Eldon Edwards

Eldon Lee Edwards (June 8, 1909 – August 1, 1960^[1]) was a U.S. Ku Klux Klan leader.

Biography

Edwards was an automobile paint sprayer from Atlanta, Georgia, and rebuilt the Klan beginning in 1953. In his book "The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo", Gary May notes that Edwards became prominent at a time when the Klan was splintered into different local groups. In 1955, Edwards created his own organization - "U.S. Klans, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan" - and established a 15,000 strong following in nine U.S. states.^[2]

Edwards was interviewed by Mike Wallace on May 5, 1957, as noted in Wallace's 2006 book "Between You and Me".^[3]

Edwards, long diagnosed with heart disease, died of a heart attack in Atlanta on August 1, 1960. In his last public appearance, Edwards said, "We have more right to organize than the communists and the NAACP," and added, "We white people are the inheritors of this country. We do not intend to surrender it."^[4]

References

↑ Sims, Patsy (1996). The Klan. p. 34. ISBN 0-8131-0887-X.
↑ Review of The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo by May, Gary, 2005 at www.wnyc.org
↑ Review of "Between You and Me" by Wallace, Mike, 2006 at www.mvtimes.com
↑ "Klan Wizard Dies of Heart Attack", Pacific Stars and Stripes, August 4, 1960, p. 3.

External links

Eldon Edwards on The Mike Wallace Interview

Preceded by Samuel Roper	Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan 1950–1960	Succeeded by Robert M. Shelton

Grand Wizards and Imperial Wizards of the Ku Klux Klan

First Klan Nathan Bedford Forrest (1867–1869)

Second Klan and remnants William Joseph Simmons (1915–1922) Hiram Wesley Evans (1922–1939) James A. Colescott (1939–1944) Samuel Green (1946–1949) Samuel Roper (1949–1950) Eldon Edwards (c. 1950 – 1960)

United Klans of America Robert Shelton (1960–1987)

White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Samuel Bowers (1964–1989) Johnny Lee Clary (1989–1990)

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke (1974–1979/1980) Don Black (1979/1980–1981)

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