James Arnold Colescott

James Arnold Colescott (January 11, 1897 – January 11, 1950) was an American white supremacist who was Imperial Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Under financial pressure from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for back taxes, he disbanded the second wave of the original Ku Klux Klan in 1944. Colescott died on January 11, 1950, his 53rd birthday, in U.S. Veterans' Hospital in Coral Gables, Florida.

Imperial Wizard Imperial Wizard Hiram Wesley Evans resigned on June 10, 1939, and Colescott became the Ku Klux Klan's new leader. He had previously served as chief of staff under Evans. Hiram Evans was effectively forced to quit, as his renunciation of Anti-Catholicism had proven unpopular with "rank-and-file Klansmen". He resigned in favor of Colescott, who was soon officially initiated as the Imperial Wizard. The initiation ceremony was held in the Dixie Ball Room of the Henry Grady Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

World War II The decline continued during World War II, when most of the Americans began being preoccupied with the issues of national security and Ku Klux Klan "lost social influence, money and political support". The Klan's association with Nazi sympathizer organizations, such as the German American Bund, and with the Detroit race riot of 1943 were detrimental to the organization's public image: a substantial number of Klansmen stopped attending meetings and paying their dues.

Dies Committee hearing In January 1942, Colescott was questioned by the Dies Committee, precursor to the House Un-American Activities Committee, headed by Martin Dies Jr. (D-TX). Colescott was criticized by Dies for the Klan's alleged anti-Catholicism. Before formally stepping down on April 23, 1944, On April 23, the final Klonvocation gathering was held in Atlanta. Its decisions disbanded the central Klan organization, "repealed all degrees, vacated all offices, voided all charters, and relieved every Klansman of any obligation whatever". Local chapters could, however, continue their activities, now acting independently from each other. The final Klonvocation called for them to act in an "informal, unincorporated alliance". under the leadership of Samuel Green, an Atlanta obstetrician, in 1946. Already in November 1944, anthropologist H. Scudder Mekeel had expressed concerns that the end of World War II could be followed by a "revival in full force" of the Klan.