casting the role of banker Gatewood

Maybe Mitchell was willing to take less than his standard fee. A good character actor, I don't think he was considered star material, and he hadn't done GWTW yet. He seemed to have had a lot of fun with the role.

I know that originally other actors like Gary Cooper were wanted for the Ringo Kid role, but he required too much money, so the role ended up going to John Wayne who was willing to take less, and was not a big star at the time.

They probably had to pick and choose people willing to take lower salary for what was at the time I believe considered a B movie western. Happily for us, John Ford stuck to his choice of John Wayne.

Ditto for Claire Trevor (the biggest star in the movie at the time). Marlene Dietrich was originally wanted for the Dallas role, but she cost too much. So that role went to Claire Trevor at lower cost. Does make me wonder how Gary and Marelen would have handled those respective roles. Hard to imagine them in now.

Defintely John and Claire took those roles and made them their own. See below:

http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/345125|12474/Stagecoach.html

"Although David O. Selznick expressed initial interest in the project, he wavered back and forth and attached various conditions to it, including a demand for big name stars such as Gary Cooper or Marlene Dietrich. Finally, independent producer Walter Wanger took up the project, giving it a relatively low budget of approximately $500,000. Ford agreed to work for $50,000, less than his usual director's fee. Dudley Nichols and the film's cast also agreed to accept reduced salaries."

I concur, Berton Churchill was great in this movie. This was the type of part he excelled at. I enjoy seeing him in any movie role, and he had 125 credits in only 9 years, before he passed away in 1940!!

The original Klan, post Civil War, were southern and Democrats and were exclusively anti-Black. The original Klan died out in the late 19th century.

The revived Klan of the 20s was most important outside the South. They were pro-prohibition, anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic. Since the Democratic party of the day included Wets, urban immigrants and Catholics the 20s Klan favored Republicans outside the south. This also made sense because Republicans were already strong in places like Indiana and California. This Klan faded away in a couple of decades.

A third wave of Klans arose in the 50s in reaction to the Civil Rights movement. These were Southern and nominally Democratic, there being effectively no Republicans in the deep south in the 50s.

Note that Al Smith was the nominee in 1928.