...In 1874 and later, however, newly organized and openly active paramilitary organizations such as the White League and the Red Shirts started a fresh round of violence aimed at suppressing Republican voting and running Republicans out of office...
...By 1925, the Klan was a political force in the state, as leaders like J. Thomas Heflin(D), David Bibb Graves(D), and Hugo Black(D) manipulated the KKK membership against the power of Black Belt planters who had long dominated the state.... ...The only known former member of the Klan to hold a federal office currently in the United States is Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who said he "deeply regrets" having joined the Klan more than half a century ago, when he was about 24 years old. Byrd joined as a young man in the 1940s, recruiting 150 friends and acquaintances from his small West Virginia town... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
