On Aug. 16, 1922, prohibitionist Cullen F. Thomas, eliminated in the first round of voting for a seat in the United States Senate, endorsed front-runner Earle B. Mayfield, the Klan candidate, in the upcoming runoff.

Alcoholism and Bright’s disease earned Charles A. Culberson the derisive nickname “the sick old man of the Senate.”  Nevertheless, the four-term incumbent was determined to die on the job and announced he would stand for reelection in 1922. 

With Culberson literally on his last legs and dependent on stand-ins to do his campaigning, there was no shortage of challengers.  Two early aspirants destined to fade in the stretch were Fort Worth newspaperman Clarence Ousley and Cullen F. Thomas, former Waco prosecutor.  Ousley entered the race only because better known Wilson Democrats chose to sit it out, while Thomas hoped to capitalize on his prohibitionist credentials.

The estimated 100,000 votes under Ku Klux Klan control tempted two avowed members of the “Invisible Empire” into throwing their hoods in the ring – Big D oilman Sterling Strong and former congressman Robert L. Henry of Waco.  They were soon joined by fellow Klansman Earle B. Mayfield, who preferred to keep his sheet in the closet. 

Born in the East Texas town of Overton in 1881, Mayfield obtained his undergraduate degree from Southwestern University before going on to the University of Texas to study law.  He moved to Meridian and at 25 became the youngest state senator ever.  Six years later, the up-and-comer won a spot on the powerful Railroad Commission, where he had stayed for the past decade.

Klan leaders believed Mayfield was their best bet by far but hesitated to tell Strong and Henry to fold their tents.  In a wait-and-see compromise that merely postponed the inevitable, all three “Klanidates” were allowed to remain in the running.

Meanwhile, a familiar figure turned the election into a referendum on the Klan.  Though banned for life from holding state office, James E. Ferguson could do as he pleased in the federal arena.  The impeached ex-governor threw down the gauntlet to the KKK:  “Your arrogated mission to save the American republic with an invisible empire is so plainly the idea of a foolish fanatic that I sometimes don’t blame you for wearing a mask.”

The ferocity of the Ferguson attack convinced Klan leaders that three candidates was a luxury they could ill afford.  A secret survey taken in mid-June showed Mayfield was the overwhelming favorite of the rank and file.  He was quickly certified as the official standard bearer and his two rivals were ordered to drop out of the race.

Strong obligingly obeyed, but Henry defiantly declined to withdraw.  Instead, he echoed Ferguson’s call for Mayfield to come clean about his Klan affiliation.  Realizing the truth could cost him crucial support, Mayfield continued to refuse to confirm or deny his membership, arguing the KKK was not an issue.

Meanwhile, Ferguson came up with an ingenious way to remind the electorate of Culberson’s poor health and prolonged absence from the Lone Star State.  If the intoxicated invalid returned to Texas, where he had not set foot in ten long years, and gave two 20-minute speeches, Farmer Jim promised to pull the plug on his own campaign.  An aide later admitted the inability of the Senator to call Ferguson’s bluff doomed him to defeat.

Mayfield was the top vote-getter in the Jul. 22 Democratic Party primary, but Ferguson qualified for the runoff with an impressive second-place showing.  Culberson came in third trailed by Thomas and Ousley with die-hard Henry bringing up the rear.

Forced to choose between a cross-burner and a disgraced governor, many Texans picked Mayfield as the lesser evil.  All that matter to prohibitionists, including Sen. Morris Sheppard, was his public commitment to the dry crusade.

Culberson refused to take sides in the second primary as did Gov. Pat Neff.  But William P. Hobby, Neff’s predecessor and Ferguson’s replacement, backed Mayfield “in keeping with the progress of democracy and the forward march of Texas.”

Ferguson with his usual no-holds-barred style tried to kill two birds with one stone.  He accused Mayfield and Hobby of getting “drunk as boiled owls” at a party three years earlier and jogging naked along the banks of the San Gabriel River.

The war of words ended on Aug. 26 with a 54-percent victory for Mayfield.  Two hundred and sixty-five thousand Texans turned out for Farmer Jim, but he was no match for the unholy alliance of Klansmen and prohibitionists.

Dissident Democrats staged an independent protest that fall with the write-in candidacy of a young district attorney stripped of his Sunday school duties after casting a ballot for Ferguson.  Mayfield beat George Peddy better than two-to-one even after divulging under oath that he had indeed belonged to the Ku Klux Klan until late January.

The KKK was on the skids in 1928, when Earle B. Mayfield had the gall to ask for six more years.  Congressman Tom Connally made him a one-term fluke, but he failed to get the message and ran for governor two years later.  Finishing a humiliating seventh with just six percent of the vote, Mayfield went into permanent political retirement.

Bartee’s three books and “Best of This Week in Texas History” column collections are available for purchase at barteehaile.com.