At the forefront of the movement to restrict immigration was the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK.
The old KKK had flourished in the South after the Civil War and threats and violence to intimidate newly freed African Americans.
The new Klan had other targets as well such as Catholics, Jews, immigrants, and other groups said to be “un-American.”
William J. Simmons founded the new Ku Klux Klan in Georgia, in 1915.
A former preacher, Simmons pledged to preserve America’s white, Protestant civilization.
The Klan began to decline in the 1920s, however, largely as a result of scandals and power struggles between its leaders.
Membership shrank, and politicians backed by the Klan were voted out of office.