Author Talk: Peddlers of Hate: How the Ku Klux Klan Seized Power in 1920s Oregon

When the Ku Klux Klan re-emerged as a mass movement in the early 1920s, the hate group’s main targets were Catholics and other immigrants, but the revived Klan swiftly became the largest, most powerful anti-Semitic force in the nation’s history.

Retired Oregon newspaper reporter Steve Law brings this long-buried and sordid history to life in his new book Peddlers of Hate: How the Ku Klux Klan Seized Power in 1920s Oregon, published by OSU Press.

Author reading, slideshow and discussion, with book signing

to follow Free, all ages. Please register and consider making a

donation to EJC at checkout.

As Rev. Reuben Sawyer, a paid Klan lecturer, told 6,000 Portlanders in a December 1921 lecture, the Klan didn’t see Jews as their enemies, unless they rejected the teachings of Jesus.

The second Klan posed as a mainstream fraternal lodge but was a private corporation whose leaders exploited bigotry against foreigners and minorities to build political power and riches. Law will detail how the Klan toppled an incumbent governor, gained control of the Oregon Legislature and convinced voters to ban private schools—a barely disguised ploy to attack Catholics. A greater share of Oregonians joined the Klan than in any state besides Indiana, and Portland was the hate group’s power base.

Praise for Peddlers of Hate

“Peddlers of Hate: How the Ku Klux Klan Seized Power in

1920s Oregon, a new book by Portland journalist Steve Law, is a

masterful study of how a band of hucksters harnessed

xenophobia to become the state’s dominant political force—a

story with disturbing parallels to the Proud Boys and Make

America Great Again.”

—Chris Lydgate, Portland Monthly

“Yes, as veteran Oregon newsman Steve Law describes in his

eye-opening new book, Peddlers of Hate (OSU Press, 278

pages, $29.95), the Ku Klux Klan was a thing in Oregon in the

early 1920s—a big thing, particularly in Portland. Two burning

crosses 30 feet high once lit up Mount Scott and eight crosses

burned on Mount Tabor, visible to Portlanders for miles around.

The Klan frequently filled Portland’s Municipal Auditorium,

what we now call the Keller, for sold-out recruiting lectures and

initiation ceremonies that turned away thousands for lack of

seats.”

—Matt Buckingham, Willamette Week

“A new, deeply researched book by retired reporter and editor

Steve Law, Peddlers of Hate, provides historical context for one

notorious period in particular—the rise and fall of the Ku Klux

Klan in Oregon. And the similarities to today’s United States are

profound.”

—Jeremiah Hayden, Portland Mercury