Primary Source: Ku Klux Klan Voter Information Sheet

Note: This resource was selected for educators to use to teach about the relationship between the Ku Klux Klan’s white supremacist ideas on immigration and the Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act). To use these resources responsibly, please view our teaching ideas, some of which are included in our Reflection Questions and Teaching Suggestions below.

This primary source was culled from the collection of the Indiana State Library by historian Jill Weiss Simins.

Learning Goal: 

The resources on this website can be used to:

• Build an understanding of public messages about migration through U.S. history.
• Inquire about the way public messages about migration influence how people think and act.
• Identify patterns of prejudice and prepares students to assess whether available public stories about migration are reliable and representative.

Introduction

The Klan’s championing of white supremacist principles had real-world consequences. To many Indiana politicians, the people had spoken. Most politicians were complicit in their failure to denounce the Klan for fear of losing votes, as opposed to any direct participation in the organization. But the Klan did influence Indiana elections. Klan leader D.C. Stephenson openly revealed that the Klan would distribute sample ballots to members with candidates who were favorable to the organization clearly marked. And the Klan created “information sheets” that listed each candidate’s race, religion, and immigrant status. The sheet clearly denoted whether a candidate or even a member of his family was “Roman Catholic,” “Negro,” or “Foreign Born.”  Several candidates won seats directly because the Klan proclaimed their support. Others sympathetic to the Klan won offices perhaps because the Klan had disseminated so much propaganda that voters did not know what to believe. As the Klan accused opposing candidates of various indiscretions, voters may have become confused and apathetic. Regardless of how it was gained, directly or indirectly, their influence prevailed for some time. In fact, Stephenson released the names of several politicians who were Klansmen themselves, including John L. Duvall, the Mayor of Indianapolis, and Ed Jackson, the Governor of the State of Indiana.

Indiana’s congressmen who neither joined nor denounced the Klan still furthered the organization’s “America First” agenda. For example, as governor (1913-1917), Samuel Ralston proved to be a fairly progressive-minded democrat, advocating for women’s suffrage, child labor laws, and workman’s compensation. When he was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1922, he tried to avoid talking about the Klan altogether. Like most moderate Hoosier politicians Ralston was not a Klan member, but he also he never publicly denounced the organization.  However, when the Senate voted on the Immigration Act of 1924, Ralston voted in favor of restriction as did his counterpart James Watson. All of Indiana’s representatives had also voted in favor of the bill. President Calvin Coolidge signed the bill into law May 24, 1924. The President told Congress, “America must be kept American.”

See the Primary Sources below.

Transcription:
KU-KLUX-KLAN
INFORMATION SHEET

The above information has been obtained as fas [sic] as possible from the candidate, or from a member of the candidate’s immediate family. STUDY CAREFULLY, then scratch off those you do not care to vote for and take the information with you to the voting booth, in order that you may vote intelligently.

Transcription of note on back:

The hereunto attached “Ballot” was mailed at the Indianapolis Post Office on Nov. 1, 1922. When received, it contained all of the lead pencil marks appearing on the face thereof. It contains a list of the candidates, both state and local, to be voted for by the electors of Marion county, at the general election held on Nov. 7, 1922. An examination of the election returns will disclose the successes probably attributed to this organization