PRINTED CHARGES THAT HUGO L. BLACK OF ALABAMA, NEWLY-APPOINTED SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, IS A MEMBER OF THE KU KLUX KLAN AND HAS ACCEPTED ITS SUPPORT IN ELECTIONS HAVE CREATED A NATION WIDE SENSATION.
The THIRD IN THE SERIES OF ARTICLES CONTAINING THE CHARGES, PRINTED TODAY IN THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, CONTAINS WHAT PURPORTS TO BE A STENOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS AT THE FOURTH ANNUAL KLOLERO OF THE ALABAMA KLAN IN BIRMINGHAM ON SEPT. 2, 1926, AT WHICH MR. BLACK ACCEPTED A GOLD “GRAND PASSPORT” INDICATING LIFE MEMBERSHIP IN THE KLAN AND MADE A SPEECH DECLARING HIMSELF IN ACCORD WITH THE AIMS AND IDEALS OF THE ORGANIZATION.
THE FOURTH ARTICLE, PUBLISHED TOMORROW, STATES THAT AT THE SAME MEETING AT WHICH IMPERIAL WIZARD HIRAM W. EVANS ATTACKED CATHOLICS, NEGROES AND FOREIGN BORN, MR. BLACK DECLARED HIMSELF IN SYMPATHY WITH KLAN PRINCIPLES AND ACKNOWLEDGED HIS POLITICAL DEBT TO THE ORGANIZATION.
WHILE MR. BLACK, IN LONDON, CONTINUED IN HIS REFUSAL TO MAKE A DEFINITE STATEMENT, PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, WHO NOMINATED THE FORMER SENATOR TO THE SUPREME COURT, SAID IN A STATEMENT IN WASHINGTON THAT HE KNEW ONLY WHAT HE HAD “READ IN THE NEWSPAPERS,” THAT “PUBLICATION IS NOT COMPLETE” AND THAT UNTIL SUCH TIME AS MR. BLACK RETURNS “THERE IS NO FURTHER COMMENT TO MAKE.”
THE PRESIDENT’S STATEMENT DID NOT STILL THE CHORUS OF COMMENTS IN CONGRESSIONAL CIRCLES. SENATORS EXPRESSED THE VIEW THAT MR. BLACK’S MEMBERSHIP SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE KNOWN BEFORE THE SENATE CONFIRMED THE APPOINTMENT, SEVERAL DECLARING THEY WOULD HAVE VOTED “NO” HAD THEY HAD THE INFORMATION. REPRESENTATIVE KNUTSON OF MINNESOTA SAID HE WOULD ASK CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION. DOUBT WAS EXPRESSED THAT THERE WAS ANY CONSTITUTIONAL METHOD TO KEEP MR. BLACK FROM OCCUPYING HIS SEAT ON THE BENCH, EXCEPT RESIGNATION, PARTICULARLY SINCE – AS THE NEW YORK TIMES REVEALS TOMORROW – HE TOOK HIS OATH OF OFFICE SECRETLY AUG.
THE CONTROVERSY WAS BROUGHT INTO THE NEW YORK MAYORALTY CAMPAIGN BY SENATOR COPELAND, CANDIDATE FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION, WHO CHARGED HIS OPPONENT, JEREMIAH T. MAHONEY, WAS IMPLICATED SINCE HE SUPPORTED PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, BUT THE ISSUE REBOUNDED
AGAINST SENATOR COPELAND WHEN A KLAN LEADER IN BIRMINGHAM SAID HE HAD SUPPORTED COPELAND IN HIS CAMPAIGN FOR SENATOR AND THE NEW YORK POST DECLARED THAT KLANSMEN IN UPPER NEW YORK STATE SUPPORTED THE SENATOR.
THE POST, WHICH HAD WITHHELD COMMENT PENDING COMPLETION OF ITS OWN INVESTIGATION, DECLARED IN A FRONT-PAGE EDITORIAL TODAY THAT “THE PRESIDENT MADE A GRIEVOUS MISTAKE IN NOMINATING SENATOR BLACK FOR THE SUPREME COURT.” IT DEMANDED THAT UNLESS MR. BLACK RESIGNS MR. ROOSEVELT INSIST THAT HE STEP DOWN.
THE AFFAIR SERVED TO FOCUS ATTENTION ANEW ON THE MORIBUND ANTI-SEMITIC, ANTI-CATHOLIC, ANTI-NEGRO KLAN. J.L. BASKIN, RICHMOND (VA.) LAWYER, WHO DESCRIBED HIMSELF AS THE GRAND DRAGON OF THE REALM OF THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE COVERING VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA, MARYLAND AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ARRIVED HERE AND TOLD REPORTERS AT THE PARK CENTRAL HOTEL THAT THE KLAN WILL KEEP AN EYE ON “THIS UN-AMERICAN CITY” TO LEARN HOW TO COMBAT THE “FOREIGN ELEMENTS” WHO ARE USING IT AS A PROVING GROUND FOR TACTICS IN THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS OF 1938 AND 1940.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
