Inspired by D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, which romanticized the Klan's clandestine exploits, William J. Simmons restarted the Klan in 1915, staging a dramatic kick off atop of Stone Mountain, the future site of the Confederate Memorial Carving. Simmons, who called himself a Colonel although he had never received the military rank, burned a cross atop of the mountain and started to solicit membership in the reborn Klan. This new version of the Klan prospered, bringing in thousands of members, including the first chief sculptor of the carving, Gutzon Borglum and the owner of the mountain, Samuel Venable. Because of their deep involvement with the early carving, Klansmen, along with the United Daughters of the Confederacy were able to influence the ideology of the carving, and they strongly supported the UDC's vision of an explicit Confederate memorial.
(In the 1950's -1960's it was gradually transformed into the KKK of hate against blacks to fit into the Federal USA plot to create chaos and hate in the South. AND they used the CSA Battle flag to make the public believe these were the real Southerners in a war against blacks, which REAL Southerners would have never done. But the general public would have never known this unless THEY were part of the REAL South. But this was part of the USA Federalist plot against the South, to further destroy and weaken it in the public's view and mind. Thus the false theme of the South hating the blacks and the CSA Battle Flag standing for slavery was born. This plot of hate was born in 1954. Never before this date was the CSA Battle flag ever associated with slavery or hate. The CSA had always FORBADE their flags be flown over anything to do with slavery ! ONLY the USA Federal Flag flew over the Yankee slave ships. The South never had any slave ships or did the sale business. ONLY the North did these things, as well as England did also.)
Do notice the Federal USA Flag ! This is a
pic from the 'resurrected' KKK - infiltrators from the North, that were part of
the plot to get people to hate the south ! They soon added the CSA Battle
flag to give the Battle flag a hate and slave reputation, and
eliminated the USA Federal Flag in order to progress with the hate agenda they
had plotted towards the South.... But this picture was taken when the 'new' KKK was being established and
USED for the Federal USA agenda to make everyone think of the KKK as a hate
group of anti-blacks, which the original KKK never would have tolerated ! Soon afterwards the Nazi theme was added to the plot. In 1954, this was all turned around by the sneaky plot by the Federal North,
which became the 'usual' thing to do with everything in that era's history.