July 1, 1946: The Ku Klux Klan, America's leading proponents of bigotry, face one opponent they cannot defeat: Superman.
Superman, of course, is a fictional character. He does not exist in real life. He beat the Klan, anyway. With help.
In 1946, Stetson Kennedy, a human rights activist, 29 years old and a native of Jacksonville, Florida, infiltrated the KKK and other racist/terrorist groups. Concerned that the organization had links to the government and police forces -- which, in the Southern States, it most certainly did -- Kennedy decided to use its findings to strike at the Klan in a different way. (Note: William Stetson Kennedy, his full name, was not related to the Kennedy political family of Massachusetts.)
He contacted the producers of the Superman radio show, which was recorded at station WOR in New York, and syndicated nationally over the Mutual Broadcasting System. He proposed a story where the superhero, voiced by actor and game show host Bud Collyer (born Clayton Johnson Heermance Jr.), battles the Klan. Looking for new villains, and unable to reproduce the effects of some Superman opponents from the comic books due to budgetary reasons, the producers eagerly agreed.
Kennedy provided information, including details of Klan rituals and the like to the writers. The result was a series of episodes, "Clan of the Fiery Cross," in which Superman took on the Klan. The trivialization of the Klan's rituals and natures had a negative impact on Klan recruiting and membership numbers. According to one source, it "led to a steep decline in membership from which the KKK never recovered."
Reportedly, Klan leaders denounced the show, and called for a boycott of Kellogg's products, which sponsored the radio show. However, the story arc earned spectacular ratings, making Superman the most highly rated kids' radio program, and the food company stood by its support of the show. They later sponsored the TV show The Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves.
Bud Collyer lived until 1969; Stetson Kennedy, until 2011. In 2019, Chinese-American writer Gene Luen Yang and the Japanese-American artist team calling itself Gurihiru adapted the story into a comic book series, Superman Smashes the Klan, setting it in 1946 like the original radio series, and making Chinese-Americans the focus, with assistance from African-Americans, the Daily Planet newspaper, and Superman himself.
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