# POTUS in kkk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 1, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923 "2003-10-01T14:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheMemeWarrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TheMemeWarrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMemeWarrior)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/1 "2003-10-01T14:07:00Z")
I remember watching a TV show a long time ago where they mentioned that one president had joined the klan, in the oval office no less. So can anyone confirm? deny? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/2 "2003-10-01T14:28:09Z")
Harry Truman once seriously considered joining the Klan as political move. The Klan was a force in his area and he was ured to join to get votes (his opponents were members). According to David McCulloch’s biography (a terrific book), Truman gave a friend the $10 Klan membership fee. However, the Klan leader insisted on a meeting with Truman. When they met, the leader insisted Truman pledge not to hire any Catholics if he were elected. Some of the men Truman had commanded in WWI were Catholics, and Truman insisted he’d appoint anyone he saw fit. The $10 may or may not have been returned; see [this](http://www.ku.edu/carrie/archives/wwi-l/1998/10/msg00577.html) for the entire discussion. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black **was** a Klan member briefly, but quit long before he was nominated to the court. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/3 "2003-10-01T14:43:36Z")
A further look indicates that some are claiming that Warren G. Harding joined the Klan in the White House, but all the sources are afiliated with the KKK or other groups I wouldn’t consider particularly reliable. In addition, Harding is on the record of speaking for racial equality, which wouldn’t go over all that well with the Klan. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/4 "2003-10-01T15:51:47Z")
Just wanted to slide this one in, since some film buff is bound to bring it up as at least a Presidential endorsement of the Klan. Woodrow Wilson’s pre-presidential scholarly writings were used to preface D.W. Griffith’s wall-job with the KKK, _Birth of a Nation_. As President in 1915, Wilson was given a private screening of the film, after which he [urpl=http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/birthofanation.html]reputedly responded, “\*t is like writing history with Lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true." (Wilson apparently denied making the statement, though Griffith saw fit to flash _that_ quote in most later versions of the film.) In addition to possibly being a Klansman, Warren Harding may also have been of [of partial African-American descent](http://www.stewartsynopsis.com/warren_gamaliel_harding.htm). According to [this site](http://www.africana.com/research/blackfacts/bl_fact_53.asp), Harding himself considered it possible. My conclusion is that whatever the deal was with Harding, he was definitely all politician. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/5 "2003-10-01T17:10:18Z")
I have no idea wny people think that Warren Harding was a Klansman, except that his administration happened to coincide with a KKK resurgence. Harding was never a member of the Klan, did not support the Klan in any way, shape, or form, and was not supported by the Klan. ---
**Author:** ![KenP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c0e974/32.png) [@KenP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenP)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/6 "2003-10-02T01:03:18Z")
Not a POTUS, but liberal Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black was briefly a member of the KKK. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/7 "2003-10-02T03:11:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jklann \* > \*\*I have no idea wny people think that Warren Harding was a Klansman, except that his administration happened to coincide with a KKK resurgence. Harding was never a member of the Klan, did not support the Klan in any way, shape, or form, and was not supported by the Klan. \*\* Wow! Someone actually standing up for Warren G. Harding, probably the worst president we ever had until Nixon, Reagan, and Shrub came along. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/8 "2003-10-02T03:22:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Wow! Someone actually standing up for Warren G. Harding, probably the worst president we ever had until Nixon, Reagan, and Shrub came along. Actually, this would be a case of standing up for the Straight Dope. Whatever Harding’s many faults, it remains true that he, personally, never endorsed any actions or movements that were discriminatory and, as noted above, all the claims that he joined the Klan tend to be found in promotional literature of the Klan with no evidence presented from the time period. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/9 "2003-10-02T05:50:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > \*\* D.W. Griffith’s wall-job with the KKK, _Birth of a Nation_. \*\* What’s a wall-job? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/10 "2003-10-02T12:34:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by commasense \* > \*\*Wow! Someone actually standing up for Warren G. Harding, probably the worst president we ever had until Nixon, Reagan, and Shrub came along. \*\* While Harding wasn’t a particularly good president, I find him an appealling personality. He was in over his head as president, and knew it, and tried his best despite his limitations. At a time when the KKK was resurgent, he did go out of his way to affirm civil rights for Blacks. He was honest enough – it was his friends who robbed the government blind, without his knowledge. Harding is to be blamed because it was on his watch and they were his appointees, so he ultimately was responsible, but it’s hard not to like a man who tries is best even though the job is beyond his capabilities. He was also the author of this quote: “we must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it, and more anxious about what it can do for the nation.” Sound familiar? Kennedy was more pithy, but said the same thing. **Sofa King** Wilson didn’t endorse the Klan; he endorsed the movie. The Klan was pretty much a forgotten relic at the time _Birth of a Nation_ came out (though the movie was at least partly responsible for the Klan’s resurgence, though the 20s Klan was also successful because it was an early multi-level marketing scheme\*). D.W. Griffith, BTW, was not particularly racist (especially within the context of his time) and was merely repeating myths he had heard from his youth without really analyzing them. When the racial aspects of BOAN raised an uproar (and many of the racial stereotypes shown in the film are still with us today), he made _Intolerance_ to show that he felt racial hatred was wrong. \*Klan leaders made money selling Klan paraphrenalia to members; you got a cut of every sheet sold. A new recruit could make money by recruiting others, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potus-in-kkk/204923/11 "2003-10-02T13:16:25Z")
“I used to dress up in white robes and scare black people. Now I dress up in black robes and scare white people.” - Hugo Black