Mayor Giesy attends Klan Dinner in 1923

100 years ago the afternoon paper published news that Salem's Mayor attended a Klan dinner honoring Fred Gifford.

March 6th, 1923

Clear links between Salemites and the second Klan have been scarce, and this was very interesting to see. In Salem Klan activity had been furtive, masked, and not much discussed the newspapers.

A day earlier, the first coverage of the dinner in the afternoon paper, and featured on the front page, had focused on Governor Pierce's attendance. Pierce had practiced a kind of "plausible deniability" in his relation to the Klan, and this was an undeniable sign.

March 5th, 1923

The afternoon paper also published an editorial in the same edition.

March 5th, 1923

Here's a photo of Governor Pierce and Portland Mayor Baker at a different event. (Do you know the symbolism of the stoles? That would be a helpful detail. It would be interesting to learn more about this event.)

Portland Mayor Baker (l), unknown, Gov. Pierce (r)
At a different event (Oregon Historical Society)

While the afternoon paper was very interested in the dinner, the morning paper buried it a little with a brief note, not even a full column inch. They devoted no more space to any coverage of the event. They did not ever mention the Mayor's presence.

March 4th, 1923

There is a real difference in tone and approach between the two papers. Giesy's sister was married to the Bitsman, R. J. Hendricks, who was "manager" and part-owner of the morning paper. (Especially favorable coverage for the Mayor in the morning paper, then, is something we'll be more alert to in the future.)

Later in the month the Klan held something of a rally here at the Armory downtown. The Klan organ, Western American, published a dispatch, but the morning paper here seems to have been silent on it, and the afternoon paper is not digitized for this period, and may be missing. It is likely they mentioned it and criticized it, but we don't know that. There is much more to find out.

March 29th, 1923
Western American

See previously here on the second Klan and on the difference in coverage between the morning and afternoon papers:

• "Between 1921 and 1923 Salemites Seemed to Shift Radically on the Triple K" (2021)
• "Reassessing Asahel Bush and the 1922 Election: Our Problematic Legacies" (2022)
• "Recount and Fraud in the 1922 Primary Election for Governor" (2022)
• "The SJ Should Consider a Long-Form Piece on George Putnam in 1922" (2022)
• "George Putnam and the Afternoon Paper's Seeming Shift on the 1923 Legislature" (2023)