This day in history: Dixy Lee Ray campaigned for governor in Spokane. Wenatchee hosted KKK convention with keynote from Colfax reverend

From 1976: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dixy Lee Ray visited Spokane and denied that she was a “one-issue candidate” – that issue being nuclear power.

She was the former director of the federal Atomic Energy Commission and a “staunch advocate of nuclear power” – but she was also focused on the economy, tax reform and basic education.

“I reject a no-growth philosophy,” she said.

She said she wanted to run for governor so she could take advantage of the experience she had gained at the federal level .

In other political news, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter said he would choose a running mate from a list of seven people. Spokane’s Tom Foley was not on the list, despite an early groundswell of support.

From 1926: Wenatchee hosted the state’s Ku Klux Klan convention, which attracted “1,500 robed delegates from all over the state.”

“We are not going to die, but if we did there are those who would be more than glad to bury us,” said the Rev. L.W. Blackman of Colfax, who gave the keynote speech.

He said that “the Klan is not a man-made organization, but God-given.”

He also said he wanted to “keep the wolves out of the melting pot” and “keep the wolves out of America.”

The Klansmen and Klanswomen then marched in a parade through Wenatchee.

“Never before have such a large crowd witnessed a parade here,” wrote a correspondent in The Spokesman-Review. “Every street was jammed and extra officers were put on to handle the traffic.”