NCJ Number
115432
Date Published
1988
Length
4 pages
Annotation
In the 1970's and 1980's Klan leaders used public relations techniques, confrontation, and alliances with other white supremacist groups to achieve their ends and increase membership.
Abstract
The Klan's public image was presented as articulate, well-dressed, and 'moderate' in an attempt to get Klansmen elected to State and national political offices. Even though no elections were won by Klansmen, balloting showed high levels of hidden support for their political positions. At the same time, other Klan leaders became more militaristic and confrontational, seeking to recruit and indoctrinate young people. Harassment of blacks and Vietnamese fishermen occurred in Alabama and Texas. Other white supremacist groups such as American neo-Nazis received surprising support in local government elections in Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, encouraging confrontations in Chicago's Marquette Park in 1976 and 1977. By the early 1980's members of the Nazi party (National Socialist Party of America) and the Klan were beginning to combine their tactics and idealogies.