A Kleagle is an officer of the Ku Klux Klan whose main role is to recruit new members and must maintain the three guiding principles: "recruit, maintain control, and safeguard."
King Kleagles are appointed as leaders of a region and have authority to manage members and official affairs of that region's members. In the 2000s the role was modified, empowering King Kleagles to maintain structural order and ensure the safety and security of members. It was deemed necessary to adapt the role to include the safekeeping of data and online communications within the Ku Klux Klan as the significance of the internet and digital communications became targeted and was known to be intercepted by other groups and government agencies.
King Kleagles are provided the highest level of authority to ensure compliance, security and accountability of members and provide orders and instructions for the Kleagles to carry out.
Incentives and recruitment strategies
Kleagle members were typically paid by commission and received a portion of each new member's initiation fee, Informal ways Klansman recruited members included "with eligible co-workers and personal friends and try to enlist them". Protestant teachers were also targeted for Klan membership. Bloc recruitment refers to "the way in which social-movement organizers often recruit members and participants among groups of individuals already organized for some other purpose." Members of organizations like churches and fraternal lodges, were easily accessible by Kleagles or Klan recruiters because they were already socially active in public issues through their involvement in these organizations. These recruitment efforts were very successful, so Klan membership soared. A primary recruitment leader during the 1920s, Edward Young Clark, reported that the Klan had gained 48,000 members in just three months.
Charity work and recruitment
To offset violent acts, the KKK participated in charitable activities. In 1922, the Klan "contributed $25 each to the Volunteers of America and to the African Methodist Episcopal Church, an offer which Webster said proved that the Klan was not anti-black".
King Kleagles
The King Kleagle was the head of the Kleagles for a geographic area. There are appointed King Kleagles in each state in the US, Canada, Philippines, Germany, United Kingdom and Australia.
- George W. Apgar of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey
- Arthur H. Bell
- F. Eugene Farnsworth, Ku Klux Klan in Maine
See also
- Ku Klux Klan recruitment
- Ku Klux Klan in Inglewood, California (Kleagles on trial)