The Ku Klux Klan, a secret organization formed by ex-confederate soldiers in May of 1886. It was created in Pulaski, Tennessee to oppose the Reconstruction policies and to maintain white supremacy. When the government in the South was weak, many organizations such as the Pale Faces, White Brotherhood, and Order of the White Rose formed and later became the Ku Klux Klan.
             Men of the Klan were famous for silent parades, midnight rides, and strange languages. They often wore white robes and white masks. They put skulls on their saddles and posed as spirits of battle. The Klan terrified not only blacks but also carpetbaggers and scalawags.
             The Ku Klux Klan gained control of the government in many states and they were successful in keeping blacks away from the polls. In 1870- 1871, the congress passed a law to combat the Klan called the Force Bill. The bill imposed strict penalties on those who tried to obstruct the Reconstruction policies and to use armed forces against anyone who tried to prevent anyone (blacks) from voting. The law severely weakened the Klan and they went into submission for several years.
             William J. Simmons founded the second Ku Klux Klan in 1915. The Klan spread rapidly throughout the North and South promoting white supremacy, intense nativism and anti-Catholicism. In 1922- 1926 the Klan elected many state officials and congressmen, mainly in Texas, Maine, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Indiana. Power in the Midwest was weakened when David C. Stephenson, a major Klan leader, was convicted of second-degree murder.
             In the mid-1920s, the Klan's membership was about 4-5 million members. The Klan then rapidly declined to about 30,000 members by 1930. The Ku Klux Klan's collapse was due to laws against the masks and declining interest in its members.
             After World War II, Dr. Samuel L. Green tried to revive the Ku Klux Klan, but he failed due to more and more laws against the Klan. Civil
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