Evening star., 1944-10-27
Truman Says He Never Joined
KIon or Attended Meetinqs
By the Associated Press

|
Kon or Attends
By the Associated Press.
PEORIA, ILL.,, Oct. 27. - Senator
Truman, Democratic vice presi-
DENTAL candidate, told crowd in
the Shrine Temple here last night
that the "isolationists" in a "des-
perate" effort to win the election
had falsely asserted he had been
a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Senator Truman departed from
his prepared address to take cogni-
zance of published reports relating
to the Klan issue.
i The isolationists are desperate
to win this election Senator Tru-
man declared. The Hearst papers
have even gone so far as to call me
a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
That charge is a falsehood.
never have been member Of the
Klan or attended any of its meet
ings in my life"
| htptItCI NdiSCS lsSuS.
| A reporter for the Chicago Her
aid American told the Missouri Sem
ator at a press conference that
there is a story going the rounds
that you were member of the Ku
! KluX Klan'
"Of course, I'm not member of
the Khan" Senator Truman replied
Il never was. That lie was nailed
back in 1922 when l was elected
Judge of the County Court for the
Eastern District of Jackson County,
Mo.
Whats the use of denying lies
cooked up by Hearst and McCor-
mick? It's just another red her
ring"
4 DO you know man named
Harry Hoffman," the Herald-Amer-
lean reporter inquired.
Yes. 1 know him. the Senator
said. Il helped beat him (for po-
litical Office in 1922"
He swore that he, as grand
kleagle, swore you into the Khan
in 1920" the reporter said,
That's a lie out of the whole
cloth" Senator Truman retorted,
Harry Hoffman ran for reelection
as county marshal and we kicked
him out later. Some of us fought
the Khan to a standstill and finally
licked them"
Says Klan Fought Him.
/ Senator Truman told newspaper
men later the Klan always had
fought him in Missouri. He added
that at meeting of the Grand
Lodge of Masons in September, 1921,
in st. Louis he worked for passage
of resolution to expel any lodge
member who had joined the Klan.
The Senator asserted he never
had attended Klan meeting,
although I have driven by them
on my way to my own campaign
meetings while I was fighting the
Klan."
IF had shown up at a meeting"
he added, 1.-The Klan would have
pulled me apart"
The Senator said files of the
Kansas City Star would show the
story was a lie.
Hoffman. who now operates a
farm, said at Oxford, Ohio, he knew
Senator Truman but declined to
comment on the Klan subject.
Il fell out with the Pendergast
(Kansas City organization back in
1920, and when I fell out with the
organization I fell out with Harry
Truman" he said, "but it's not true
I was defeated for Office. 1 never
was defeated in my life"
A reporter asked if he had any
comment on an assertion he swore
Senator Truman into the Klan.
I'm incommunicado," Hoffman
replied
Hannegan Assails Charge.
In New York, Robert E. Hannegan,
Democratic national chairman, said
mo one will believe" what he called
"the brazen lie" that Senator Tru-
man was associated with the Klan.
Mr.. Hannegan said Herbert
Brownell, jr., Republican national
chairman, whom he described as IAN
evident conspirator in this bald-face
falsehood," had statement ready
when the Hearst papers hit the
Streets"
Mr.. Brownell said in a statement
released by the Republican National
Committee that he did not know
whether the allegations that Sena-
tor Truman was Klan member
"are true or not"
Mr.. Truman denies that" Mr..
Brownell said. The issue is one of
veracity-between Mr.. Truman and
those who make the allegations"
At Grandview, Mo, L. H. God
dard, contractor, said he once had
heard Senator Truman address
Klan meeting.
Il didn't see Harry Truman pay
his $40 or take the Klan oath, but
I did hear him make a speech at
a Klan meeting"
Mr.. Goddard, who said he had
signed an affidavit that he had seen
Senator Truman at q Klan meet
ing, added:
ut was common talk among the
members that Truman did belong
and I don't think he could have
got into that meeting unless he was
a member. stood right below him
as he talked, and I've known him
20 years. He spoke on his
own behalf as a candidate for Judge
OF the eastern district of the Coun-
ty Court.
1T was the only time I ever saw
him at Khan meeting"
0. L. Chrisman, Hickman Mills,
Mo, service station operator who
also said he had signed an affidavit
that he had seen Truman at a
Klan meeting said.
I know Truman attended Klan
meeting In 4 pasture south of Ynde-