President Woodrow Wilson is famously rumored to have responded to the film with the remark: "It is like writing history with lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true." After the film became subject of controversy due to its heroic portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan, Wilson denied through his press secretary as to having known about the nature of the film before screening it at the White House, or having ever endorsed it. Nevertheless, Wilson's published works as a historian are closely aligned with the film's negative portrayal of Reconstruction (some of his writings are even quoted onscreen in certain prints of the film). Wilson was also notably a consistent pro-segregationist as President.
When it opened in New York City, ticket prices were $2.00 each, which was an astronomical at the time. In modern-day (i.e., ~2025) currency, accounting for inflation, that would be about $63. The exorbitant ticket prices resulted in a significant box office revenue.
First film to be shown in the White House on Thursday the 18th of February 1915 within the East Room, to President Woodrow Wilson.
Mary Wynn was the last surviving cast member of the film at the time of her death on December 22, 2001 at the age of 99.
D.W. Griffith agreed to pay Thomas Dixon Jr. $10,000 for the rights to his play "The Clansman". As Griffith had run out of money and could only offer $2,500, he suggested that Dixon take a 25% interest in the film. Dixon wasn't keen on the idea but reluctantly agreed. The film's unprecedented success made Dixon a very rich man. Dixon's proceeds were the largest sum any author had received [up to 2007] for a motion picture story and amounted to several million dollars.
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