1920s America was a fast-paced society, technology was just beginning to blossom with the development of the Model-T car, many recognized that they could make the "American Dream", and live more successful lives than their parents. One group of popular groups, or communities, that was revitalized during this era was the KKK, Ku Klux Klan; six college students created this group in 1865 in the Reconstruction years. The group began as a gathering of Southern sympathizers, the Klan later began making waves for the recently released African American former slave population and Southern whites who felt betrayed by the Southern way of life. The popularity of the Ku Klux Klan declined in the late 1800s, due to numerous acts of government intervention and crimes committed by the group. In the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan gathered many followers and became an important part of the Southern way of life. . The industrial boom of the North and the rise of nativism in America triggered the popularity of the Ku Klux Klan in the years following the Great War. With the economic boom that began in America in the years following the Great War, many Americans were enjoying the finer parts of life and living the life captured by F. Scott Fitzgerald's book The Great Gatsby. Most of the economic prosperity was felt throughout the country, especially in the industrial cities of the North, with the invention of the assembly line, the efficiency of factories increased, and many businesses recorded huge profits. This Northern prosperity was quite frowned upon by most of the elite citizens of the Southern United States. The South was somewhat enjoying this economic prosperity, but not to the extent that the North was, the South was still... middle of paper... and the Jews, Catholics, and Negroes of public life in California ." The Ku Klux Klan endorsed Richardson, who did not comment on his approval. This is just one example of a community heavily influenced by the Klan and membership garnered by American nativists. The Ku Klux Klan has since fallen out of favor, present day and age, the Ku Klux Klan is affiliated with the backward “rednecks” who don't know any better. After the civil rights years, the government quickly intervened in the affairs of the Ku Klux Klan and quickly silenced the group. The Ku Klux Klan's progressive era was popular, because much of the population shared the same ideologies as the Klan, not as extreme, but still shared some of the qualities of the Klansmen strong lifestyle and nativist mentality of the Americans of those times.