Talk:D. C. Stephenson

Untitled
Curtis fingered George V. "Cap" Coffin, and attorney Robert I. Marsh, charging them with conspiring to bribe former Governor Warren McCray. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.241.41.98 (talk) 22:35, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Biography assessment rating comment
The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- KenWalker | Talk 06:23, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Move to Indianapolis?
Something needs to be included about his move to Indianapolis - Where D.C. Stephenson met the woman he murdered and locked her in his carriage home. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kcflood (talk • contribs)


 * Sure. —SlamDiego&#8592;T 08:56, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Broken Link
The 'Stephenson Trial' link is dead. —Rosa Lichtenstein (talk) 16:17, 23 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Fixed. —SlamDiego&#8592;T 17:44, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

His life
he was an idiot —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.252.59.198 (talk) 00:15, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Are you out of your mind? He was sheer and undiluted Evil with a capital "E".

--93.196.155.148 (talk) 18:11, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

Democrat / Republican
This edit (which I have reverted), pushes a PoV. Although Stephenson became more significant after Evans made him Grand Dragon, it was because of Stephenson's preëxisting significance that Evans thus rewarded him, and not the other Klansmen in those 23 states. At that time, Stephenson was in the Democratic Party, and the boundary lines between that party and the Klan were quite fuzzy. (Further, I note that the edit in question left Stephenson categorized as having been a socialist, which predated his membership in the Democratic Party.) —SlamDiego&#8592;T 22:02, 6 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Sorry I left him as an American Socialist after removing the democrat category, I did not see that the category was on the list. He was briefly in the Socialist and Democratic parties and supported Hiram Wesley Evans in his successful effort to unseat William J. Simmons as Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. His support for Evens does not demonstrate support for the democratic party since both candidates were southern democrats. All major southern Klan figures were democrats at the time because the southern democrats and the Klan held similar views being anti-black, anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-labor union, anti-communist and pro-nativist group


 * The Klan had been founded to oppose the moderate Republican backed Reconstruction and maintain white control over former slaves in the regions of the former Confederate States of America. This ensured generations of anti-black southerners would be Democrats.


 * D. C. Stephenson never had a significant role in politics out side of the Klan until he had switched to the Republican Party in 1923. Once he became a republican he quickly became a power broker in Republican state politics enabled by his position in the Klan. Stephenson backed a great many candidates and collected a great many favors. When he reveled the damning info he had about Indiana politicians almost all those implicated were republican.


 * So while he spent time as a Socialist and a Democrat he failed to participate in politics in any significant way Because of this I am going to removed both categories Democrat and Socialist. Once again sorry I over looked the socialist category this was an honest mistake. Any doubts otherwise can be put to rest by viewing my total edit history of several thousand edits with no previous claims of POV.


 * 1st paragraph: No one claimed that his support for Evans demonstrated his support for the Democratic Party. His reward from Evans demonstrates that Stephenson was already significant, and he was a Democrat when he received that reward.


 * 2nd paragraph: Not a counter-argument at all to the point that Stephenson was politically significant while a Democrat. Just an explanation as to why the Klan and the Democrats were intertangled.


 * 3rd paragraph: Again: Evans's reward to Stephenson demonstrates that Stephenson was already significant. The Klan was (amongst other things) an important political organization, so to claim that Stephenson were not politically significant before he switch party affiliations is patently false.  Again: The fact that Stephenson became more significant when he shifted the political allegiance of his part of the Klan from the Democrats to the Republicans doesn't change the fact that he was already significant. (And, BTW, he would have had a signficant association with the Republican Party even if he'd not held damning information, or otherwise participated in its legal corruption. (I say “legal” only because the party was plainly corrupt regardless of whether it were in violation of law.))


 * 4th paragraph: It had been noted in my first comment to this section that the appointment by Evans falsifies the claim that Stephenson had no prior political significance, and (given the importance to the Democratic Part of Klan support) no prior significance to the Democratic Party. If you insist on removing the socialist categorization, that's more defensible.


 * BTW, please properly capitalize. Those who are republicans or democrats at least deserve not to be confused with Republicans or with Democrats. —SlamDiego&#8592;T 03:22, 7 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Just a note, but Stephenson did run in the democrat primary in 1920 for a congressional nomination, but was defeated. (see: Gray, Ralph D. (1995). Indiana History: A Book of Readings. Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 025332629X. Page 306) In Indiana the Klan was strongly democrat, and supported democrat candidates. Albert Bevridge, a Republican Senator was very anti-Klan, and until he retired they were unable to make inroads into the Republican party. It was not until about 1923 that they began to move their support to republican candidates (stephenson included). Charles Edward (Talk) 12:05, 7 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank you for that reminder! —SlamDiego&#8592;T 22:39, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Ohio history and the KKK
I added a section in the Ohio history about the Klan and Stephenson. However the history section in Ohio is white washed, they might remove it because they don't want the KKK in their history section in an attempt to make the article bias. --Margrave1206 (talk) 23:57, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

The President of the United States kept me unduly long...
So Stephenson said in a speech that "the President of the United States kept me unduly long counseling on matters of state." Was there any truth to this? Had he actually met with Harding? Or was he just full of shit? john k (talk) 16:18, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
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Assessment comment
Substituted at 12:39, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

IS it really accurate
to call Stephenson a "politician?" Given that he never, as far as I can tell, held public office. Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 21:23, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20150507171643/http://centerforhistory.org:80/learn-history/indiana-history/the-golden-era-of-indiana-1900-1941 to http://centerforhistory.org/learn-history/indiana-history/the-golden-era-of-indiana-1900-1941
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080130134128/http://www.columbia.edu/~rr91/1402-2007/The%20Stephenson%20Trial%20prospectus.htm to http://www.columbia.edu/~rr91/1402-2007/The%20Stephenson%20Trial%20prospectus.htm

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Socialist?
Was he actually a socialist? There's nothing about that in the article, and the KKK has historically been unfriendly towards socialists and the labor movement. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.78.69.14 (talk) 21:22, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
 * There is plenty of sources for this, I'll add one. Carptrash (talk) 23:06, 19 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Put another way if you are looking for consistent, or rational or logical thinking from the Klan and its adherents you are likely to be frequently disappointed. Carptrash (talk) 23:14, 19 November 2017 (UTC)

The lede
I notice that in July 2016 I posted that calling him a "politician" is odd because he never seems to have held elected office. There has been some back-and-forthing about this section, I must admit that I rather like " visionary, respectable citizen and leader" since that gives us some insight into what particularly "respectable citizen and leader" means in America. However that was not my edit and I think that "businessman" "KKK leader" and "criminal" pretty much covers what got him into wikipedia. But let's discuss it here rather than doing a revert thing such as is happening. Carptrash (talk) 15:16, 29 November 2017 (UTC)


 * The lede is still weak, and more than a little POV. "David Curtiss "Steve" Stephenson (August 21, 1891 – June 28, 1966) was a convicted murderer and rapist, who in 1923 was appointed Grand Dragon of the branch of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana and head of Klan recruiting for seven other states..." is not, strictly speaking, correct. I'm no fan of the Klan and have no sympathy for this individual, but he has a WP entry because he was Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan, not because he was a convicted criminal. The way the lede puts it now places illogical emphasis on the second point rather than the first; they should be reversed. Laodah 23:28, 15 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I cut this (" convicted murderer and rapist,") out of the lede and put something else in. Also that Populist Party stuff has to go since it disbanded when he was 5 or so, Carptrash (talk) 23:46, 15 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I also cut this out (" and was active in the Populist Party") because the Populist Party folded when he was 5 and it is not mentioned in the source given. Why do people put in stuff like that? Carptrash (talk) 23:49, 15 September 2020 (UTC)

Spouses
Hello, while trawling through, this article states that he had four spouses, however it seems to omit any details about end of his 4th. As well as any details on his first 2 aside from the fact he abandoned both. Any additional information would be nice to see, especially on their position and relation to him. As well as generally more in the 'Later Years' section. Apologies that I've not added anything myself. This subject is unfortunately(as perhaps my name suggests) not my forté. Regards 747-200B (talk) 19:50, 21 December 2019 (UTC)