University of Virginia Library

HUAC Criticizes Klan

Terming the Ku Klux Klan
organizations "conspiracies to deprive
certain citizens of rights
guaranteed under the Constitution,"
a 371-page report published
today by the House Committee
on Un-American Activities
summarizes evidence on Klan
activities in the United States
obtained through committee investigations
over a two-year period
and public hearings held in
the winter of 1965-1966.

An estimated 16,810 klansmen
were enrolled in 14 Ku Klux
Klan organizations as of early
1967, the committee reports.
Robert Shelton's United Klans
of America account for about
90% of the total membership, or
approximately 15,075 klansmen.

The committee's estimates apply
to those klan organizations
operating at the time of its hearings.
Of the 15 klans then in
existence, one had become defunct
by early 1967.

The report lists a total of 658
klaverns and 56 ladies auxiliaries
which have operated in 17 states
in the period 1964-1966. Most
of the klanspeople and klaverns
were based in southern states, although
significant organized klan
activity extended as far north
as Michigan.

Committee Chairman Edwin
E. Willis, in a foreword to the
report, stated that the activity
and membership of Klans declined
shortly after the opening
of the committee's public hearings
in October, 1965, but were
"once more on the rise" by the
summer of 1966.