The Rest Is History | Episode 655

The Ku Klux Klan: Terror in the South (Part 2)

Hosts: Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook
Release Date: March 26, 2026

Episode Overview

In this gripping and disturbing episode, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook continue their deep dive into the origins, rise, and activities of the original Ku Klux Klan during the Reconstruction era in the American South. Building on part one, they analyze the Klan’s campaign of terror, the broader political climate, its impact on Black citizens, and the troubled federal responses to their violence. The episode also unravels the mythologizing of the Klan in both academic and popular history, teasing the infamous 20th-century resurrection of the organization to be covered in the next installment.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Klan as an Instrument of Political Violence

[03:41] Tom introduces a chilling Klan threat from 1868, highlighting the group’s combination of violence, racism, and theatrical intimidation.

Dominic:

• The Klan swiftly evolved from a Confederate veterans’ social club into a sprawling terrorist network, attracting white men across social strata—lawyers, doctors, farmers, laborers—united by opposition to Black rights and Republican rule.
• At its peak (late 1860s), the Klan had dens in a quarter of Southern counties and around 150,000 members, aiming at the South’s 3–4 million newly freed Black citizens (about a third of the population).

2. The 1868 Election: Violence and Intimidation

[05:54] The 1868 Presidential election is portrayed as a conflict with existential stakes, pitting Ulysses S. Grant’s Republicans (advocating Reconstruction and equal rights) against Democrat Horatio Seymour’s overtly white supremacist campaign.

Dominic:

“One Democratic tactician said explicitly, our strategy is to exploit the aversion with which the masses contemplate the equality of the Negro.” (09:18)

• The Klan and allied groups like the Knights of the White Camellia used widespread violence to suppress Republican and Black votes across the South.

Case Studies:

• Tennessee: Massive intimidation—of 2,000 registered Black voters in Pulaski, only 600–700 showed up; many voted Democratic under duress and for "protection papers".
• Georgia & South Carolina: Killings, shootings, whippings, and ballot confiscation reduced Republican votes to near zero in Black-majority counties (e.g., “In Columbia county, it fell from 1,200 to one vote.” [13:59]).
• Louisiana: In some parishes, more than half the white male population belonged to the Knights, who killed at least 200 Black people before the election.
• Local and state authorities, often complicit, failed to respond, while Northern fatigue and faith in states' rights hampered federal intervention.

3. The Problem of Federal Authority

Dominic:

"The problem that runs through this whole story of Reconstruction is that in the north, people think, we've won the war. Can we just go home now, please, and crack on with making loads of money? ...also they think they really believe in their federal system...and they think ultimately the state should decide." (16:21)

• Even many Northern abolitionists lost the will to intervene, rationalizing that emancipation was "enough."
• Federal government’s ability—and will—to enforce Black rights was limited by political (states’ rights) and cultural (latent racism) constraints.

4. Black Officeholders and White Southern Reaction

[24:30] When military rule ended, Black political representation surged in states like South Carolina, Louisiana (first Black governor, PBS Pinchback), and Mississippi (first Black U.S. senator, Hiram Rhodes Revels).

Dominic:

"For white Southerners... It's an unbelievable affront if you've been raised before the war in the worldview of white supremacy, and you don't even think that a black man is a human being." (27:32)

• White backlash fueled a new wave of violence, with Klan attacks targeting not just voters but politicians, teachers, and community leaders.

5. The Klan as Political Paramilitary

Eric Foner quoted:

“The Klan was a military force serving the interests of the Democratic Party, the planter class, and all those who desired the restoration of white supremacy. Its purposes were political in the broadest sense...to destroy the Republican Party's infrastructure...and restore racial subordination in every aspect of Southern life.” (29:23)

• The analogy is drawn to the IRA as the armed wing of Sinn Féin: the Klan as the Democratic Party's violent arm.

6. Atrocity and Impunity

[31:51-33:37] The hosts recount harrowing stories (e.g., Abraham Colby's torture) to illustrate the calculated and public brutality of the Klan.

"They whipped me for three hours...They actually frightened [my daughter] to death. She never got over it until she died." (Colby testimony)

• Law enforcement and local courts, often controlled by Klansmen, ensured perpetrators enjoyed complete impunity.

7. The Limited Federal Response and the Temporary Quelling of the Klan

• After sustained violence in York County, South Carolina (where nearly every white man joined the Klan), federal troops under Major Lewis Merrill (likened humorously to Tom Holland) were dispatched.
• The Enforcement Acts and Ku Klux Klan Act (1870–1871) gave President Grant unprecedented legal tools:
  • Made it a federal crime to conspire to deny political rights
  • Allowed suspension of habeas corpus and federal troop intervention in lawless areas
• Grant eventually flooded trouble spots with troops (notably in York County), leading to Klan collapse—at least temporarily—by 1872.

Tom Holland:

"So the Klan was beaten...but it has already achieved most of what it wanted to do." (58:49)

8. Lingering Effects and the Failure of Reconstruction

• The Democratic Party regained control in Southern states, Black institutions were destroyed, and the North grew apathetic.
• Successor white supremacist groups (White League, Red Shirts) carried on violent suppression.
• The "Compromise of 1877" ended Reconstruction entirely, federal troops withdrew, and the South entered the Jim Crow era of entrenched segregation and disenfranchisement.

Dominic:

"There is not an alternative reality in which this could have worked out differently...White supremacy was of such existential importance to them that they would do anything to preserve it." (62:45)

9. Myth and Memory—Whitewashing the Klan in History

• By the early 20th century, the Klan is reimagined in Southern memory and academic histories as heroic defenders of civilization, exemplified in Walter Lynwood Fleming’s 1905 account.
• Thomas Dixon’s 1915 novel The Klansman—and its adaptation into DW Griffith’s film The Birth of a Nation—revived and glamorized the Klan, directly inspiring the organization’s 1920s rebirth.

Dominic:

"In this version of history, the Klan are not racist vigilantes, but they are the intrepid, swashbuckling defenders of white civilization." (68:20)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the foundational violence:
  "There is not enough federal troops in the south to stop it...paramilitary violence works." (18:17 / Dominic Sandbrook)
• On shocking impunity:
  "Most people who are arrested are never prosecuted...there seemed to be almost no public sense of right and wrong, no appreciation of the heinousness of crimes committed upon helpless and unoffending people." (58:49 / Dominic Sandbrook, quoting NY Tribune)
• On Northern disinterest:
  "12 years now I've been listening to all this stuff...it's the most boring subject in the world." (61:26 / Dominic Sandbrook)
• On historical revisionism:
  “In this version of history, the Klan are not racist vigilantes, but they are the intrepid, swashbuckling defenders of white civilization.” (68:20 / Dominic Sandbrook)

Important Timestamps

• 03:41-05:49: Klan threat letter and expansion overview
• 09:18: The overt racism of Democratic campaign strategy
• 13:59-15:00: Case studies of Klan intimidation in elections
• 16:21: Limits of federal response and Northern attitudes
• 24:30: Rise of Black officeholders and Southern rage
• 29:23: Eric Foner on the Klan’s political role
• 31:51: Atrocities against Black leaders
• 42:24: Federal troops’ ineffective presence (likened to UN peacekeepers)
• 47:07: Arrival of Major Merrill and military crackdown in York County
• 53:54: Limited ambitions and ideologies of Republicans regarding Black rights
• 54:56: The Enforcement Acts and Ku Klux Klan Act
• 58:49: The fleeting success of federal action, lack of prosecutions
• 62:45: Irreconcilable commitment to white supremacy
• 65:57: The forgotten, more deadly successors to the original Klan
• 68:04: The rise of the "Lost Cause" myth and historical revisionism
• 70:35-70:40: Tease for next episode—second Klan and Birth of a Nation influence

Episode Tone & Style

Despite the gravity and horror of the subject matter, Tom and Dominic weave empathy, dark wit, and the banter familiar to their listeners throughout, emphasizing both scholarly insight and the visceral human cost of Reconstruction-era racism and violence. They punctuate analysis with dry humor, cultural analogies (e.g., comparing the Klan to the IRA, likening UN peacekeepers to federal troops), and self-reflection on historical scholarship.

Conclusion

Episode 655 lays bare the mechanics of racialized terror in the Reconstruction South and the Klan’s decisive role in smashing Black political participation. It also underscores the tangled limits of U.S. federal power, the depth of Southern white resistance, and how history can be twisted to serve new mythologies. The episode sets up a transition into the Klan’s 20th-century reincarnation and the culture-shaping power of historical narrative—a story to be continued in part three.

For a detailed exploration of the Klan’s 20th-century revival and the influence of cinema, tune into the next episode.