A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America and the Woman who Stopped Them
by Timothy Egan
From Goodreads
“He discovered that if he said something often enough, no matter how untrue, people would believe it. Small lies were for the timid. The key to telling a big lie was to do it with conviction.”
“In the America of 1922, fear of others generated a lot of anxious energy. This collective unease had only to be corralled, sanctified and monetized.”
“Democracy was a fragile thing, stable and steady until it was broken and trampled. A man who didn’t care about shattering every convention and then found new ways to vandalize the contract that allowed free people to govern themselves, could do unthinkable damage…There were two governments in Indiana: elected officials going through the motions of a representative democracy, and a dictatorship run by the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.”
The Ku Klux Klan is usually thought of as an organization of the American south. But in the 1920s, Indiana was the epicenter of the new Klan’s rise. It terrorized not only Indiana’s African American communities but also Catholics, Jews, Immigrants, and other traditional minority groups. A Fever in the Heartland tells the chilling story of the Klan’s rise in the Midwest, particularly in Indiana, and the group’s decline following the murder trial of its leader, DC Stevenson. This gripping story is bound to enthrall and terrify readers as we see how the KKK was successful reaching the masses through intimidation, religion, and feeding on peoples’ fear of others. But it is also a story of courage and the willingness of a few people to stand up to fear and do the right thing for their state and their country.
It is not a stretch to say that in the 1920s, the KKK had a stranglehold on American politics. As A Fever in the Heartland shows, this wasn’t just a southern issue. It was national, bi-partisan, and had become even more violent. The Klan spread rapidly throughout the north, particularly in the Midwest and Western states. Nowhere was this more visible than in Indiana. The Klan completely took over the state government and law enforcement agencies, locally and statewide. Hate crimes, lynchings, cross burnings, scare tactics, and demonstrations with white hooded Klansmen drove fear into non-whites or non-Protestants. The KKK’s rapid takeover of Indiana was largely the result of its charismatic leader – a womanizing, drunk, abusive, lying, corrupt, egotistical, hypocritical, and sadistic conman, DC Stevenson. People followed him and he built an empire.
This all begs the question: How does a movement (or political party) supposedly based on “morality” fall under the spell of such a rotten individual? As Egan explains, “Hoosier Klansmen were not repulsed by his behavior, at least not outwardly. Many chose selective amnesia, in service to the greater good of the Invisible Empire and what it stood for. Some were even impressed. For here was a man liberated from shame, a man who not only boasted of being able to get away with any violation of human decency for his entire life, but had just proved it for all to see.” Sound familiar? It’s not a stretch to see how a movement based on hatred and lies one hundred years ago can teach us something today. Specifically, how the Klan rose to prominence statewide and how political leaders and law enforcement became completely beholden to their influence and control. Elected leaders up to the Governor swore fealty to the KKK and to DC Stevenson. They put fear into anyone and everyone who did not swear allegiance to the Klan and its tenets. Even religious leaders sang the Klan’s praises. And their congregations followed suit. Stevenson, the book explains, “was particularly amazed how many preachers he’d been able to fool, concluding that men of God were easy marks.” The moral outrage from the mainstream Protestant majority just didn’t exist.
It is hard to read this book and not consider the U.S. in the 2020s. It feels familiar. It’s a story of how fear took over and kept people silent. It’s a story of how politicians, the bureaucracy, and the religious establishment failed to speak up against hate and oppression. It’s a story about leaders that think they can get away with anything. Fortunately, as scary and frightening as this is, A Fever in the Heartland offers a solution to fight movements of hate. However, it takes immense courage. One must stand up, speak truth to power, and fight for what’s right. While much of the state’s population were either too scared to stand up or part of the problem, some faced the enemy against overwhelming odds. In this case against DC Stevenson, it fell upon one brave woman to tell her story of rape, abuse, kidnapping, and brutality. It also took a courageous and determined prosecutor committed to doing the right thing – risking his life and putting his family in danger.
I am forever amazed at how people are easily manipulated and the endless ways they blame others for their problems. I am astounded at how easy it is to get the masses to believe in a movement, even if it is based on hate. As the quote above suggests, by telling a big lie enough times while preying on one’s fear of others, you can create a movement. For gentlemen, this book illustrates why we should be self-critical and examine which ideas we follow. We should question who we listen to and the ideas they espouse. Interestingly, most people don’t think they are on the wrong side of history. The “moral” citizens detailed in A Fever in the Heartland thought they were doing the right thing. This is why questioning our opinions and challenging our perspective is so important. This book isn’t just entertaining but a cautionary tale. When push comes to shove, we cannot assume someone else will always stand up to do the dirty work. We should not depend on others to be courageous. However, it should never get to that point anyway. Gentlemen shouldn’t be following con men or anyone whose platform is to blame others for our own failings. That is why if we don’t stand up for the right thing, the blame falls squarely on us.