The Spiritual-Industrial Complex: America's Religious Battle against Communism in the Early Cold WarIn his farewell address, Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation of the perils of the military-industrial complex. But as Jonathan Herzog shows in this insightful history, Eisenhower had spent his presidency contributing to another, lesser known, Cold War collaboration: the spiritual-industrial complex. This fascinating volume shows that American leaders in the early Cold War years considered the conflict to be profoundly religious; they saw Communism not only as godless but also as a sinister form of religion. Fighting faith with faith, they deliberately used religious beliefs and institutions as part of the plan to defeat the Soviet enemy. Herzog offers an illuminating account of the resultant spiritual-industrial complex, chronicling the rhetoric, the programs, and the policies that became its hallmarks. He shows that well-known actions like the addition of the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance were a small part of a much larger and relatively unexplored program that promoted religion nationwide. Herzog shows how these efforts played out in areas of American life both predictable and unexpected--from pulpits and presidential appeals to national faith drives, military training barracks, public school classrooms, and Hollywood epics. Millions of Americans were bombarded with the message that the religious could not be Communists, just a short step from the all-too-common conclusion that the irreligious could not be true Americans. Though the spiritual-industrial complex declined in the 1960s, its statutes, monuments, and sentiments live on as bulwarks against secularism and as reminders that the nation rests upon the groundwork of religious faith. They continue to serve as valuable allies for those defending the place of religion in American life. |
What people are saying - Write a review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - Scapegoats - LibraryThingThis is a compelling book that argues that in the early Cold War, there was a conscious effort by many secular leaders to make the fight against a spiritual battle as well as a material one. The ... Read full review
Other editions - View all
The Spiritual-Industrial Complex: America's Religious Battle against ... Jonathan P. Herzog No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
Address American religious American society anti antiCommunism antiCommunist Arcadia argued atheistic attendance battle began believed Billy Graham called campaign century Chambers chaplains Christian Church civil religion Cold War Committee Communism Communist conflict Cong Congress conservative Council democracy early Cold economic Edgar Hoover Editorial Eisenhower Eisenhower’s evangelical February Files folder force Fulton Sheen Gallup Organization God We Trust God’s holy Hoover HUAC ideological institutions iPOLL Databank John July June Library Luce Papers Lynd Meier Collection military Mindszenty moral and spiritual National newspapers Niebuhr October pastor PCRW Papers percent Pledge of Allegiance political pray prayer president presidential propaganda Protestant public schools Reinhold Niebuhr religious beliefs religious faith religious leaders revival Roosevelt Russia sacralization Scopes trial secular September social Soviet Union Speech Spellman spiritualindustrial complex Truman UnAmerican United University Press USIA Washington Whittaker Chambers World War II wrote York
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Spiritual-Industrial Complex: America's Religious Battle against Communism in the Early Cold War |
| Author | Jonathan P. Herzog |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 2011 |
| ISBN | 0199832013, 9780199832019 |
| Length | 288 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Modern / 20th Century History / United States / 20th Century Political Science / Political Ideologies / Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |