Cultish

Part 3: Congressmen William D. Upshaw & the Ku Klux Klan.

09.07.2021 - By Jeremiah Roberts, Andrew SoncrantPlay

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

In part 3, we look at a 1920s congressman from Georgia by the name of William D. Upshaw & the unique impact he ended up having on the Branham Cult.

William D. Upshaw was a United States Congressman and revivalist from Georgia who was closely affiliated with William Joseph Simmons during the early years of the 1915 Ku Klux Klan and later with Roy E. Davis as Davis rose to the rank of the Imperial Wizard of the Klan. Upshaw was known as the "driest of the dries" for his position against drinking alcohol, helped turn the State of Georgia into the first "dry state", and almost single-handedly led Simmons and the Klan to victory during the 1921 Congressional Hearings. Upshaw helped promote William Branham's revivals by posing as a wheelchair invalid at Roy Davis' request, advertised other revivalists in the Voice of Healing/Latter Rain revivals, and toured with the Branham campaigns until his death in 1952.

How did the exactly KLU-KLUX-KLAN formulate & how much influence did they really have in U.S. politics at that time? What role did Congressman Upshaw have in the KLAN & what sort of influence did he really have on Roy E. Davis & William Branham?

Tune in to find out!"

More episodes from Cultish