In his 1979 UCLA doctoral dissertation "The Invisible Government and the Viable Community: The Ku Klux Klan in Orange County, California, During the 1920's," Christopher Cocoltchos writes:
"Civic controversies directly spurred the Klan's growth in Fullerton during 1923, especially in the latter part of the year. Councilman W.A. Moore, Judge French, and Superintendent of Schools [Louis] Plummer joined the Klan in the latter part of 1923...Civic leaders were especially eager to join. Seven of the eighteen councilmen who served on the council between 1918 and 1930 were Klansmen; most joined the hooded order between June, 1923 and July, 1924. They believed the disorders in their community would be stopped only by the efforts of a civic-oriented group which would balance boosterism with a strict community moral order" (306).
The next time you walk past Plummer Auditorium on Chapman, think to yourself, "This place is named after a member of the Ku Klux Klan."
