Super Heroes

the world. Jewish people fleeing for their lives sought safety in the United States, but American radical groups like the Friends of Germany, Silver Shirts, Defenders of the Christian Faith, the Christian Front, and the Knights of the White Camellia rallied behind Hitler protect did by the First Amendment. These Nazi groups participated in parades and rallies calling for the eradication of the Jewish people. They wore Nazi uniforms and

flew Nazi flags to flaunt their prejudice. They viciously bullied and attacked Jewish people and vandalized their businesses and homes. Now we are free to voice our opinions and beliefs. It's a fundamental right in America. But we're not free of the consequences, and we're not free to move from voice to violence. And these groups they thought they were free of both consequences and the law. They believed that the more brutal they were, the more people would become compliant.

So when they chose to stake acclaim in New York City, they were a bit surprised by the pushback. You see, in the nineteen thirties, New York was a haven for gangsters, and not all of them were Italian. Mayor Landsky and other Jewish mobsters ran prostitution and gambling rings and loan shark operations, and they had plenty of hired hit men. They weren't exactly good men. However, they weren't about to

let Hitler's version of evil invade America. The Nazis might have had some twenty thousand supporters in New York, but that didn't frighten Lansky and his allies. While no one could legally stop the radicalized groups from marching, they could make their own voices. Heard. Of course, that would probably lead to a fight, which was perfectly fine with the mob. Mayor Lansky had friends in high places like the notorious

mafia gangster Lucky Luciano. His connections prompted a judge, Nathan Pearlman to ask Lansky to help teach the Jewish community how to defend themselves. In return, he would grant legal protection and supply the funding under one condition, no killing. A Lansky agreed to help, though he'd clined funding or protection, acutely aware of the Nazi deaf camps in Germany and seeing how the marches in America were increasingly destructive, he

simply refused to make a promise he couldn't keep. Lansky's men and their allies taught Jewish and sympathetic communities how to fight, and before long, street gangs and mobsters began to show up at rallies and shout the Nazis down. The hate groups resorted to their usual violence, but the street gangs outmatched them, putting many of the Nazis in

the hospital with broken bones and teeth. Yet Lansky and the other mobsters never killed anyone, and while the radical groups enjoyed dishing out violence, they didn't like being on the receiving end and demanded protection. The mayor agreed on the condition that they not wear Nazi uniforms, carry Nazi flags or brandish spostikas, and that they refrained from vandalism and any violence. Unwilling to meet those demand ends, the

groups eventually stopped their rallies. Lansky and the others may have been gangsters, but when it came to their approach to Nazis, many saw them as heroes. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to American Shadows. It started on Christmas Eve of eighteen sixty. Upset over losing the Civil War and angry that enslaved people have been freed, a group of Confederate veterans gathered in Pulaski, Tennessee to form a secret society,

one they dubbed the Invisible Empire of the South. Their first order of business was selecting their leader, a former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest. The title of leader didn't come off as imposing enough for their tastes, so they called him a Grand Wizard instead. Forrest ruled over a chain of command made of Grand Dragons, grant Titans, and Grand Cyclops. No, it wasn't a nineteenth century tabletop role

playing game. The men, most of whom were extremist members of their political party had created a white terrorist hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. Unwilling to accept President Andrew Johnson's reconstruction Arab policies providing equal protection under the Constitution for formerly enslaved people, the men dedicated themselves to civil unrest and violence. Their main targets were black schools, businesses, and

political leaders. They also targeted white sympathizers and politicians. In eighteen sixty nine, with Arson lynch Ng's murders and other hate crimes out of control, Forrest tried to disband the KKK, but to no avail, and by eighteen seventy the clan had branches in practically every Southern state. Members ranged for poured wealthy, and they rooted themselves into every aspect of law enforcement and the courts, making it hard to bring

them to justice. In eighteen seventy one, President Grant used military force to wipe most of the group out. The fires of hate rekindled in nineteen fifteen when die hard Confederates rallied a new generation to their lost Cause philosophy. Advocates of the ideology romanticized the Confederate's efforts, claiming that

slavery had brought economic prosperity not possible with paid labor. Further, they painted themselves as the chivalrous and to bellum South, whose state rights had been ignored by the aggressive North. The narrative the Confederate veterans spun was one of a noble and just cause, that the South's generals were good men with ethics and high morals. The South, they said, was a gentle, more traditional way of life with strong

Christian values. They claimed that the Union, with their larger population and more militant lifestyle, wanted to exploit the South's power and wealth, that the South had a right to succeed, and that greedy Northern industrial businessmen and politicians had set

out to steal the power for themselves by force. The film The Birth of a Nation, a silent movie based on the novel The Klansmen, also hit theaters in nineteen fift To this day, the film is still considered one of the most controversial and racist movies Hollywood has ever made. It sparked an intense upturn in the Lost Cause movement, mostly by Confederate soldiers who were dying and wanted to

preserve their memories. The film portrayed the ku Klux Klan as defenders of women from black sexual predators and as heroic protectors of American values. It sparked fresh racism and inspired former preacher William Simmons to resurrect the clan. Simmons gathered friends and a handful of elderly original clan members. Together, they set fire to a cross on top of Stone Mountain in Georgia on Thanksgiving Day. The message was clear,

the KKK had returned. Simmons, who had been honorably discharged from the Spanish American War, dropped out of medical school and been suspended from the church for inefficiency, finally found the attention he sought. He declared himself the Imperial Wizard of the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. This time, the clan expanded their hate toward other groups, including Native Americans, Italians, Jews, the Irish, Catholics,

labor unions, certain political parties. Basically, Simmons and the others wanted only American born, Anglo Saxon Protestant white men to call the shots. They used fear to gain public support, preying on people's insecurities during the uncertain times surrounding the

First World War. They insisted people of specific legions and races where the root cause of all their problems, all crime, all poverty, immorality, disease, and anything else that troubled America, and he and his nights were going to save America by putting those people in their subservient place. The clan also used labor strikes to stir the pot. The Simmons claimed strikers were in league with foreign powers and communists. By the nineteen twenties, the clan had over four million

members across the nation, even in northern states. In Indiana, the KKK boasted two and fifty thousand members, quickly becoming one of the largest chapters in the country. Heading up the Indiana branch of the clan was David Curtis Stevenson, one of the most powerful men in the state. Reportedly charismatic, Stevenson wasn't short on compliments for himself. He told everyone who would listen that he had the biggest brains and

would be the biggest man in the United States. He had moved to Evansville in ninety and had worked for a retail coat company. Though he told people he was wealthy, and had come from wealth. In reality, had been born in Houston, Texas to a family of sharecroppers. Stevenson had little schooling, having left to work as a printer's apprentice

before joining the army. He never saw combat in World War One, but his training provided him with the means to effectively organize and lead the clan in Indiana and six other states. He helped create the white supremacist newspaper, The Fiery Cross. He also became the top recruiter for the clan, bringing in nearly fifty undred new members and offering Protestant ministers free membership and the wealthy brad Dove came quickly from the sales of uniforms and other items

that clan members purchased. Though his vanity and mistruths continued, clan members worshiped him. At a gathering for the fourth of July in three he addressed a hundred thousand members. He arrived late and gave an excuse that thrilled them. He had been counseling the President of the United States, he told them, and harding had kept him unduly long. It was another lie, of course, but the crowd believed him. Warren g Harding had denounced lynching and had made some

efforts to combat the clan. The clan had become so angry with the president that they spread rumors that he was secretly a klansman himself. It wouldn't be the first or the last time Stevenson used the rumor to spread misinformation. He had helped two prominent local politicians rise to power. After all, he had used the clan to intimidate voters, putting Edward L. Jackson in the governor's mansion. I'm proud of his effort, Stevenson told the crowd, I am the

law in Indiana. The clan didn't like Catholics, much less Irish immigrants, and the nearby Notre Dame had become a thorn in Stephenson's side and something had to be done, and he organized a rally in South Bend. Stephenson's clansmen had harassed the University of Dayton in Ohio the previous year. They had burned crosses and cemeteries and on school grounds. After repeated acts of terrorism, the football team successfully chased off the clansmen. The clan retaliated, setting off bombs and

setting an eight foot cross ablaze. On school property. As the students doused the flames, fifty cars of clansmen arrived. The men surrounded the students and attacked them. Town residents joined the fray, eventually beating back the clan. If they couldn't intimidate that school, the clan would pick another to harass,

and Notre Dame was right on Stevenson's door step. The students had heard about the attack on the Ohio University, so they weren't too surprised when clansmen arrived on school property to lecture about the dangers that the Irish and other immigrants posed, as well as the problem with Catholicism. One clansmen posted up in an auditorium, handing out leaflets and telling students and staff that Catholics were horrible Americans.

The Irish students responded by throwing potatoes at him that they had stolen from the cafeteria, and the man fled. Stevenson retaliated, and he was playing a long game. He used scare tactics to force citizens into voting clan candidates into government office. If you couldn't force the school to shut down, one way, he'd do it. Another university president, father Matthew Walsh began to fear for his student safety. He and two other priests went to talk to the

Chief of Police, Lawrence Lane, to file a complaint. Chief Lane didn't want the clan there either, and assured Walsh that the group been denied permits for rallies and parades. Relieved, Walsh and the others left. What they didn't know was that the clan didn't care about the law and South Bend, nor did they care about the students. On March seventeenth of NTO, a large number of clansmen arrived in South

Bend by car and train. At first glance, they could have been anyone until you noticed the white robes and hoods they carried. As the day wore on Moore arrived, members who had shown up earlier dawned their robes and began directing traffic for even more incoming clansmen. Father Walsh knew a storm was brewing. When the word hit Notre Dame that the clan had arrived, students began to trickle

off campus. Though Father Walsh issued a warning for them to stay on school ground, the students weren't going to sit idly by and let a bunch of men dressed in sheets run them off. They loosely formed groups and hoofed it the two miles to downtown South Bend. Once there, they found a scuffle already in progress. The clan was attacking and beating local Catholic citizens who had come to voice their opinions against the clan. Seeing an opportunity, a

few students pretended to wander in alone. The clan members, all grown men, saw the boys as easy targets and chased them down alleys where other Notre Dame students waited. Meanwhile, football players charged into groups of clansmen, sending them tumbling, making it easier for local citizens to gain the upper hand. Beaten and bloody, the clan made a hasty retreat to their headquarters. They called Chief Lane, who refused to press charges against the students. Well, unless the clan wanted charges

pressed against them, they did not. Stevenson used the riot to paint Notre Dame students as violent hoodlumps. He claimed that their behavior only proved his point about the Irish and Catholics being menaces that had to be dealt with. In Stevenson's eyes, he could spin this into the best propaganda, Yet still the clan licked their wounds. Only one klansman

had walked away unscathed that day. Of policemen, who had kept one hand on his gun while threatening the students, though he didn't kill anyone that day, had promised they would get what was coming to them. The students didn't care. They had just kicked the kkks butts. They arrived back at campus the souvenirs of torn robes and hoods and ran them up the flagpole for the klansmen to see. The clan was furious and embarrassed they had been sent

packing by a bunch of college kids. For damage control, Stevenson used his connections to portray the students as potato throwing savages in the newspapers and that the clan had been peaceful. Father Walsh was angry. The statements in the article were not only untrue, they were racist and derogatory, but there was little he could do. The clan had also pulled strings to get thirty deputies to stand guard over their headquarters, where a cross emblazoned with red lights

sat in the window. To Father Walsh, the clan was flaunting their power and to his students that red cross was like flashing a red cape in front of an angry bull. It had been a chaotic weekend, and all sophomore Bill Fooey wanted to do was settle into a normal week. It was a Monday, and he sat in his dorm room studying chemistry. When the phone rang down the hall. He paid little mind until he heard shouting and doors slamming. Someone knocked on his door and yelled,

they've got one of the boys downtown. The messenger didn't say who had been taken, but he had an idea of why. The Ku Klux Klan was out for revenge. Over five hundred students ran down to South Bend the cross with the red light bulbs burned brightly in the window. Deputies stood guard, many of whom the boys recognized as clansmen. While the boys were armed with nothing more than rotten food, the deputized clansmen surrounded them and began beating them with clubs.

The students fought back. Father Walsh got word about the fight and drove into South Bend. He climbed on top of a cannon that was part of a monument and shouted over the crowd, pleading for peace and for his students to return to school grounds. It wasn't like Father Walsh to plead every single student returned to the school. Walsh stayed until everyone students, clansmen, and deputies left. When the street was finally empty, he returned to Notre Dame.

The following day. The clan told the papers that they had come across the students beating on women and children and had simply been defending the innocent. Then they promptly left town, vowing to return in greater numbers to handle the issue. They never returned, though, and the students went down in history for taking on the clan and winning. Father Walsh found him standing before the mayor and the chief of police on Tuesday. A few local clan members

also showed up. For a while, Walsh sat in silence as the clansmen repeated their lies about his students attacking women and children the previous night. He listened with disinterest when some of the townspeople complained about how rowdy the students had been. When everyone finished speaking, they turned to hear what the father intended to do about his misbehaving students. Walsh said, give and their history of boorish behavior in our community an incident like this was just a matter

of time, and then he left. He never punished a single student for standing up to the clan. The school didn't expel or even suspend anyone who had participated in defending the town or themselves against the clan that night. Despite Stevenson's best hopes and efforts, the school did not dissolve or fall into disgrace. Instead, it flourished the clan, and Stevenson didn't fare so well. There wasn't a single report of the injured women are children who the clan

insisted had been viciously attacked. Instead, word about the clan getting beaten up and ran out of town by college kids spread. Then the second blow hit Grand Dragon. Stevenson was arrested for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of twenty eight year old Madge Oberholtzer, whom he had met at the governor's inauguration back on January twenty five five. He had hired her to work as his aid, running messages to and from his office, and she had even helped

him write a book. On March fifteenth, Stevenson's secretary called match and told her she was needed immediately. Eight hours later, her parents reported her missing. Mad showed up two days later in bad shape, bleeding, badly bruised, and with numerous bite marks on her body. When questioned, she told her parents what had happened at the hands of a man

she had trusted. Stevenson had been drunk when she had arrived that day, and he and his men had forced her to the train station and then onto a train heading to Chicago. Then they shoved her into a private compartment where Stevenson brutally beat bit, cut and assaulted her. So she cried out. None of the men stopped him, and no one helped match. When she got off the train with Stevenson in Hammond, Indiana, he and the other

clan members took her to a hotel. The next day, he had his men take Marge back home, where they dumped her. A boarder at her parents home found her and summoned help. Madge would die from her injuries. Stephenson didn't bother to run from the police. Actually, he seemed surprised when his political ties and protectors abandoned him. Stephenson was convicted on November twenty four of ninety The Indiana

clan fell apart soon after. In nine, and by nineteen thirty most members found themselves out of work in the midst of the Great Depression, unable to pay their dues. Membership dropped to just forty five thousand. In nineteen fifty, Stephenson was paroled. None of his former connections would have anything to do with him, for fear of the stigma the relationship would bring. He died in nineteen sixty six, penniless,

alone and forgotten. There's more to this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. It was the golden age of radio across the nation. Families sat in their living rooms to listen to a variety of news and entertainment broadcasts. Long before cable TV and the Disney Channel. Parents enjoyed a little downtime when the kids sat quietly to listen to their favorite shows.

Superman had long been a favorite of children who read comic strips, and they were equally fascinated with the radio show. When it first aired in kids hurried home from school, did their homework, ate their dinner, and sat wide eyed while voice actors and audio producers brought the stories to life. In six Stepson Kennedy, an author, journalist and human rights activist came up with an idea for the show Superman Versus the KKK. He had despised the group ever since

he was a child. As a teen, had been devastated by the loss of his family's maid, a black woman whom the family loved. Several clansmen had assaulted and killed her for questioning the change. A white bus driver handed her. Clan membership had experienced a resurgence in the nineteen forties, and they had their sights set on removing anyone who

stood in their way. Stetson wanted to do something about them to bring America's full attention to the terrorist group in their midst To give the show the best insight and to best humiliate the clan, Stetson knew he had to infiltrate the group. He went undercover in Atlanta, visiting bars he thought the clan frequented. He told everyone he sold encyclopedias. He drank a lot of beer and played even more games of pool, and eventually he got an

invitation to joined the Georgia Fraternity. After receiving his robes, he attended regular meetings where he learned the clan's secret passwords, and to his astonishment, they turned out to be nothing more than adding the letters K and L in front of certain words in their minds. Adding the letters would confuse any outsiders from understanding what they were talking about. There was a secret handshake to a limp, wristed grasp,

and a wiggle. Members had to pay dues and by their uniforms exclusively from the clan for fifteen dollars each. That's two dollars today for pretty much a sheet. All told, the clan was a profitable pyramid scheme based around hatred. Stetson took extensive notes and even risked rating the Grand Dragon's waste basket. He learned about the clans secret rituals and their plans for violence. The I R S slapped the Atlanta chapter with a six five thousand dollar bill

when he alerted them about the chapter's taxivation. Being a mole in the clan was dangerous. They'd kill him if they found him out, and he couldn't trust law enforcement if he wound up in a bind. The local cops were of two minds, those who were afraid and those who were members. Instead, Stetson had to trust the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and hope he wouldn't be out it. Before long, the radio producers had enough material for the sixteen part mini series The Adventures of Superman Plan of

the Fiery Cross. The show pitted Superman against the Clan and used fiction to reveal the clan's real rituals, demystifying them. Four and a half million listeners tuned in, including clan members children. One member reported he came home from work to find his son with a towel tied around his shoulders like a cape, chasing other kids wearing pillowcases over their heads. The kid told his father he was Superman, ridding the world of the bad men in the KKK.

The clan has been worried that his son, who had always looked up to him, might now find his robes and hood. Stetson promptly left the clan and didn't out himself until when he was asked to testify in front of a grand jury. The clan had bombed religious and community centers in black, Jewish and Catholic neighborhoods. The clan tried to silence him with death threats, by shooting his dog and with frequent attempts at setting his home on fire.

Like the Man of Steel himself, Stetson didn't back down. The public no longer thought of the clan as something arcane and enigmatic. They joked about grown men acting like schoolyard bullies with their secret Dakota rings. Recruitment dropped, and when the clan held rallies, people flocked to see them, not to hear what the hate group had to say, though, no the public came to mock them. Stetson Kennedy died

a hero in his own right. He lived a long life, passing away in his home At the Age of American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed, and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show,

visit Grim and Mild dot com. From more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.