The kkk in the early 20th century had over 4 million members throughout the USA. That was about 4% of the entire USA population. It was popular in democrat strongholds in both the north and the south.
Klansmen included prominent members of society and although clandestine, they were able to get many sympathetic politicians elected. They were quite accepted at the time. There were over 300 active klansmen at the 1924 Democratic National Convention ( The Ku Klux Klan In American Politics , Arnold Rice).
These days kkk numbers in the USA are down to 3,000 and they tend to be poor and uneducated.
I find the cartoon depiction above to be quite accurate.
The KKK was also never accepted universally by the media, general public and politicians, and I'm pretty sure there numbers were much smaller.
The kkk in the early 20th century had over 4 million members throughout the USA. That was about 4% of the entire USA population. It was popular in democrat strongholds in both the north and the south.
Klansmen included prominent members of society and although clandestine, they were able to get many sympathetic politicians elected. They were quite accepted at the time. There were over 300 active klansmen at the 1924 Democratic National Convention ( The Ku Klux Klan In American Politics , Arnold Rice).
These days kkk numbers in the USA are down to 3,000 and they tend to be poor and uneducated.
I find the cartoon depiction above to be quite accurate.
Other: https://www.history.com/topics/reconstruction/ku-klux-klan