Editing Kokomo, Indiana (section)

===Ku Klux Klan===
In the summer of 1923, record numbers attended rallies of the [[Indiana Klan|Ku Klux Klan in Indiana]]. On June 16, 1923, a crowd of 75,000 attended a Klan rally in [[Terre Haute, Indiana|Terre Haute]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6986808/large_klan_rally_in_terre_haute/|title=Klansmen at Terre Haute|work=Indianapolis News|date=June 18, 1923|page=8|access-date=October 11, 2016|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> On June 21 [[Argos, Indiana|Argos]] held the largest rally it had ever seen.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6987245/ku_klux_klan_meeting_in_argos_indiana/|title=K.K.K. Meeting|work=Argos [Indiana] Reflector|date=June 28, 1923|page=1|access-date=October 11, 2016|via=newspqaper.com}}</ref> On June 26 a large Klan rally was held in [[Alexandria, Indiana|Alexandria]]. All of this was merely a prelude to the rally planned for Kokomo. Conceived as a "monster tristate conclave," it was intended to charter 93 Indiana klans representing more than 300,000 members.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6987574/monster_tristate_conclave_of_ku_klux/|title=Klan Plans Big Time at Kokomo|work= Logansport [Indiana] Pharos-Tribune|date=July 2, 1923|page=7|access-date=October 11, 2016|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Some doubted the prospect of 200,000 attendees, claiming it would be "without parallel in history";<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6987649/estimate_of_200000_for_klan_rally_in/|title=Ku Klux Klan Meeting in Crothersville|work=[Seymour, Indiana] Tribune|date=July 2, 1923|page=1|access-date=October 11, 2016|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> others predicted attendance of 300,000.<ref name=ColumbKKK>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6989410/planning_for_kokomo_klan_conclave_for/|title=5 Special Cars to Klan Meeting|work=[Columbus, Indiana] Republic|date=July 3, 1923|access-date=October 12, 2016|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Extensive preparations for that number were made, including the scheduling of 1,000 interurban cars from around Indiana to Kokomo.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6987349/interurban_cars_scheduled_for_the/|title=No title|work=Waterloo [Indiana] Press|date=June 28, 1923|page=4|access-date=October 11, 2016|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> The [[Indiana Railroad|Union Traction Company]], in addition to supplying 50 cars, transported three cars of white horses to Kokomo for the parade.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6989629/union_traction_to_transport_50_carloads/|title=Special Cars of Klan to Kokomo|work=[Seymour, Indiana] Tribune|date=July 3, 1923|page=1|access-date=October 11, 2016|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> The Kokomo Klan rented the fields surrounding its own large lot for parking, and electric amplifiers were obtained to allow the large crowd to hear the speeches.<ref name=ColumbKKK/>

According to historian Robert Coughlan, "literally half" of Kokomo residents were members of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] during its height in the 1920s and 1930s.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gerber|first1=Carson|title=Study says hate group in Kokomo: Southern Poverty Law Center: KKK among state's 26 such factions|url=http://www.kokomotribune.com/news/study-identifies-kokomo-as-home-of-kkk-hate-group/article_a66da288-fdfd-11e6-91a7-6bab5238e8d1.html|access-date=2 March 2017|publisher=Kokomo Tribune|date=1 March 2017|ref=A1, continued on A10}}</ref> On July 4, 1923, Kokomo achieved national notoriety when it hosted the largest Ku Klux Klan gathering in history. An estimated 200,000 Klan members and supporters gathered in Malfalfa Park for a massive Konklave in which [[D. C. Stephenson]] was elevated to the position of Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan.<ref>McVeigh, Rory, ''The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan: Right-wing Movements and National Politics'' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press: c2009), pp. 1–4.</ref><ref>{{Cite book
 | title = The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America
 | author = Wyn Craig Wade
 | year = 1998
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | page = 216
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6O_XYBMhNYAC&pg=PA216
 | isbn = 978-0-19-512357-9
}}</ref> Other estimates say the crowd was only 10,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://historicindianapolis.com/indianapolis-collected-d-c-stephensons-revenge/ |title=Indianapolis Collected: D.C. Stephenson's revenge|website=Historicindianapolis.com |date=August 22, 2015 |access-date=March 21, 2018}}</ref> A huge flag was used that day to collect a reported $50,000 for construction of a local "Klan hospital" so that Klan members would not have to be treated at the only local hospital, which was Catholic.<ref>"Konklave in Kokomo" by Robert Coughlan, The Aspirin Age: 1919–1941, pp. 105–129. ed. [[Isabel Leighton]], Simon and Schuster, 1949</ref> Both men's and women's Klans held weekly rallies and initiations in Malfalfa Park, and Kokomo's Klanswomen held meetings at the armory, the local headquarters of the [[Women of the Ku Klux Klan]], and churches. A speech at a Baptist church was attended by 1,000 Klanswomen.<ref>{{Cite book
 | title = Women of the Klan: Racism and Gender in the 1920s
 | author = Kathleen M. Blee
 | year = 2009
 | publisher = University of California Press
 | page = 138
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Zh5zQFaJNGYC&pg=PA138
 | isbn = 978-0-520-94292-9
}}</ref>

The Kokomo rally sent shockwaves through the national [[GOP]], which had come to believe that the re-election of President [[Warren G. Harding]] depended on the vote of Indiana. According to the Washington correspondent of the ''[[New York World]]'', Republicans feared that the Klan had "obliterated party lines" and "virtually swallowed" the Indiana Republican Party. Since the Republicans held only a 25,000 vote plurality in the state, any serious defection of African-Americans would tip the state to the Democrats.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6993309/the_hancock_democrat/|title=Republicans Fear Ku Klux Klan in Indiana|work=The Hancock Democrat [Greenfield, Indiana]|date=July 12, 1923|page=6|access-date=October 12, 2016|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> In the event, Harding died within a month and Republican [[Calvin Coolidge]] succeeded him with a substantial electoral majority (including Indiana) against a divided opposition. The Klan, however, continued to dominate state politics especially after the election of [[Edward L. Jackson]] as governor.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}