the Lake (1810), a long poem by Walter Scott. The signature white robes of this new Klan also likely come from Dixon via Birth of a Nation. In the first years of the new Klan, a few thousand members enrolled, although many more later pledged allegiance, particularly in industrial cities of the Midwest. Initially portraying itself as another fraternal organization, the group was opposed to the new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe—who were mostly Jews and Roman Catholics—and anybody else who was not a native-born Anglo-Saxon or Celtic Protestant. While leading the Klan, Simmons was a "professor of southern history" at the short-lived Lanier University in Atlanta. Simmons toured with Roy Elonzo Davis during the 1920s during klan rallies; Davis claimed to be second in command of the Klan under Davis. After Simmons was ousted as KKK leader by Hiram W. Evans in 1923, he and Davis worked together to start a new white supremacist organization called Knights of the Flaming Sword, where Simmons resumed his role as Imperial Wizard. Davis, as a high ranking Klan leader, played a key role in encouraging members to abandoned Evans and remain loyal to Simmons in their new order. Traveling across the south, Davis successfully retained the loyalty of at least 60,000 Klan recruits and had secured over $150,000 ($2.3 million in 2021 dollars) Later life and death When the New York World exposed violent affairs conducted by the Ku Klux Klan, Simmons was called to testify in front of the U.S. House Committee on Rules. Hearings began in October 1921 and lasted for over a week. Simmons distanced himself from the events and stressed the Klan's fraternal nature. Congressional hearings ended with no direct consequences for the Klan, although Simmons lost his influence. Having increased his own network of influence, Hiram Wesley Evans succeeded Simmons in the position of the Imperial Wizard in November 1922. Simmons was at the same time elected Emperor for life. The Klan started to decline after a peak of membership and influence in 1925, particularly because of the scandal in which D.C. Stephenson, one of its top leaders, was convicted of raping, kidnapping and murdering Madge Oberholtzer. Simmons died in Atlanta on May 18, 1945. Publications The Ku Klux Klan (1917) ABC of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (1920) The Klan Unmasked Atlanta, Ga., Wm. E. Thompson Pub. Co. 1923 America's menace;