"ALABAMA SENATOR COMPARED TO JAMES BUCHANAN"

SENATOR UNDERWOOD TO MAKE OPPOSITION TO KLAN HIS CAMPAIGN SLOGAN

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On January 7, 1924, Frederic William Wile reports that Senator Oscar W. Underwood* (D-Alabama) plans to elevate hostility to the Ku Klux Klan "as his campaign slogan."

Wile compares the Senator's strategy with that of James Buchanan whose opposition to Know-Nothingism** "carried (him) into the White House."

Senator Underwood will open his presidential campaign in Cleveland, Ohio on January 22, 1924.  His battle against the Klan will not only take place in his home territory, the South, but also in the state of Ohio where the KKK is more powerful than any state in the Union other than Indiana.

*Oscar W. Underwood (1862-1929) was born in Louisville, KY & served in the US Senate 1915-1927.  OWU was the 1st to be designated as floor leader in the USS & the only person to serve as Democratic leader in both houses of Congress.

**Know-Nothings were nativists who kept their secrecy by denying their existence as a party.  KNs opposed Catholics & recent immigrants to the United States. 

SOURCE

"Anti-Klan Plank Underwood Plan," by Frederic William Wile, The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., January 7, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Oscar W. Underwood

Bain News Service Photo

Library of Congress

"ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL EXCEPT..."

KNOW NOTHINGS CONVENE IN PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) On February 18, 1856, delegates of the American Party*, a.k.a. "Know Nothings," met here in Philadelphia to nominate their first candidate for President of the United States.

The party, known as the Native American Party before 1855, was the first major third party in the American political system.

The Know Nothings wanted to stop immigrants and Catholics from being elected to political office and from getting jobs that, in their view, should be held by "true Americans."

The American Party elected a hundred candidates to Congress and to eight governorships.

According to Lorraine Boissoneault, the Know Nothings favored deportation of criminals, a 21 year waiting period for naturalization of immigrants, and regular Bible readings in schools.

Their vision of America included "temperance, Protestantism, self reliance with American nationality and work ethic enshrined as the nation's highest values."

The American Party, made up of former Whigs, discontented Democrats and other political outsiders, believed in a Roman Catholic conspiracy to subvert civil and religious liberty in the United States.

Although never publicly denouncing the American Party due to political concerns, Abraham Lincoln wrote privately...

"I am not a Kn0w-Nothing - that is certain.  How could I be?  When (they) get control (the Declaration of Independence) will read 'all men are created equal except negroes and foreigners and catholics.'" 

*American Party (1844-1860) was known as the Native American Party before 1855.  Its members were called "Know Nothings" because, as the story goes, when asked a question by an 'outsider.' the answer would always be 'I know nothing.'  The political organization was originally  a secret society.

SOURCE

"How the 19th Century Know Nothing Party Reshaped American Politics," by Lorraine Boissoneault, January 26, 2017, www.smithsonianmagazine.com/  

   

 

Know Nothing Ticket (1855)

www.ohiohistorycentral.org/