When the Klan came to town ...and got run out

Although the Ku Klux Klan has long ceased to be a significant influence in American life, when it is recalled it is typically thought of as an anti -black group of the Old South. But its adherents were active in other parts of the country as well and the targets of its ire also included Roman Catholics. Less than a century ago, in fact, the Klan dominated municipal politics in Orange County’s Anaheim in Southern California, the county’s oldest town and home of Disneyland.

The Klan first came to Anaheim in 1922, in the person of Rev. Leon L. Myers, who migrated from Oregon to take over Anaheim’s First Christian Church, the area’s largest congregation. One of his initial acts was to organize a men’s Bible Class, which became the nucleus for an Anaheim “klavern.”

The KKK was enjoying a national revival at the time, a resurgence begun in 1915 with the release of D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. Klansmen exploited the film’s romanticized view of the KKK, as well as the strong nativist, anti-immigrant sentiment in the nation. By the early 1920s, the Klan tide had surged beyond the old Confederacy and swept over most of the West and Midwest. In many areas, successful aspirants to public office had to join or publicly endorse the Klan. The Klan first came to nearby Santa Ana before Myers’ arrival, but withered when District Attorney Alexander P. Nelson threated to publish a membership roster seized in a klavern raid. But its Anaheim counterpart flourished with the arrival of Myers; his men’s Bible Class quickly evolved into a major political and cultural force. Rallies and parades were held. The Klan presented itself as a bulwark for sobriety and social order, of “America for Americans.” Most Anaheim residents were unaware of the more unsavory aspects of Klan ideology, and members of the Anaheim klavern avoided the violent tactics of their Southern brethren.

Myers’ klavern first began flexing political muscle in January 1924 by securing the resignation of the city’s chief constable, charging him with inefficiency and delinquency in enforcement of Prohibition. By April, the KKK was covertly seeking to elect its own slate of candidates to the Anaheim City Council. Working in conjunction with the city’s largest paper, the pro-Klan Plain Dealer, to exploit existing voter dissatisfaction, Klan candidates won four out of five seats, including mayor.

Once in power

Once in power, the Klan assumed a prominent role. Municipal employees with anti-Klan sympathies were replaced by Klansmen or fellow travelers. Eight of the nine members of the police force were Klansmen. Revealing your Klan membership could get you out of a ticket, and on at least one occasion, policemen were seen directing traffic in white robes.

Other marks of Klan ascendancy appeared. Signs placed at entrances to the city proclaimed KIGY – “Klansmen, I Greet You.” Anaheim picked up the nickname “Klanaheim” and was touted as a model Klan city.

By July, however, the Klan-dominated council inadvertently gave spark to an anti-Klan movement. The flagpole at the intersection of the city’s two main streets was moved to City Park, a favorite Klan gathering place. Despite protests, the council refused to back down from their decision to move it, thus sowing the seeds of the Klan’s eventual destruction.

Divisive tactics

The thrust of the Klan’s grievances was directed at Catholics and what they perceived as a permissive attitude towards Prohibition. Klansmen also sought to psychologically intimidate Anaheim Catholics. Myers preached virulently anti- Catholic sermons from his pulpit. Catholic lumberyard owner and anti-Klan leader Ernest Ganahl declared, “This Leon Myers is one of the most viciously and insanely anti-Catholic persons on the continent.”

Myers sponsored other “evangelists” to visit Anaheim and spew anti-Catholic venom. A favorite tactic was to bring visitors to meetings who claimed to be ex-monks and priests. The imposters would regale the congregation with lurid tales of promiscuity and depravity behind the closed doors of monasteries.

At an August 1924 rally in City Park, Klansmen initiated 1,000 new members. It was the largest Klan gathering ever held in Southern California, attracting 10,000 curious onlookers, an impressive figure when the city population was only 11,000.

Crosses blazed in the park, while Klansmen passed out literature to the crowd warning against the “Catholic Menace.” Owing to the rally’s proximity to Anaheim’s St. Boniface Church, St. Catherine’s Military School and Knights of Columbus Hall, Catholics feared attack by Klansmen. A cross was burned on the church’s front lawn and its doors covered in tar. Parishioners felt insecure and suspicious of their fellow townspeople. Relations between Catholics and Protestants, cordial at best in those days, became increasingly tense and bitter.

Pushing higher office, voter registration

The Klan’s next step was to put forward a slate of candidates for higher office – county supervisor, state assembly, and U.S. Congress—in the August 1924 elections. By that time, many citizens had awakened to the Klan threat. District Attorney Nelson provided a list identifying which candidates were Klansmen or Klan-endorsed. All were defeated.

In the wake of this defeat, an incipient anti-Klan movement picked up steam. A diverse coalition, the USA Club, was formed to counterattack, spearheaded by the Knights of Columbus, District Attorney Nelson, the Anaheim Bulletin and Rev. James Geissinger, pastor of White Temple Methodist Church.

The coalition persuaded the city’s service and fraternal clubs and local churchmen to publicly denounce the KKK. The Klan’s membership roster was made public and a recall vote for the four Klan councilmen was scheduled for February 3, 1925.

The atmosphere became increasingly heated and sour. The Klan vilified Rev. Geissinger as a pawn of Rome and accused him of disloyalty during World War I. Anaheim Bulletin owner Lotus H. Loudon was assaulted by a Klansman. Both Klan and anti-Klan merchants and businessmen organized boycotts of each other.

The Klan attempted to stir up support on the Prohibition issue by staging “dry raids” on suspected bootleggers and attacking the USA Club as the “United Soaks Association.” National Klan lecturers were brought in to address rallies and revivals, issuing dire warnings of papal rule in Anaheim. Both sides launched massive voter registration drives to get out the vote.

By election day, community relations were poisoned and bad feelings ran high. To prevent violence, the polls were guarded.

The Klan suffered a resounding defeat, each of its candidates losing by more than 500 votes. The new council spent the next several months purging city government of Klansmen and sympathizers.

Longtime lessons

The whole episode left a lasting impression on the city. Anaheim’s reputation was tarnished and population embittered. The boycotts had done real damage, and many Klan merchants left town.

The pro-Klan Plain Dealer, reeling from a successful libel suit brought by Rev. Geissinger, was taken over by the Anaheim Bulletin. Myers continued his anti-Catholic “crusade” for a short time afterward, but eventually left town. The episode was brought to a symbolic end on March 24, 1925, when the flag pole was returned from City (now Pearson) Park to its old place of honor in the middle of town.

Today, a much smaller Klan still holds rallies at Pearson Park—in 2016, for example, six Klansmen turned out to face off against a mob of counterdemonstrators— but most Anaheim residents remain blissfully unaware of this colorful aspect of their city’s history.  

JIM GRAVES is a Legatus Magazine contributing writer.