Remembering the 1924 Democrat National Convention — The KlanBake

It was also known as “KlanBake.”

In Madison Square Garden, New York City, from June 24 to July 9, a dispute during came up revolving around an attempt by non-Klan delegates, led by Forney Johnston of Alabama, to condemn the organization for its violence in the Democratic Party’s platform.

But Ku Klux Klan delegates defeated the platform plank in a series of floor debates.

To celebrate, tens of thousands of hooded Klansmen rallied in a field in New Jersey, across the river from New York City. This event, known subsequently as the “Klanbake”, was also attended by hundreds of Klan delegates to the convention, who burned crosses, urged violence and intimidation against African Americans and Catholics, and attacked effigies of Smith.

The final vote was 546.15 for the Klan, 542.85 against it.

According to Wikipedia:

The Ku Klux Klan was resurrected after the 1915 release of D.W. Griffith’s very popular motion picture The Birth of a Nation. After World War I, the popularity of the Klan surged due to connections of its public relations leadership to those who had promoted the successful Prohibition Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, becoming a political power throughout many regions of the United States, not just in the South.

Its local political strength throughout the country gave it a major role in the 1924 Democratic Party National Convention (DNC). The 20th Century Ku Klux Klan was notoriously anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic, in addition to being anti-black.

The Klan advocates opposed those supporting Catholics from the major cities of the Northeast and Midwest. The tension between pro- and anti-Klan delegates produced an intense and sometimes violent showdown between convention attendees from the states of Colorado and Missouri. Klan delegates opposed the nomination of New York Governor Al Smith because Smith was a Roman Catholic. Smith campaigned against William Gibbs McAdoo, who had the support of most Klan delegates.

KKK platform plank

The second dispute of the convention revolved around an attempt by non-Klan delegates, led by Forney Johnston of Alabama, to condemn the organization for its violence in the Democratic Party’s platform. Klan delegates defeated the platform plank in a series of floor debates. The final vote on condemning the Klan was 542.85 in favor, 546.15 against, so the plank was not included in the platform. To celebrate, tens of thousands of hooded Klansmen rallied in a field in New Jersey, across the river from New York City.[5] This event, known subsequently as the “Klanbake”,[1] was also attended by hundreds of Klan delegates to the convention, who burned crosses, urged violence and intimidation against African-Americans and Catholics, and attacked effigies of Smith.

Impact

The notoriety of the “Klanbake” convention and the violence it produced cast a lasting shadow over the Democratic Party’s prospects in the 1924 election and contributed to their defeat by incumbent Republican President Calvin Coolidge.

Smith’s name was placed into nomination by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his first appearance at the Democratic National Convention since his paralytic illness. This signaled a political comeback for Roosevelt; he would be elected Governor of New York four years later and President eight years later. [Emphasis added]

11 replies
  1. Sluggo
    Sluggo says:

    Actually this picture is of a funeral march on December 5th 1924, not a political convention and nowhere near New York. It’s from the Wisconsin Historical Society archives and it’s in no way “newly discovered”. It’s freaking 93 years old, shot by Arthur Vinje for the Wisconsin State Journal.

    “Liberals” have nothing to do with the Klan, so there’s no reason they “wouldn’t like it”, nor is there any record of such a sentiment.

    Then there’s “Forney Johnston”. There was indeed a movement in the (real) convention to denounce the Klan by name, but that was led by Oscar Underwood (Sen. of Alabama) and Al Smith (Gov. of NY). Joseph Forney Johnston had little to do with that movement, owing to the fact that he had been dead since 1913.

    Underwood and Smith led the charge against McAdoo opposing them, and the two sides deadlocked interminably. Finally dark horse Amb. John Davis was nominated, who accepted and promptly denounced the Klan anyway.

    Following that, the KKK endorsed Coolidge and took credit for his victory, and four years later did the same with Hoover, running a vicious smear campaign against Smith.

    The “Klanbake” was the KKK meeting in a New Jersey field across the river on July 3 and 4 with 20,000 Klanners, a burning cross and an effigy of Al Smith. New Jersey is across the river from New York, where the convention was. It is nowhere near Wisconsin.

    There’s fake news, and here there’s fake history.

    Reply
      • Sluggo
        Sluggo says:

        Thank you but I won’t need simple references like Wiki. As should be obvious I’m already well-versed in this.

        “Klanbake” refers to the gathering of 20,000 Klanners in a field in New Jersey, across the river from New York City where the convention was. Your own original link even says that, even while it makes up fiction about a dead man named Forney Johnston and runs a photo from Wisconsin from five months later and claims it’s the convention. It isn’t. Actually NONE of your images or the video are from that event, or from New York City at all. You got pawned by a completely bogus article which has already been discredited.

        One really has to wonder how the name “Oscar Underwood” can be misspelled as “Forney Johnston”. If you have pictures of a dead man rallying conventioneers eleven years after his own funeral, please post them.

        Reply
          • Sluggo
            Sluggo says:

            I “agree” to no such thing. Actually I agree with the description in YOUR OWN ARTICLE which states, and I quote,

            “tens of thousands of hooded Klansmen rallied in a field in New Jersey, across the river from New York City.[5] This event, known subsequently as the “Klanbake”,[1]”

            Maybe you should actually read your own material instead of trafficking in rank dishonesty. What a concept.

    • Mickey
      Mickey says:

      Yes, liberals are the KKK. They advocate for socialism, don’t they? They are the Democrat/socialist/globalist party now, aren’t they? All they did was change the letters from KKK to ANTIFA.

      Reply
    • Tim
      Tim says:

      It’s not far off though.

      The democrats prefered the destruction of the United States than to be considered equal to black people.

      The democrats refused to accept black equality, black voting, or blacks living in their neighborhoods.

      The voting on party lines have historically been 0 democrats for blacks, and unanimous for blacks in Republican votes throughout United States hisotry.

      Sorry for the embarrassment.

      Reply
  2. Sluggo
    Sluggo says:

    It’s also worth noting that the Republican convention of the same year circulated the same question within its own ranks, and came to the same decision — to say nothing. Nor did its nominee, in contrast to Davis, hence the KKK endorsement.

    The Klan was a powerful force in local and state elections in that era especially in 1924 when it got four Republican governors and a Senator elected (Brewster, ME; Jackson, IN; Morley, CO; Paulen KS and Means, CO) as well as many smaller local offices, as well as Democrats where that affiliation would work particularly the South.

    Its influence peaked in 1925 when that Washington march in the video took place. It then waned after regional Klan leader D.C. Stephenson’s infamous and brutal rape trial in Indiana took down that state’s political structure he had had in his pocket (Google “Klan Indiana” on YouTube). It tried again to oppose Democrat Al Smith in the 1928 Presidential election but Smith got the nomination after which KKK ran a vicious smear campaign against him and eventually took credit for Hoover’s win.

    Reply

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