Fact Check: Fred Trump was detained at KKK rally but there's no evidence he was supporter
The claim: Fred Trump, President Donald Trump’s father, was arrested at a KKK rally in 1927
Numerous posts to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have resurrected a claim that the president’s father was arrested during a 1927 Ku Klux Klan rally that turned violent in Queens, New York. The accusation first surfaced during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Recent posts began appearing amid nationwide protests spawned by the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25. The claim about Trump’s father gained traction after Utah Republican U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney — a frequent target of Trump’s ire — posted a photo of his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, participating in a civil rights march in Detroit in the 1960s.
What happened in 1927?
On Sept. 9, 2015 — three months after Trump announced his bid for president — the tech blog BoingBoing.net published a New York Times article from 1927 that reported that Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump, had been detained at a KKK rally on Memorial Day weekend. According to the article, “1,000 white-robed Klansmen marched through the Jamaica neighborhood, eventually spurring an all-out brawl in which seven men were arrested.”
Among those arrested, the article identifies a man with the name and address of the home of Trump’s father in Jamaica, Queens. The article details the charges filed against six of the men. However, it does not identify any charges against the elder Trump and merely states that he “was discharged.”
The article does not say Trump's father was a member or supporter of the KKK or whether he was a bystander, falsely accused or otherwise the victim of mistaken identity during the chaotic event.
More:How white nationalists tapped into decades of pent-up racism to spark a movement
Details on the incident
The information available in the New York Times article made it difficult to figure out whether Trump’s father was directly involved in the melee or was simply a bystander, falsely accused or otherwise the victim of mistaken identity during the chaotic event. There is no indication in the article that Trump’s father was a member or supporter of the KKK.
Police records are not available.
According to the BoingBoing article, a person answering calls at the New York City Police Department’s Records Section said arrest reports dating to that period were not available.
A report in the Washington Post says, "A contemporaneous article from the Daily Star notes that Trump was detained 'on a charge of refusing to disperse from a parade when ordered to do so.'"
More:1921 Tulsa Race Massacre destroyed ‘Black Wall Street’ community
Trump denies the arrest
Donald Trump quickly denounced claims that his father had been arrested.
"He was never arrested. He has nothing to do with this. This never happened. This is nonsense and it never happened," Trump told the Daily Mail during an interview in September 2015. "This never happened. Never took place. He was never arrested, never convicted, never even charged. It's a completely false, ridiculous story. He was never there! It never happened. Never took place."
Our rating: Partly false
We find this claim to be PARTLY FALSE based on our research. News reports from the day show a Fred Trump was detained at a KKK rally in 1927. But there is no evidence that Trump, father to the president, was a member or supporter of the KKK. Posts that discuss simply the detention — for which there are no existing arrest records — without context are misleading.
Our fact check sources:
- The New York Times, "In Interview, Donald Trump Denies Report of Father's Arrest in 1927"
- The New York Times, "WARREN CRITICIZES 'CLASS' PARADES; Police Head Declares Neither Fascisti Nor Klan Had Any Place in Memorial March. KLAN ASSAILS POLICEMEN No Progress Made In Tracing the Slayers of Two Italians -- Seven Arraigned In Queens Battle."
- Washington Post, "In 1927, Donald Trump’s father was arrested after a Klan riot in Queens"
- BoingBoing, "1927 news report: Donald Trump's dad arrested in KKK brawl with cops"
- Snopes.com, "Was Donald Trump's Father Arrested at a KKK Rally?"
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.
Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.