Elizabeth Tyler and Edward Clarke created the Republican talking points and the rebirth of the KKK

https://www.wvpublic.org/news/2017-...he-klans-long-shadow-falls-in-charlottesville

Under the guidance of shrewd publicists, the Klan refashioned itself with a familiar brew of coded values: family, community service, law and order, patriotism, “Old-time religion,” hard work and economic prosperity, coupled with sober depictions of Klan members as pillars of respectable society. Their platform of hate against immigrants, Catholics, Jews and African Americans was not only disseminated through burning crosses and white-sheeted horsemen, it was carefully diffused through communities in the guise of family gatherings propagated through cheerful fliers. Picnics. Merry Go-Rounds. Proudly sponsored by your local Ford dealership.

Armed with this time-tested brand, Tyler, Clarke and Klan leaders hired a staff of seasoned organizers and set to work increasing the membership of the Klan. Within months, membership soared to 100,000, and by 1921 the Klan had chartered two hundred chapters, with nearly one million members. By the mid-1920s, they had enlisted more than 5-8 million people in nearly every state in the Union, and became a divisive force in the 1924 Democratic Convention held at Madison Square Garden in New York. Dubbed the “Klanbake” by journalists of the time – it represented the longest continuously running convention in U.S. political life. A populist force of reckoning, the millions-strong Klan opposed and defeated Catholic nominee Al Smith, then Governor of New York.

https://timeline.com/did-you-know-that-the-brains-behind-the-kkk-was-a-woman-a23d7d361d1d

Tyler knew that racism was everywhere, but that it has local flavors. While searching for a way to make the Klan’s message appealing to a wider audience, she realized that hatred of blacks didn’t sell as well in the North. What if the Klan could diversify its portfolio of hatred? She and Clarke trained an army of recruiters and sent them out all over the country. Her instructions were as simple as they were was Machiavellian: Her field workers were to survey their communities for potential enemies. It might be union radicals in the North. Or Asians in San Francisco. Immigrants, Jews, Catholics, communists. They all landed on the KKK’s list. There was no end to the “others” Americans could fear and hate.

Tyler even figured out how to monetize racism. According to author Linda Gordon, Tyler and Clarke agreed to do publicity for the Klan in exchange for an 80 percent cut of the $10 dues. It must have sounded like a good idea to the KKK’s William Simmons at the time. Dues were stagnant. But over the next several months, recruitment numbers would explode, making the duo incredibly rich.

The 85,000 new members she helped recruit meant an additional $850,000 for the Klan — $12 million in today’s sums — garnered in a matter of months. Later, they branched out into sales of white robes and other trinkets, and opened a realty business to manage Klan-held real estate. Tyler seized the moment by launching a Klan newspaper, Searchlight. According to Gordon, she and Clarke earned close to a million dollars — in just over a year.