalf of blacks during the Bogalusa protests and joined with civil rights groups to request that the US Attorney General send more registrars to Louisiana. He blamed the Klan for the bombing.235 FBI informants in the Universal Klan testified at a subsequent Grand Jury hearing. Helm became angry and frustrated. He remarked to journalist Jack Nelson, "I'm just tired of these informers. I don't know

231 Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 577. On the Minutemen see Jones, A Private Army, (Toronto, 1969). 232 New Orleans to Director, 5/17/67. Lindsay (alias Ed White/James Lawrence) led this group-which included businessmen and Catholics-until his mysterious murder in 1976, when David Duke and fellow Nazis took it over. William V. Moore, "The White Knight," in Douglas D. Rose, ed., The Emergence of David Duke and the Politics of Race, (Chapel Hill, NC, 1992), 43-50.233 New Orleans to Director, 4/26/67.234 New Orleans to Director, 7/1/67.235 The AFL-CIO lost 15,000 members due to the union’s support for public schools. Bill Bankston, “Blasts Hit Homes of Bussie, Negro,” Baton Rouge State Times, 19 July 1967, 1; Alan Draper, Conflict of Interests: Organized Labor and the Civil Rights Movement in the South, 1954-1968, (Ithica, 1994), 105. A cross was burned at the home of the East baton-Rouge School Superintendent. “Cross Is Burned at Aertker Home,” Baton Rouge State Times, 20 July 1967.

how many may be in my organization. I can't even do my work."236 In May 1968, an informant disrupted the leadership of a Klan-Minuteman group in Louisiana-again, probably, Helm's Universal Klan-and rose to a position of leadership.237 By 1971, H. Roswell Thompson had become the Imperial Wizard of what had dwindled to a very small Klan-minutemen group that stockpiled rifles, ammunition, dynamite and grenades.

In 1976, one of his members, Rene LaCoste, joined demonstrations sponsored by David Duke, who had taken over Jim Lindsay’s small Nazi-Klan the year before. National Socialist activists Don Black, William Grimstead, Ralph Forbes and James Warner, who also doubled as a Christian Identity minister, played essential roles in helping Duke to expand this organization, by fusing KKK iconography with Nazi ideology, and the anti-Semitic millenarianism of Christian Identity eschatology.238 They also condemned the FBI in their Crusader

newspaper.239 By 1978-1979, they would recruit thousands of young 236 Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 85; Jack Nelson, Terror in the Night: The Klan's Campaign Against the Jews, (New York, 1993), 93. 237 Jackson to Director, 5/28/68, 6/28/68, 10/7/68, 1/21/69, 2/6/69, 3/11/69; Director, to Jackson 6/17/68, 7/18/68. For context, see Kenneth Stern, A Force Upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate, (New York,1996), 49; "Leaflet Plan by Minutemen," Kansas City Star, 24 February, 1969.238 Lindsay’s group had several hundred members before Duke's arrival, in 1973. Moore, "The White Knight" in Rose ed., The Emergence of David Duke; James A. Aho, The Politics of Righteousness: Idaho Christian Patriotism, (Seattle, 1990), 43-50; 58-59, 274 n76; Tyler Bridges, The Rise of David Duke, (Jackson, 1994), Chapter 3, 40-44, 57-58, 74-76, 84-85; Michael Barkun, Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement, (Chapel Hill, 1994). 209-212; Rich, KKK Ideology, 158-170, 179-186, 193-197, 207-223, 236-237, 272-273, 296-299; 388-389, 406; Michael Zatarain, David Duke: Evolution of a Klansman, (Gretna LA, 1990), 116-122, 187-192; Reed Massengil, Portrait of a Racist: The Man Who Killed Medgar Evers, (New York, 1994), 277-278; Elinore Langer, "The American Neo-Nazi Movement Today," Nation, 251:3, 16 July 1990; Wade Fiery Cross; 372-373, 390, 398; Newton, KKK Encyclopedia, 53, 487; Anti-Defamation League, "The Ku Klux Klans: 1978" Facts, 24:1, March 1978; idem, "Extremism on the Right" (1983; idem, "Danger: Extremism," (1996), 10-11. 239 "Proof of Cointelpro Continuation," Crusader 28, December 1977, 12; "ADL Exposed!" Crusader 31, circa 1978, 4, Wilcox Collection of Social Protest Movement

whites into their Nazi-Klan hybrid organization.240 NOTE: on this

paragraph can use Am Stud but check extra notes again.

LA:

Rarick controversy in LA.241

Fowler departed for Baton Rouge LA where engaged in rally given

nation-wide press.242

Black Berets for Self Defense formed, Minister of defense Henry

Haynes funeral participated. Counterintelligence will be eased.243

Inactive as of 5/70 as has “Super Six” organization. RNA active under

new leader.244

By 1973, Klan reduced (figures?) and U.S. Disctrict court upheld their

first amendment right to rally in a New orleans city park after the city

Materials, Spencer Library, University of Kansas, (Hereafter cited as RHWL), Folder G540. 240 Moore, “David Duke” in Rose ed., The Emergence of David Duke, 44-46; ADL, "The Ku Klux Klans: 1978" Facts, 24:1, March 1978; Julian Scher, White Hoods, Canada's Ku Klux Klan (Vancouver, 1983), 72; "The Klan Rides Again: Under a Modern Mask, Old Time Racism and Violence" Time 19 November 1979.241 Robert Sherril, “A Look Inside the Invisible Empire,” New South, 23:2, Spring 1968.242 Los Angeles to Director, 9/12/67. 243 New Orleans to Director, 2/27/70, Section 17, Cointelpro BNHG.244 New Orleans to Director, 5/28/70, Section 19, Cointelpro BNHG.

attorney banned them.245 In Shreport, the DA dismissed charges

against 24 Klansmen for wearing hoods in public.246

1974 racial uproar at a HS 13yr old b boy Tim weber shot and killed,

Duke “patrols” in Destrehan, St. Charles. 2 klan arrested for

possession of stolen weapons, charges dropped.247

1976 UKA GD Kidd, G Klalliff Pete Holden of Holden and small group

forced to accept a smaller venue in Holden after they were required to

pay a $100,000 bond to use the New Orleans Rivergate.248 HEW

delares that must admit blacks if want to use school for meeting.249

8/77 Kidd complains of (COINTELPRO) harassment and character

assassination attempts to 14 robed klansmen.250

245 “Klan to Meet in City’s Park,” New Orleans Times Picayune, 1 August 1973, 7. 246 Said faces were visible. “Klan Termed ‘Shock’,” NOTP 15 Aug 1973, 9. 247 “Charges Dropped Against 2 Suspects in Destrehan, LA. Case,” New Orleans Times Picayune, 2 November 1974, 26. 248 “United Klans of America Holds Rally in Covington LA.,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 25 July 1976, 38. 249 “HEW Hits Snag On Klan Plan To Use La. School,” and “HEW To Rule On Ku Klux Klan Request To Use La. School Auditorium,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 28 November 1976. 250 “Absence of Pomp, Regalia, Characterizes Klan Meeting,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 14 August 1977, 16.