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In 1924, two uniquely American institutions clashed in northern Indiana: the University of Notre Dame and the Ku Klux Klan. Todd Tucker’s book, published for the first time in paperback, Notre Dame vs. The Klan tells the shocking story of the three-day confrontation in the streets of South Bend, Indiana, that would change both institutions forever.
When the Ku Klux Klan announced plans to stage a parade and rally in South Bend, hoping to target college campuses for recruitment starting with Notre Dame, a large group of students defied their leaders’ pleas to ignore the Klan and remain on campus. Tucker dramatically recounts the events as only a proficient storyteller can. Readers will find themselves drawn into the fray of these tumultuous times.
Tucker structures this compelling tale around three individuals: D.C. Stephenson, the leader of the KKK in Indiana, the state with the largest Klan membership in America; Fr. Matthew Walsh, the young and charismatic president of the University of Notre Dame; and a composite of a Notre Dame student at the time, represented by Bill Foohey, who was an actual participant in the clash.
This book will appeal not only to Notre Dame fans, but to those interested in South Bend and Indiana history and the history of the Klu Klux Klan, including modern-day Klan violence.
“Todd Tucker’s book is an easy and enjoyable read. And the author has a great story to tell.” —American Catholic Studies
“An impressively researched work of history, Notre Dame vs. the Klan is an extraordinary read and this new edition is especially timely with the current rise of white supremacists (including Neo-Nazis and the KKK) in our highly polarized political climate.” —Midwest Book Review
"Tucker examines in some detail the events of May 17–19, 1924, when the Ku Klux Klan rallied in South Bend, Indiana, and came to blows with the "Fighting Irish" of Notre Dame. Tucker provides appropriate context for readers unaware of U.S. history at the turn of the last century: virulent anti-Catholicism, xenophobia, resurgence of the Klan after 1915. The work provides a useful, accessible case study for general readers and undergraduates about the ethnoreligious tensions permeating U.S. society at the time." —Choice
“The university survived the Klan’s attack and the anti-Catholicism of the period, as Tucker narrates, to take its place as one of America’s leading institutions of higher learning. This uplifting story gives hope in our own challenging times.” —The Compass
"In Notre Dame vs the Klan, Notre Dame alumn Todd Tucker examines Catholic Americanism at a particularly important historical moment—the early part of the last century, when Catholics themselves were divided over how much to assimilate. . . . In the early 1920s, the Klan began holding parades through the centers of Midwestern cities with large Catholic concentrations. It was almost inevitable that they would come to South Bend, a capital of American Catholicism. Seeing the burning crosses in their own town finally made the young men of Notre Dame stand up and take notice." —The American Enterprise
Todd Tucker is a 1990 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and is the author of The Great Starvation Experiment and Atomic America.
Acknowledgments
Prologue
The Antagonists
1. Fr. Sorin and the Birth of Notre Dame
2. The Reincarnation of the Ku Klux Klan
3. Notre Dame and the Indiana Klan
4. The Klan Takes Over Indiana
5. In the Crosshairs of the Klan
6. D. C. Stephenson’s Grab for Power
7. The Rally and the Riot
8. The Ambush
9. The Ascent of Notre Dame
10. The Ruin of D. C. Stephenson and the
11. Collapse of the Klan
12. The Aftermath
Epilogue