There is some good information out there on the 1924 convention, but most of what I’ve read stops at “Democrats and the Klan.”
That history is real, but the bigger tell is what happened inside the convention itself.
This was not some rural backroom meeting. It was the Democrat National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
And they still could not get enough votes to condemn the Ku Klux Klan by name.
That is the part I think gets lost.
The Klan did not need to officially sponsor the convention. Its power showed up in the delegate math, the platform fight, and the fear of offending the wrong part of the Democrat coalition.
That is why I see the Klanbake as more than a historical embarrassment. It is a case study in how political history gets cleaned up after the fact.
Excellent "inside baseball" analysis, this is why I subscribe. If it weren't for the abominable deterioration of our public school systems over the past 40 years, more people would be aware of this history and its implications on social order today. Thank you for sharing this, I wish you had a much wider audience. Furthermore, I wish we had an honest media that would tell the truth occasionally.
Great article. Such a shame that so much of our history has been buried or completely fabricated. I would like for you to please, explain where you came from and how you are living in such challenging circumstances. You are obviously a brilliant and highly intelligent person. I have read and do read daily, many of the current great minds and those of the past. You belong there. Your information is not only terrific but your beautiful way of and use of words and expressions. Anyway, it just puzzles me how you are in the current situation you relate to us from time to time. If you do not care to elaborate on here, then just respond to my email. Are, you can just ignore me.
Thank you, Fred. I really appreciate you saying that.
The short version is that I came to this work the long way around.
I was not groomed by institutions. I was not carried by a university, backed by donors, or placed into some media pipeline. I worked regular jobs. I served in the Army. I got into online marketing and SEO. I built a family. I made mistakes. I took risks. Some things worked. Some things collapsed.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I had spent my whole life learning how systems work from the outside because I was never really invited inside them.
That is probably why I write the way I do.
The strange part is that work like this takes an enormous amount of time, but it does not automatically become income. I chose to keep the work free because I want it to reach people who may never pay for it, since those are often the people who most need to see it. But free to read does not mean free to produce. The bills do not care how many people say the essay was excellent.
Some of the current difficulty is bad timing, client delays, past decisions, health issues inside my immediate family, and the ordinary pressure of trying to build something real while still keeping the lights on. I am not going to pretend I handled every decision perfectly. I did not. A man can be right about the larger world and still make mistakes in his own life. I have done both.
The common response is usually, “You should just get a job.” I understand why people say that. On paper, it sounds simple. In real life, the paper is often the problem.
I do not have a college degree. That closes doors. Not all of them, but enough of them. I have been told more than once that I was talented, even brilliant, but without the right credentials, they could not hire me for the kind of role where I would actually be most useful.
That is one of the quiet absurdities of modern life. A credential is treated as proof of ability, even when ability is standing right in front of them without the credential.
So I have spent much of my life building around the gate instead of walking through it. SEO, research, writing, consulting, analysis, and now this Substack. It is not a clean road. It is not always the stable road. But it is the road where my abilities finally make sense.
Comments like this tell me I’m not just yelling into the void. I want the work to be more than noise or cheap outrage. I want it to be researched, written carefully, and worth preserving.
I may write more about the personal side at some point because there is a story there. For now, just know I am grateful. Readers like you are one of the reasons I keep going.
Excellent essay!
Thank you, William. I appreciate that.
There is some good information out there on the 1924 convention, but most of what I’ve read stops at “Democrats and the Klan.”
That history is real, but the bigger tell is what happened inside the convention itself.
This was not some rural backroom meeting. It was the Democrat National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
And they still could not get enough votes to condemn the Ku Klux Klan by name.
That is the part I think gets lost.
The Klan did not need to officially sponsor the convention. Its power showed up in the delegate math, the platform fight, and the fear of offending the wrong part of the Democrat coalition.
That is why I see the Klanbake as more than a historical embarrassment. It is a case study in how political history gets cleaned up after the fact.
Excellent "inside baseball" analysis, this is why I subscribe. If it weren't for the abominable deterioration of our public school systems over the past 40 years, more people would be aware of this history and its implications on social order today. Thank you for sharing this, I wish you had a much wider audience. Furthermore, I wish we had an honest media that would tell the truth occasionally.
Great article. Such a shame that so much of our history has been buried or completely fabricated. I would like for you to please, explain where you came from and how you are living in such challenging circumstances. You are obviously a brilliant and highly intelligent person. I have read and do read daily, many of the current great minds and those of the past. You belong there. Your information is not only terrific but your beautiful way of and use of words and expressions. Anyway, it just puzzles me how you are in the current situation you relate to us from time to time. If you do not care to elaborate on here, then just respond to my email. Are, you can just ignore me.
Thank you, Fred. I really appreciate you saying that.
The short version is that I came to this work the long way around.
I was not groomed by institutions. I was not carried by a university, backed by donors, or placed into some media pipeline. I worked regular jobs. I served in the Army. I got into online marketing and SEO. I built a family. I made mistakes. I took risks. Some things worked. Some things collapsed.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I had spent my whole life learning how systems work from the outside because I was never really invited inside them.
That is probably why I write the way I do.
The strange part is that work like this takes an enormous amount of time, but it does not automatically become income. I chose to keep the work free because I want it to reach people who may never pay for it, since those are often the people who most need to see it. But free to read does not mean free to produce. The bills do not care how many people say the essay was excellent.
Some of the current difficulty is bad timing, client delays, past decisions, health issues inside my immediate family, and the ordinary pressure of trying to build something real while still keeping the lights on. I am not going to pretend I handled every decision perfectly. I did not. A man can be right about the larger world and still make mistakes in his own life. I have done both.
The common response is usually, “You should just get a job.” I understand why people say that. On paper, it sounds simple. In real life, the paper is often the problem.
I do not have a college degree. That closes doors. Not all of them, but enough of them. I have been told more than once that I was talented, even brilliant, but without the right credentials, they could not hire me for the kind of role where I would actually be most useful.
That is one of the quiet absurdities of modern life. A credential is treated as proof of ability, even when ability is standing right in front of them without the credential.
So I have spent much of my life building around the gate instead of walking through it. SEO, research, writing, consulting, analysis, and now this Substack. It is not a clean road. It is not always the stable road. But it is the road where my abilities finally make sense.
Comments like this tell me I’m not just yelling into the void. I want the work to be more than noise or cheap outrage. I want it to be researched, written carefully, and worth preserving.
I may write more about the personal side at some point because there is a story there. For now, just know I am grateful. Readers like you are one of the reasons I keep going.
More info on Democrats and the Klan:
https://williamsherman.substack.com/p/democrats-lynched-1297-republicans?r=a776&utm_medium=ios