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The Nativist Klan

Ku Klux Klan outfit, Hollis, 1963

Ku Klux Klan outfit, Hollis, 1963

Item 192 info
Maine Historical Society

The Klan largely disappeared nationally and in Maine by 1930, after helping to defeat Al Smith, a Catholic, in his run for the presidency in 1928.

Its rapid decline in Maine can be attributed to several scandals involving bribery, adultery, embezzlement, and bootlegging and to the fact that Maine people generally did not respond to its hate campaigns once the organization’s goals were widely known.

The organization reportedly had only about 225 members statewide by 1930.