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The Spiritual-Industrial Complex: America's Religious Battle against Communism in the Early Cold War
In 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 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.
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.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2011
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July 3, 2013
Just when I thought I was studying something completely distinct from what I got my degree in, I come across this study. The Cold War was a holy war, it turns out and Americans (good ones, anyway) crusaders. Who would have thought it? But Herzog does a great job marshaling the evidence that shows how the religious revival of the 1940s and 50s came from the top down and was managed by secular leaders and institutions. It has its importance too for understanding the ongoing struggle between America the secular nation and America the covenant nation. The pledge of allegiance got God as did our money. To be American was to believe in a nondenominational higher power. Wow. Dangerous. So, what do we make of the war on terror?
Some notes/quotes:
The almost “frantic promotion of religion within American society” in the 1950s was not in any way organic. “Just as the Soviet elites during the Cold War considered traditional religious faith a hindrance to national interest and worked to destroy it, American elites considered religious faith a bulwark and worked to promote it.” (5) There was no single leader in this effort, but the complex of leaders and institutions that drive the revival were secular, not religious. That is the point. Unlikely institutions united (with the help of religious institutions and actors) in an effort to bolster American strength. These secular leaders agreed that secular institutions and beliefs alone were insufficient to meet Cold War requirements. (6, 12)
The nation still wrests with the legacy of the “spiritual-industrial complex. Like its more material cousin, the spiritual-industrial complex was born of assumption and urgency. And like its counterpart, it would have profound and enduring, through largely unappreciated effect upon the trajectory of postwar America.” (6)
The spiritual-industrial complex "was an amalgam of institutions that straddled two worlds – one within the realm of policy decisions and the other within the realm of theological conjecture.” (6) “Cold War leaders did not invent this connection between religion and nationalism, but they reified it.” (8)
Some notes/quotes:
The almost “frantic promotion of religion within American society” in the 1950s was not in any way organic. “Just as the Soviet elites during the Cold War considered traditional religious faith a hindrance to national interest and worked to destroy it, American elites considered religious faith a bulwark and worked to promote it.” (5) There was no single leader in this effort, but the complex of leaders and institutions that drive the revival were secular, not religious. That is the point. Unlikely institutions united (with the help of religious institutions and actors) in an effort to bolster American strength. These secular leaders agreed that secular institutions and beliefs alone were insufficient to meet Cold War requirements. (6, 12)
The nation still wrests with the legacy of the “spiritual-industrial complex. Like its more material cousin, the spiritual-industrial complex was born of assumption and urgency. And like its counterpart, it would have profound and enduring, through largely unappreciated effect upon the trajectory of postwar America.” (6)
The spiritual-industrial complex "was an amalgam of institutions that straddled two worlds – one within the realm of policy decisions and the other within the realm of theological conjecture.” (6) “Cold War leaders did not invent this connection between religion and nationalism, but they reified it.” (8)
Displaying 1 of 1 review