Leaders of the Klan

William J. Simmons was born on May 6, 1880 in Harpersville, Alabama. He served in the Spanish-American War and later claimed to study medicine at John Hopkins. He became a preacher but was suspended for ineffeciency at Methodist Episcopal Church, South. After viewing the 1915 silent film The Birth of a Nation he became concerned with rebuilding the Ku Klux Klan. He reincarnated the organization after receiving a copy of the Reconstruction Klan's "Precept," and utilized it to make his own prospectus. He waited until the lynching of Leo Frank in order to start the second Klan. Leo Frank, the accused murderer of Mary Phagan, was hung by a group of men on August 16, 1915 after they took him from prison. This incident became a point for anti-Semetic feelings. Simmons organized 34 men including many of Leo Frank's killers and burned a cross into the ground on Stone Mountain to inaugurate the new Klan. He became leader of the Ku Klux Klan on Thanksgiving night of 1915 as the Grand Wizard of the new Klan. Hiram Wesley Evans succeeded Simmons in the position of Wizard in November 1922. Simmons was at the same time elected Emperor for life. Simmons died in Atlanta on May 18, 1945. (NationMaster)