Evening star., 1937-10-02
'DeclaresH Joined,
Then Resigned
From Order.
WILL ASSUME
SEAT MONDAY
Denies Intolerance.
AvOws Belief in
Constitution.
Text of Justice Blacks speech
is on page AT.
BY JOHN II. CLINE.

Having admitted without euuivoca-
tion that he formerly belonged to the
ku Klux Klan, Hugo Lafayette Black
today faced his future as a member
OF the Supreme Court after repudi-
ating the Klan and all its precepts
in an unprecedented radio address last
night.
Black denied that he is now a mem
Der OF the Klan, although he said he
had received an unsolicited card"
which, it has been charged, signified
life membership in the hooded order.
Speaking in restrained and meas
ured accents to vast radio audience
from the home OF a friend in Chevy
Chase, Black declared:
THE insnuations of racial and re-
ligious intolerance made concerning
me are based on the fact that / Joined
the Ku Klux Klan about Is years ago
l did join the Klan. later resigned.
l never rejoined. What appeared then,
or what appears now, on the records
OF the organization, do not know.
I have never considered, and / do
not now consider, the unsolicited card
given to me shortly after my nomi-
nation to the Senate as a member
ship Of any kind in the Ku Klux Klan.
l never used it. 1 did not even
keep it."
Intends TO Take Seat.
Black, incidentally, made it perfect
ly clear that he intends to take his
seat on the high tribunal Monday
when he said he believed the extraor-
dlnary circumstances surrounding the
Klan charges justified him in answer
ing them as "a member of the Su-
preme Court"
In asserting that he does not know
what appeared on the records of the
Klan concerning his resignation,
Black evidently was referring to
charges published 10 days ago that
the resignation was submitted as a
matter of political convenience and
was never inscribed on the records of
the organization nor made public to
its membership.
1t has been charged that Black
Joined the Klan in 1923 and resigned
in 1925, just prior to entering the
Democratic primary race for the SEN
atorial nomination in Alabama. Hav-
ing won the nomination, it was alleged,
Black, on the night of September 2,
1926, attended a huge victory" meet
ing OF Klansmen in Birmingham and
accepted gold card or passport grant
ing him life membership in the hooded
order.
But the implications Of all this we're
completely repudiated by Black last
night.
Dropped the KIan."
Before becoming a Senator" he
told his radio audience, Il dropped
the Klan. l have had nothing what
ever to do with it since that time. I
abandoned it. / completely discon-
tinued any association with the or
ganization. 1 have never resumed 1t
oA1O AASsNA CAPCSt W uO 50.
"At no meeting of any organization,
social, political or fraternal, have I
ever indicated the slightest departure
from my steadfast faith in the un-
fettered right of every American to
follow his conscience in matters of re-
ligion. have no sympathy with any
organization or group which, any
where or at any time, arrogates to
itself the un-American power to in
terfere in the slightest degree with
complete religious freedom"
When Black withdrew from the Klan
in 1925, he signed his resignation in
the ritualistic form: Yours, /. T. s.
U. b." the letters being an abrevia-
ton for In the Sacred Unfailing
Bond"
When he addressed the mass meet
Ing OF Klansmen on the night of Sep
tember 2, 1926, according to the Official
Khan transcript, he said in part:
This passport which you have given
(See SPEECH, Page A-3)