The Split Between Christian Realists and Pacifists, 1930-1939
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“As Tragic as the World Conflict”: The Split Between Christian Realists and Pacifists, 1930-1939 by Bryan DuBose Peery B.A. in History, May 2003, University of Georgia M.Phil. in History, May 2008, The George Washington University A Dissertation Submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 20, 2012 Dissertation directed by Leo P. Ribuffo Professor of History The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Bryan DuBose Peery has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of March 23, 2012. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. “As Tragic as the World Conflict”: The Split Between Christian Realists and Pacifists, 1930-1939 Bryan DuBose Peery Dissertation Research Committee: Leo P. Ribuffo, Professor of History, Dissertation Director Richard Stott, Professor of History, Committee Member William H. Becker, Professor of History, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2012 by Bryan DuBose Peery All rights reserved iii To My Parents iv Acknowledgments Although the process of writing this dissertation was often daunting, the help and support of numerous individuals over the last few years made sure it was never impossible. From my first encounter with Leo P. Ribuffo as a prospective student, I was amazed by both his intellect and his frankness, two qualities which I only grew to appreciate more as I endeavored to complete this project. It was during his lively graduate seminar on social thought in the United States that I first encountered Reinhold Niebuhr. Professor Ribuffo’s continuous encouragement, guidance, and feedback immeasurably benefitted and shaped not only this dissertation but also its author. A summer grant from the George Washington University allowed me to take several research trips during which I benefitted from the kindness of archivists and old friends. Martha Smalley of the Yale Divinity School Library and Ruth Tonkiss Cameron of the Union Theological Seminary’s Burke Library were both very helpful in the early stages of my research into mid-century Christian social activism. Mary and Carl Pyrdum and Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, all friends and fellow alumni of the University of Georgia’s Demosthenian Literary Society, allowed me to stretch my research budget by providing accommodations in New Haven and New York. Sydney Brown, wife of the late Robert McAfee Brown and a model of Christian social activism herself, demonstrated unparalleled generosity when she welcomed me into her home and opened up the files of her husband to me. She also arranged for me to meet with several individuals, including her son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Karen Brown; Diana Gibson; Judy Dunbar; and Marion Pauck. To Pauck in particular, I owe special thanks for spending an afternoon with me reminiscing about Union Theological v Seminary and the intellectual luminaries who taught there in the 1940s and 1950s. Unfortunately, a chronological reframing of the project precluded me from writing the account of Brown’s activism that I had originally intended, but his commitment to social justice and his interpretation of Niebuhr nevertheless left their mark on the present study. I am also indebted to many members of the George Washington University community. Allida Black brought me on as a Fellow at the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. Not only did the position provide me with much needed financial support, it also allowed me to improve my research and writing skills at a much more accelerated pace than would have been possible through coursework alone. Equally rewarding was the opportunity provided by the Department of History to serve as a teaching assistant for professors whose passion for history was contagious. In addition to keeping the department running smoothly, Michael Weeks also happens to be quite the theologian; I learned a great deal from our discussions of sin and grace. I am grateful to my many graduate student colleagues who participated in the department’s dissertation workshop. Sara Berndt, in particular, was instrumental in prodding me to stop reading and start writing. Andrew Hartman, too, deserves special acknowledgment. Although he completed the program and was adjusting to life as a professor before I even began writing, he has continued to serve as an inspiration and mentor, providing encouragement and placing me into contact with other scholars who share my interests. For making my defense an intellectually rewarding and surprisingly enjoyable experience, I must thank Professors Dewey Wallace, Richard Stott, Edward Berkowitz, and William Becker. For my parents’ unwavering support, emotionally and otherwise, I am eternally grateful. I suspect neither knew exactly what they were getting into when they vi encouraged me to apply for graduate school, but even if they shared my doubts about my ability to complete this project, they never let me know. Finally, I must thank Britta Anderson. Her model of hard work and dedication as well as her unending encouragement made the goal of completing this project seem possible when I might otherwise have abandoned it. vii Abstract of Dissertation “As Tragic as the World Conflict”: The Split Between Christian Realists and Pacifists, 1930-1939 Christian realism has left its mark well beyond the liberal Protestant circles in which it developed. Since the 1940s, politicians and intellectuals of all ideological stripes have turned to Reinhold Niebuhr, Christian realism’s chief architect, for answers regarding the United States’ role in the world. As Niebuhr ultimately supported American intervention in World War II and later earned a reputation as one of the most influential intellectuals behind the United States’ Cold War policy, Christian realism is commonly portrayed as little more than the rejection of pacifism and justification for a tough foreign policy. Far too often scholars have relied solely on Niebuhr’s longer works and accepted without question his criticism of his liberal Protestant contemporaries. This dissertation restores nuance to our understanding of Niebuhr by placing him in conversation with both his allies and his critics, most notably John Coleman Bennett, Richard Niebuhr, and Charles Clayton Morrison. Furthermore, I attempt to develop our understanding of Niebuhr’s theology as well as his politics through rigorous analysis of both his books and his many editorials on contemporary events from the Manchurian crisis to Pearl Harbor. By examining both sides of the debates over American intervention, I hope to recover the overwhelming sense of confusion and helplessness that characterized all efforts to devise an adequate response to Nazism in the 1930s and to demonstrate that the distinction between Niebuhr’s new realism and the older liberalism has been greatly exaggerated, first by Niebuhr, and later by historians. viii Table of Contents Dedication ...................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... v Abstract of Dissertation ................................................................................................viii Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: The Search for a Christian Ethic .............................................................. 10 Chapter Two: “Must We Do Nothing?”: Pacifists Confront the Manchurian Crisis ........ 53 Chapter Three: Strife Among the Pacifists: Moral Man and Immoral Society and the F.O.R. Split...................................................................................................... 110 Chapter Four: A Time for Reflections .......................................................................... 139 Chapter Five: Niebuhr and His Critics ......................................................................... 178 Chapter Six: Pacifism and Internationalism, 1933-1935 ............................................... 230 Chapter Seven: Radical Religion in a Time of Crises: Ethiopia and Spain, 1935-1937 ....................................................................................................... 275 Chapter Eight: The Road to War, 1937-1939 ............................................................... 318 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 359 Works Cited ................................................................................................................ 371 ix Introduction In a 2005 essay in the New York Times, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., lamented that American intellectuals and political leaders were “forgetting Reinhold Niebuhr.” At a time when the United States military was engaged in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Americans waged a metaphorical cultural battle over the role of religion in politics at home, Schlesinger noted that Niebuhr, “the supreme American theologian of the 20th century,” was nowhere to be found.1 Just outside of Schlesinger’s purview, however, the latest of Niebuhr revivals had already begun. But the renewed interest in Niebuhr generated more heat than light. As Paul Elie put it in his 2007 essay in the Atlantic, which documents the uses of Niebuhr