1925 - The Ku Klux Klan is at the Height of its Power in Colorado
The local Klan holds a meeting in the district courtroom of Douglas County with “good attendance.” (Record Journal of Douglas County, 27 February 1925)
The Ku Klux Klan had no presence in Colorado in 1920.
"Colorado had nearly 30,000 Klan members between 1924 and 1926, History Colorado records show. Colorado is thought to have had the second highest KKK numbers in the nation at this time. In 1921, the Denver Doers Club was established. This group was the Klan by another name and their members, headed by the Colorado Klan leader, Dr. John Galen Locke, held rituals such as cross burnings and initiations atop the mesas near Golden, CO." (History Colorado, Website)
"History Colorado’s digitized Ku Klux Klan ledgers, which debuted online this week at historycolorado.org/kkkledgers. The archive, which contains 1,300 pages of original KKK membership records, only covers the years 1924 through 1926, but its contents are stunning.
The 30,000 people listed in the books extend to every strata of society, highlighting the widespread racism built into Denver’s political and cultural life less than a century ago." (Denver Post)
"But the ledgers also show how pervasive the Klan was in day-to-day life, where the people they persecuted and intimidated would encounter them. The membership rolls show Klansmen worked at banks, pie companies, railroads, grocery stores, pharmacies, the zoo, the parks, the post office, cab companies, cafes, the stockyard, the city jail, the courthouse, laundry businesses, cab companies and this newspaper. They also worked at Denver landmarks, like Elitch Gardens, the Brown Palace Hotel, Union Station and Lakeside Amusement Park." (Denver Post 6/6/2021)
There was a concerted effort at this time and in the coming decades to place Klan members into mainstream politics. Famously, Benjamin F. Stapleton, member of the Denver Klan, was elected Denver’s mayor with the support of the KKK, as was Colorado Governor Clarence J. Morley, and US Senator Rice W. Means, also members, as well as many other elected officials throughout the country. By the end of 1924, the KKK all but “took possession of [Colorado’s] state government.”
The Colorado Klan of the 1920s held public parades, picnics, and auto shows that attracted huge crowds as part of an effort to appear family friendly while simultaneously appealing to the nationalistic and racist prejudices of whites. The Colorado klaverns expanded on their traditionally antiblack stance to also include (or rather, exclude) Catholics and Jews, feeding on Protestant white fears that their safety – both moral and personal – was at risk to the supposedly unlawful or immoral behavior of minority groups. The Klan promoted a stance of “Law and Order” and proclaimed they were “assisting at all times the authorities in every community in upholding law and order.” It was in 1920 that the new Klan employed a publicity company and membership skyrocketed in states such as Indiana, Colorado, and Oregon.
According to the excellent history Hooded Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Colorado by Robert Goldberg, the KKK posed as saviors of “Old Time Religion” and Americanism. As adherents to the Pope and their “polytheistic” religion of saints, Catholics were seen as completely excluded from such Americanism.
Colorado was predominantly Protestant, and this message played well here. Conspiracy theories about a secret Catholic government of overlords abounded, much as such stories about Jews make the circuit today.
The Klan also stood for fair elections, for law and order against the backdrop of Prohibition bootlegging and rampant crime, and against the loosening of morals brought by new music, new dances, and Hollywood, things the general public could get behind.
By 1925, Klan members and sponsored candidates controlled the Colorado State House and Senate, the office of Secretary of State, a state Supreme Court judgeship, seven benches on Denver District Court, and city councils in some Colorado towns. Mayor Ben Stapleton of Denver and Governor Clarence Morley of Colorado were also Klansmen. The Klan was stronger in Colorado than any other state.
1964 - Charles Koch Invests in the Radical Freedom School
Jump-Starting America's Radical Libertarianism In Rural Douglas County
Few are aware that the modern Libertarian Movement was seeded in western Douglas County in the 1950s.
"Robert LeFevre began the Freedom School in Larkspur. Colorado in 1957 with very close ties to the John Birch Society. LeFevre was an anarchist who supported the abolition of government. Revisionist teachings reflected LeFevre's views as they strongly opposed taxes of any kind, welfare programs for the weak and poor, and war for any reason. The school expressed such dissatisfaction and animosity towards the government that the FBI investigated.
“Wish We Were Here Episode 16: Liberty’s Pitchman — Robert LeFevre & The Freedom School”
Colorado Public Radio, June 17, 2016 by Noah Black and Jake Brownwell,
In 1964, Charles Koch of the now infamous, albeit incredibly wealthy Koch Family, a former member of the John Birch Society, was introduced to the Freedom School. He was immediately captivated by the revisionist version of American history being taught in Larkspur.
By 1966, Charles had become so enthusiastic about the Freedom School that he provided major financial support and took an executive and trustee position. Charles' funds were used to push his far-right views of anti-government/taxes into the mainstream by establishing the Freedom School as a scholarly academic institution that educated "students" on libertarian philosophy. These "students" were among the wealthiest Americans. Teachings were provided by libertarian powers like Milton Friedman who was an instructor n the 1960s.
The Freedom School played a major role in transforming the Koch Brothers and their billionaire cohort (the Koch network) into an influence that would shape, and even takeover modern institutions, policy and government. Sustained over subsequent decades by continuing flow of money and investments by the Koch brothers network and Colorado billionaires, the local story is big and complex.
Although The Freedom School moves to California in the late 1960's, its stature thrusted Douglas County into national prominence in the evolution of modern far-right ideology. Douglas County remains a conservative stronghold, and plays an important role as a testbase for libertarian and conservative ideas and projects.
(NOTE: The Freedom School site has been declared a historical site. Now occupied by Stone Canyon Outdoor EdVentures; 5.5 miles north of Palmer Lake on Hwy 105, Larkspur)
Reading:
Political Dark Money Traced Back to Charles Koch Boston University Compilation / Digitification Project (2023)