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| Book Review | Indiana Magazine of History, 101.3 | The History Cooperative
101.3  
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September, 2005
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Reviews

Notre Dame vs. the Klan
How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan

By Todd Tucker
(Chicago: Loyola Press, 2004. Pp. xxiii, 261. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $24.95.)

The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s attained its greatest strength in Indiana, but the state was relatively free of the violence that sometimes accompanied the rise of the Invisible Empire elsewhere. The rowdy confrontation that took place between robed Klansmen attending a tristate gathering in South Bend and aroused Notre Dame students was an exception. The skirmishes that occurred on May 17 and 19, 1924, resulted in a few minor injuries and arrests but a large number of bruised egos on both sides. 1
      Todd Tucker, a professional writer whose work has appeared in several national magazines, has put together an engaging account of this South Bend "riot." He succeeds in placing the event in a broad framework that includes the origins and development of both the Klan and Notre Dame. He provides absorbing biographical sketches of Notre Dame founder Father Edward Sorin; Father Matthew Walsh, Notre Dame president at the time of the disturbances; the university's legendary football coach Knute Rockne; and David C. Stephenson, the infamous Grand Dragon whose unbridled lust culminated with the death of Madge Oberholtzer, leading to his homicide conviction and the collapse of the Indiana Klan. Tucker skillfully weaves together these stories, and doubtless many will enjoy this spirited account. As a scholarly work, however, the book falls short. . . .
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