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	David Curtis Stephenson Name David Curtis Stephenson Birth/Death Dates 1891-1966 Where in Indiana Evansville and Indianapolis When in Indiana 1920-1962 Notable For D.C. Stephenson came to Indiana in 1920. He joined the KKK and became Grand Dragon of the Indiana Realm in 1923. Stephenson was a powerful orator and had a charming personality. Unknown to his followers, he was also an arrogant and evil man. His swift rise to power did not last. In 1925, he was convicted for the murder of Madge Oberholtzer. The highly publicized trial discredited the KKK in Indiana. Newspaper reporters and some politicians called for a public investigation of the Klan. When Governor Ed Jackson refused to pardon Stephenson, Stephenson took revenge by providing information about the Klan's role in the state's politics leading to the governor's indictment and trial for bribery. The governor was acquitted on a technicality, "but widespread assumption of his guilt added to the growing revulsion against the Klan. Indiana survived this most serious political crisis since the Civil War with little grace and less honor." Historian Jim Madison: "What is known is that few Hoosiers could look with pride on their state or its leaders. And though they preferred to forget the Ku Klux Klan, most could not. That bitter memory was perhaps the saving grace of this tragedy. It may well be that the tendency to hate in the name of patriotism or Protestatism has been mitigated by memories of the searing experience of the 1920s." Subject Stephenson, David Curtis, 1891-1966 Ku Klux Klan (1915- ) Racism Politics Item ID HS2330_K63_B6_1927 Date 1927 Time Period 1920s (1920-1929) Source of Image The Mad Mullah of America by Edgar Allen Booth Digital Collection Notable Hoosiers Bibliography/Notes Photographer not credited. Information taken from: Indiana: A New Historical Guide, and The Indiana Way. Copyright Notice Digital Image © 2011 Indiana Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.
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