Editing Midwestern United States (section)

===1920s===
The second [[Ku Klux Klan]] experienced a short surge in the Midwest in the early 1920s, fueled by anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic fears. The KKK in the 1920s was a local membership organization, but its autonomous locals were not coordinated and it had little impact on legislation. Members wanted enforcement of vice laws, especially Prohibition, which many immigrants violated. The Klan reached its peak of visibility in Indiana, where the governor supposedly had connections to the secret group. However, the hundreds of [[Indiana Klan]] chapters collapsed overnight due to a scandal involving the kidnapping and rape and death of a young woman by its state leader. The Klan represented a conformist impulse. Middletown (actually the city of [[Muncie, Indiana]]) was the base for a [[Middletown studies|pioneering sociological study]] conducted by [[Robert S. Lynd]]. The book revealed a powerful business class that promoted civic boosterism, patriotism, and straight-ticket voting, while discouraging political activism and dissent.<ref>Kazin, ed. ''The concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American political history'' (2011) p. 349.</ref>

====Progressive Era====
{{Main|Progressive Era}}

The negative effects of industrialization triggered the political movement of progressivism, which aimed to address its negative consequences through social reform and government regulation. [[Jane Addams]] and [[Ellen Gates Starr]] pioneered the settlement house outreach to newly arrived immigrants by establishing [[Hull House]] in Chicago in 1889. Settlement houses provided social services and played an active role in civic life, helping immigrants prepare for naturalization and campaigning for regulation and services from city government.<ref>Allen F. Davis, "The social workers and the progressive party, 1912-1916." ''American Historical Review'' 69.3 (1964): 671-688 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1845783 online].</ref> Midwestern mayors—especially [[Hazen S. Pingree]] and [[Tom L. Johnson]], led early reforms against boss-dominated municipal politics, while [[Samuel M. Jones]] advocated public ownership of local utilities. [[Robert M. La Follette]], the most famous leader of Midwestern progressivism, began his career by winning election against his state's Republican party in 1900. The machine was temporarily defeated, allowing reformers to launch the "[[Wisconsin idea]]" of expanded democracy. This idea included major reforms such as direct primaries, campaign finance controls, civil service to replace patronage, restrictions on lobbyists, state income and inheritance taxes, child labor restrictions, pure food, and workmen's compensation laws. La Follette promoted government regulation of railroads, public utilities, factories, and banks. Although La Follette lost influence in the national party in 1912, the Wisconsin reforms became a model for progressivism in other states.<ref>Kazin, p. 348.</ref>