ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book would not have been possible without the inspiration and support of countless colleagues, friends, and family. There are not enough pages here to thank them properly or enough time to express the depths of my debt to them all.

First, I must thank the academic community I’ve been lucky to call home for a decade and a half now. As a member of the faculty at Princeton University, I have been fortunate to have so many colleagues who are both rich with insight and generous with their time. This project has benefited immensely from several workshops in the Department of Religion and the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies and informal chats with many of my colleagues at the Center for the Study of Religion. Special thanks to Wallace Best, Jessica Delgado, Judith Weisenfeld, and Bob Wuthnow. In one form or another, the entire Department of History—faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students—has helped make me a better historian and this a better book. But for their collegiality and contributions to this project, I owe a special debt to Margot Canaday, Alec Dun, Yaacob Dweck, Shel Garon, Michael Gordin, Molly Greene, Josh Guild, Dirk Hartog, Alison Isenberg, Rob Karl, Mike Laffan, Jon Levy, Erika Milam, Rebecca Rix, Dan Rodgers, Keith Wailoo, Wendy Warren, Sean Wilentz, and Julian Zelizer. I owe my department chair, Bill Jordan, my deepest appreciation for his unflagging support. Our staff, of course, is the backbone of our department, and I thank them for the invaluable help they provide us all every day: Elizabeth Bennett, Brooke Fitzgerald, Judy Hanson, Barb Leavey, Pamela Long, Debbie Macy, Kristy Novak, Etta Recke, Max Siles, Jackie Wasneski, and Carla Zimowsk. My graduate students, past and present, all deserve credit for inspiring me to work as diligently as they do. In particular, conversations with Leah Wright Rigueur and Sarah Milov have helped me fine-tune my thinking on the issues in this book, while Dov Grohsgal has doggedly secured the prints and permissions for the images in it. Olivier Burtin graciously offered to look for material related to the project when he made his own early research trips to the American Legion archives and returned with more than I’d even imagined possible.

Beyond Princeton, countless other scholars have helped this project as well. Sections of the book were presented early on as papers at annual meetings of the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, as well as at smaller conferences, workshops, and invited lectures at Binghamton University, Boston University, Cornell University, Emory University, King’s College London, Southern Methodist University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Sussex. Many thanks to the receptive audiences at these events and the scholars who participated: Uta Balbier, Anja-Maria Bassimir, Eileen Boris, Heike Bungert, Jim Cobb, Joe Crespino, Jonathan Ebel, Wayne Flynt, Healon Gaston, Lily Geismer, Sally Gordon, Andy Graybill, Stephen Green, Alison Colis Greene, Darren Grem, Ray Haberski, Matt Hedstrom, Heather Hendershot, John Lee, Nelson Lichtenstein, Emma Long, Jonathan Lurie, John McGreevey, Bethany Moreton, Alice O’Connor, Kathy Olmsted, Steve Ortiz, Andrew Preston, Mark Rose, Bruce Schulman, Elizabeth Shermer, Matt Sutton, Stephen Tuck, Wendy Wall, Clive Webb, Jana Weiss, and Diane Winston. Later on, Brian Balogh did me the great honor of inviting me to present a draft of the manuscript at the 2013 Miller Center Fellowship Spring Conference at the University of Virginia, where three phenomenal scholars—Doug Blackmon, Mike Lienesch, and Darren Dochuk—provided thorough feedback and enthusiastic support. Darren, in particular, has to be singled out for praise, as he not only provided me with several rounds of feedback over the course of this project but also put up with me as we presented our work together in a half-dozen panels and presentations over a year’s span.

I owe Ari Kelman and Eric Rauchway a tremendous debt, as they read through an early draft of the manuscript, providing terrific suggestions at a crucial stage, and then helped me think through countless new issues as I revised the manuscript over the next few years. Several other scholars deserve my sincere thanks for taking the time to read the entire manuscript in later stages of its evolution, offering insight and much-needed encouragement to press on: Paul Harvey, Andrew Preston, Larry Moore, Matt Sutton, Bob Wuthnow, and Neil J. Young. Gill Frank and Kim Phillips-Fein, meanwhile, offered invaluable feedback on individual chapters. For additional conversations and insights that shaped the book in important ways, I must also thank Tony Badger, Tim Borstelmann, Jon Butler, Nathan Connolly, Jeff Cowie, Mary Dudziak, Sally Gordon, Mary Beth Norton, Matt Lassiter, Dick Polenberg, Nick Salvatore, Andrew Sandoval Strausz, Bryant Simon, and Tom Sugrue. And I owe special thanks to three complete strangers who generously offered to help me track down key materials for this project: Rich Kimball and Kara Hansen, who helped me secure photocopies from the Cecil B. DeMille archives, and Sam Brenner, who graciously loaned me FBI files on the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade that he had unearthed in his own research.

Many institutions and individuals made the research for this book possible. Financial support from the Princeton University Committee on Research and the Department of History subsidized several research trips to various archives, while the excellent staff at our Firestone Library worked tirelessly to dig up countless copies of obscure books, magazines, and periodicals on short notice. Most important, this book owes a great deal to the resourcefulness and helpfulness of a good number of archivists, librarians, and staff members around the nation. As any historian can attest, the insight and assistance of archivists can make or break a project, and there are several who deserve special mention for their kind help: Jim Armistead at the Truman Presidential Library, Brian Keough at the University of Albany, Dan Linke at the Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton, Ron McDowell of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Simone Munson at the Wisconsin Historical Society, John Nemmers at the University of Florida, Bruce Tabb at the University of Oregon, Howard Trace at the American Legion, Randy Vance at Texas Tech University, and Stacey Wright at Valdosta State University. Three archives, in particular, were vitally important for this project, and luckily for me, they were all run by exceptional archivists: Bob Shuster at the Billy Graham Center Archives, Bill Sumners at the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, and the late Herb Pankratz at the Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Library. Without the generous assistance (and general kindness) that they and their outstanding staffs provided, this book would not have been possible. To anyone whose name should be here but is not, I ask that you please forgive me for the oversight.

Geri Thoma has been an incredible advisor and advocate, and I cannot imagine navigating the unfamiliar terrain of trade publishing without her. The entire staff at Basic Books has been simply wonderful. Dan Gerstle did amazing work in the final line edits. My editor Lara Heimert is likewise simply phenomenal, and I can’t thank her enough for her passion for this project and her commitment to it. Her assistant, Leah Stecher, helped me handle countless last-second crises as the book went to press. Likewise, Rachel King and her staff ensured the final work looked terrific.

On a more personal note, I have many friends to thank for making sure I didn’t disappear into the archives altogether: Martha D’Avila and Jim Burton, Eric and Pam Greenhut, Dan and Melanie Goldey, Dave and Jen Haslam, John and Ali Lee, Clea Karlstrom and Steve Selwood, Ben and Caddie Kopke, David and Christina Krol, Shirley Paddock, John Pijanowski, Steve Raizes, Pranay and Erin Reddy, Greg and Megan Robinson, Liz and Kayvan Sadeghi, Nathan and Chris Seay, David and Sara Schivell, Kurt and Kat Schliemann, Colleen Schwartz, Jon and Oriyan Schwartz, Sheraz and Sarah Shere, Dan and Maria Smith, Pete Smith, Tim and Christina Sobon, David and Wilma Solomon, and Sandro and Jen Vitaglione.

As always, my incredible family managed to keep me going throughout this project. My in-laws, Lorne and Marg Hamilton, have always made me feel like a son instead of a son-in-law, while Marlo, Chris, and Mason Gaddis have welcomed me warmly into their family as well. My sisters, Amy and Lisa, and my brother, Eric, have always been there to lift my spirits when I needed it and to put me in my place when I needed that. Their spouses, Jim Hubbuch, Eric Link, and Shala Kruse, have given me a great deal of encouragement, while Emily Hubbuch, Megan Hubbuch, Kelsie Hubbuch, Caitlin Carter, Reece Kruse, and Bailey Kruse have given me nothing but joy. My mother, Mary Jean Kruse, has been my greatest cheerleader and source of support for as long as I can remember. Sadly, my father, Mike Kruse, passed away in 2012. I have missed him every day since.

I owe my greatest debt to my wife and my best friend, Lindsay. I am constantly amazed at everything she does, and does so well. Accomplished in her own career, she is every bit a committed partner and a devoted mother. She has tolerated my absence when the writing was going well and, worse, my presence when it was not. Most of all, she has given me the two greatest gifts I will ever receive: our daughter, Maggie, and our son, Sam. I began researching this project just before Maggie was born, and then started writing soon before Sam completed our family. This book has been in the background their entire lives; it seems the least I can do is not just dedicate it to them but dedicate myself to them for the rest of my life too. I love the three of you more than words can say.