When the Klan Ran Colorado

It is an uncomfortable fact of state history that in the nineteen twenties, the Ku Klux Klan held more political power in Colorado than in almost any other state in the country. The Klan had essentially no presence here in nineteen twenty, but within a few years it had grown explosively. At its peak, membership in Colorado has been estimated in the tens of thousands.

By nineteen twenty-five, Klan members and Klan-backed candidates held great sway in the state legislature, the governor's office, and numerous judgeships and city councils. Governor Clarence Morley, elected in nineteen twenty-four, was a Klansman, and so was Benjamin Stapleton, the mayor of Denver. Morley pushed the University of Colorado to fire professors who were not Protestant and tried to restrict the use of sacramental wine by Catholics.

The Colorado Klan directed its hostility at Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and Black residents alike. Its grip did not last. Internal scandals, criminal accusations against its leaders, and public backlash collapsed the organization's power by the end of the decade.

The episode is a reminder that bigotry can capture the machinery of government quickly, and that it can be pushed back out just as decisively.