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“We Have Heard the Joyful Sound”: Charles E. Fuller's Radio Broadcast and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2018

Philip Goff
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Extract

The message that Grace Fuller had awaited for years arrived at her cabin in the San Bernardino mountains. Here, she sought relief from the Southern California heat that aggravated her tuberculosis, for which there was no easy treatment in 1916. Her husband, Charles, had gone to church alone in Los Angeles to hear Paul Rader, the boxer-turned-evangelist. There, Charles converted to fundamental Christianity. Unable to contain his excitement, he informed her of his call to missions, probably Africa. Certain the heat would do her in, Grace's gratitude for Charles's religious experience was tempered by the idea of being a missionary. She thought to herseif, “I'll go with him anywhere in the world, but oh, my goodness, I hope it isn't to a hotclimate!”

Type
Research Article
Information
Religion and American Culture , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , Winter 1999 , pp. 67 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture 1999

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References

Notes

Sections of this article were previously given at the American Historical Association, Pacific Coast Branch Annual Meeting, August 8, 1997, and at the Missions Conference, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, October 25, 1997, Emerald Isle, North Carolina. I wish to thank the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which funded this study. I appreciate the helpful comments of Ann Taves, Lillian Taiz, Paul Harvey, Grant Wacker, Laurie Maffly-Kipp, Jay Blossom, William Deverell, Russell Spittler, and Daniel P. Fuller; and the aid of Kate McGinn, archivist of the Charles E. Fuller and Grace Fuller Collection at the David DuPlessis Archive, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.

1. This story is found in transcripts of interviews with Charles Fuller (1887-1968) and Grace Fuller (1886-1965) in the Charles E. Fuller and Grace Fuller Collection at the David DuPlessis Archive, Fuller Theological Seminary (henceforth referred to as FC). See also Fuller, Daniel P., Give the Winds a Mighty Voice: The Story of Charles E. Fuller (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1972), 34–35.Google Scholar This is a well-researched book written by Charles Fuller's son. For less critical writings on Fuller by his contemporaries, see Wright, J. Elwin, The Old Fashioned Revival Hour and Its Broadcasters (Boston: Fellowship Press, 1940)Google Scholar; and Smith, Wilber M., A Voice for God: The Life of Charles E. Fuller, Originator of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour (Boston: W. A. Wilde, 1949).Google Scholar

2. Interview with Daniel P. Fuller, April 16, 1997.

3. Cutler Whitwell Diary, October 12, 1949, FC.

4. For an overview of American religion during World War II, of which there are too few, see Sittser, Gerald L., A Cautious Patriotism: The American Churches and the Second World War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997)Google Scholar; Marty, Martin, Modern American Religion: Under God, Indivisible, 1941-1960 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996)Google Scholar; and Loveland, Anne, American Evangelicals and the U.S. Military, 1942-1993 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996).Google Scholar There are, of course, many analyses of American society during the war, but few focus on religion; mean-while, many studies of specific religious groups or issues deal with the period but do not focus on religion's relationship to the war itself. For the best general study of fundamentalism during this period, see Carpenter, Joel, Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).Google Scholar Evangelical radio has recently received increased attention. For excellent overviews, see Schultze, Quentin J., “Evangelical Radio and the Rise of the Electronic Church, 1921-1948,” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 32 (Summer 1988): 289–306 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Schultze, Quentin J., “Keeping the Faith: American Evangelicals and the Mass Media,” in Evangelicals and the Mass Media: Perspectives on the Relationship between American Evangelicals and the Mass Media, ed. Schultze, Quentin J. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), 23–45 Google Scholar; and Voskuil, Dennis, “The Power of the Air: Evangelicals and the Rise of Religious Broadcasting,” in Evangelicals and the Mass Media, ed. Schultze, , 69–95.Google Scholar Other helpful studies of evangelical broadcasting include: Martin, William, “Mass Communications,” in Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience, 3 vols., ed. Lippy, Charles H. and Williams, Peter W. (New York: Scribners, 1988), 3:1711-26Google Scholar; Schultze, Quentin J., “The Mythos of the Electronic Church,” Criticial Studies in Mass Communication 4 (December 1987): 245-61CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Schultze, Quentin J., “Evangelicals' Uneasy Alliance with the Media,” in Religion and Mass Media: Audiences and Adaptations, ed. Stout, Daniel A. and Buddenhaum, Judith M. (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1996)Google Scholar; and Bendroth, Margaret Lamberts, “Fundamentalism and the Media, 1930-1990,” Religion and Mass Media, ed. Stout, and Buddenhaum, , 74–84.Google Scholar

5. Carpenter, Revive Us Again. While the issues surrounding the rise of today's powerful evangelical coalition are often debated, they have become well known. The debate centers on the importance ascribed to fundamentalists, as compared to Wesleyan traditions, in the formation of modern evangelicalism. Ernest Sandeen argued that fundamentalism was the twentieth-century residue of nineteenth-century evangelicalism, particularly its millenarian and inerrantist impulses. See Sandeen, Ernest, The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism, 1800-1930 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).Google Scholar George Marsden simultaneously expanded that vision to include Americanism, Holiness, revivalism, pietism, and evangelical consensus and reduced it to an outgrowth of the Reformed tradition, finding its home mostly among northern denominations. See Marsden, George, Fundamentalism and American Culture, 1870-1925 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980).Google Scholar Donald Dayton has been the major critic of this construction, arguing for a broader continuum that includes Wesleyan Holiness and Pentecostal traditions. See Dayton, Donald, The Theological Roots of Pentecostalism (Grand Rapids: Francis Asbury, 1987)Google Scholar; and Dayton, Donald, “The Search for the Historic Evangelicalism: George Marsden's History of Fuller Seminary as a Case Study,” Christian Scholar's Review 23 (September 1993): 12–33.Google Scholar For Marsden's reply, see “Response to Don Dayton,” Christian Scholar's Review 23 (September 1993): 34-40. See also the responses and analyses of Fuller, Daniel P., “Response to Donald W. Dayton,” Christian Scholar's Review 23 (September 1993): 41–43 Google Scholar; Pinnock, Clark, “Fuller Theological Seminary and the Nature of Evangelicalism,” Christian Scholar's Review 23 (September 1993): 44–47 Google Scholar; Sweeney, Douglas, “Historiographical Dialectics: On Marsden, Dayton, and the Internal Logic of Evangelical History,” Christian Scholar's Review 23 (September 1993): 48–52 Google Scholar; Carpenter, Joel, “The Scope of American Evangelicalism: Some Comments on the Marsden-Dayton Exchange,” Christian Scholar's Review 23 (September 1993): 53–61 Google Scholar; and Dayton, Donald W., “Rejoinder to Historiography Discussion,” Christian Scholar's Review 23 (September 1993): 62–71.Google Scholar My argument parallels Carpenter's recent assertion that modern evangelicalism finds a home in both traditions but that fundamentalists provided the leadership in the movement's postwar rise to prominence. See Carpenter, , Revive Us Again, 233-46.Google Scholar However, my work contends that the leadership began during the war itself by way of Fuller's radio program, which created a broad-based audience to which postwar revivalists appealed.

6. See “Declaration of Trust” for the Immanuel Missionary Fund signed by Henry Fuller, Helen Fuller, Charles Fuller, and Grace D. Woodsum, March 31, 1922, FC. For a discussion of the fund, see D. Fuller, Give the Winds a Mighty Voice, chap. 1; and “Charles Edward Fuller,” Who's Who in California, 1928-1929 (San Francisco: Who's Who Publishing, 1929). While the purpose of the Gospel Broadcasting Association (GBA) differed from the Immanuel Missionary Fund (IMF), the two ventures met under the larger banner of evangelism. Originally, the GBA's purpose was to reach as many domestic listeners as possible by radio, while the IMF sought to help independent foreign missionaries. By the early 1940's, the two foci became less distinct as the GBA began broadcasting into foreign countries. In 1943, the IMF was converted into the Fuller Evangelistic Foundation (FEF), which allowed many to donate money to Fuller's evangelistic ventures not directly related to the radio program. Fuller used the FEF in 1947 to found Fuller Theological Seminary. While various aspects of FEF—including income from the copartnership with the Gospel Quartet, the “Old Fashioned Revival Hour” choir, daily vacation Bible school materials, and rental properties—were overseen by different individuals, Charles Fuller himself always controlled investment in Stocks and bonds, usually with remarkable success. By the time of his death in 1968, the FEF had distributed more than four million dollars to missionary aid, literature, radio aid, and scholarships around the world. For an efficient history of the FEF's attempts to found evangelical institutions, see Marsden, George M., Reforming Fundamentalism: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1987)Google Scholar, chaps. 1 and 3.

7. For a general discussion of Fuller's and other fundamentalist Protestants' battle for airtime, see Moore, R. Laurence, Selling God: American Religion in the Marketplace of Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994)Google Scholar, chap. 8; and Carpenter, Revive Us Again, chap. 7. For an early history of the Situation written by evangelicals, see Murch, James DeForest, Cooperation without Compromise: A History of the National Association of Evangelicals (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1956)Google Scholar, chap. 6. For contemporary readings, see “United … We Stand. A Report of the Constitutional Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals,” La Salle Hotel, Chicago, IL, May 3-6, 1943. J. Elwin Wright, one of the early leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals, made an impassioned Speech before the Institute for Education by Radio, Columbus, Ohio, May 1942, in which he specifically employed the “Old Fashioned Revival Hour” and the “Lutheran Hour” as examples of well-run, financially-responsible shows hurt by current guidelines. See “Report of Special Committee on Religion Broadcasting,” in Evangelical Action! A Report of the Organization of the National Association of Evangelicals for United Action, ed. Executive Committee (Boston: United Action Press, 1942), 123-24.

8. Fuller fashioned the successful “Old Fashioned Revival Hour” through a trial-and-error period in which he aired such programs as “The Voice of Hollywood,” “The Prophetic Lamp Hour,” “Heart to Heart Hour,” “Sunday School Hour,” “Radio Bible Class,” and “Radio Revival Hour.” He kept a second program, “Pilgrims Hour,” an instructional program for Christians, on approximately 150 stations until 1949.

9. Grace Payton Fuller came from a prestigious family in Redlands, California, where her father served as a physician for many years. Intelligent and well-spoken, her education at Western College (Oxford, Ohio) and the University of Chicago exhibited itself on the radio as she read listeners' letters. The amount of her airtime did not reveal her importance behind the scenes, where she advised Charles and edited Heart to Heart Talk. Circulation of Heart to Heart Talk exceeded two hundred thousand prior to the divisions within fundamentalism in the late 1940's.

10. Fuller, D., Give the Winds a Mighty Voice, 125-29.Google Scholar

11. Heart to Heart Talk, April 17, 1937.

12. Lincoln County Tribune, January 8, 1942, FC, Scrapbook 2.43.

13. Jackson Sun, December 5, 1940, n.p., and Worchester Telegram, December 15, 1940, n.p., FC, Scrapbook 2.103.

14. Tom Fizdale, “Listen to This,” n.d., n.p., internal evidence January 1939, FC, Scrapbook 2.4; Bruce Adams, “Behind Your Dial,” November 19, 1940, Creston News Daily Journal, FC, Scrapbook 2.95 (ellipses in text).

15. Heart to Heart Talk, June 1942, FC.

16. Interviews with Richard and Lois Curley, July 10, 1997; Sue McGill, October 1, 1997; Mae Douglas, November 7, 1997.

17. Unidentified newspaper, October 12, 1940, n.p., one-quarter page ad for KGNO, “Serving the Great Southwest,” FC, Scrapbook 2.20.

18. Sarah Veach to Charles E. Fuller (henceforth CEF), January 29, 1950, FC.

19. The American audience is an important issue. From an ideological Standpoint, many of Fuller's listeners were doubtless the “constructive fundamentalists” of the early 1940's, many of whom formed the core of the National Association of Evangelicals and would later support the ministry of Billy Graham. Fuller tried, however, to avoid the debates between Harold John Ockenga and Carl McIntire, which eventually split the conservative Protestants into New Evangelicals (Ockenga) and Separatist fundamentalists (McIntire). Such purposeful evasion enabled him to attract larger audiences. By underscoring the revivalist style he likewise drew Christians from the Holiness, Pentecostal, and various African American traditions. As a constructive fundamentalist who sought to unite conservatives, Fuller eventually fell out with the New Evangelicals, a move that cost him many listeners. During wartime, though, these issues remained under the surface. Conservatives were united by several publications and, more important for this study, by the “Old Fashioned Revival Hour.” From a sociological Standpoint, a 1952 study reported that two-thirds of the program's listeners were over forty-five years of age, and one-quarter were over sixty-five. Two-thirds of the heads of households were either semi-skilled or unskilled laborers. One-third had no religious affiliation. See Parker, Everett C., Barry, David W., and Smythe, Dallas W., The Television-Radio Audience and Religion (New York: Harper and Row, 1955).Google Scholar From my analysis of surviving letters, which is by no means scientific, I agree with the study as it relates to 1952. However, the wartime letters indicate the “Old Fashioned Revival Hour” had a much younger audience and a wider appeal. After joining ABC in 1949, the show's character seemed to age with its audience, emphasizing far more the “old fashioned” aspect of the revival hour.

20. “Jesus Saves” was written by Priscilla J. Owens and William J. Kirkpatrick. See Old Fashioned Revival Hour Songs, compiled by Charles E. Fuller, H. Leland Green, and William MacDougall (Winona Lake, Ind.: Rodeheaver, Hall-Mack Co., 1950), 1.

21. Heart to Heart Talk, February 1942, FC.

22. Fuller, a dispensational premillennialist who watched world events with one eye on biblical prophecy, privately wondered whether Hitler or Mussolini might be the Antichrist. But he never directly addressed that possibility on the broadcast. Interview with Daniel P. Fuller, November 18, 1997.

23. St Louis Daily Globe Democrat, April 11, 1942, FC. The St. Louis Auditorium held 9,500 people.

24. Heart to Heart Talk, August 1942, June 1943, FC.

25. Heart to Heart Talk, October 1941, FC. See also Skinner, Betty Lee, Daws, A Man Who Trusted God: The Inspiring Life and Compelling Faith of Dawson Trotman, Founder of the Navigators (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974), 182-84.Google Scholar During the war, Fuller purchased a large home in South Pasadena for the Navigators' use. Many young men, who later became leaders of the evangelical movement, passed through this home—including such notables as Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ.

26. Fuller, D., Give the Winds a Mighty Voice, 142 Google Scholar; Captain John Youngs to CEF, October 20, 1941, FC; Script, May 7, 1944, p. 2, FC. Grace Fuller had the letters retyped into a “script” that she read from during the broadcast. These present a dilemma to the historian, as she sometimes altered letters before they were typed for the show. In most cases, the Fuller Collection has either the Scripts or the letters but rarely both. It is clear that she often cleaned up the grammar and sometimes even changed the substance (see below). As substantial changes appear to be out of the ordinary, I have opted to use the Scripts as evidence—albeit weaker than the letters themselves—of the audience's view of the show. Ultimately, they tell us as much about Grace Fuller as they do about the audience, for she chose which letters to read and often grammatically tailored them for the program.

27. Gerald Tidings to CEF, n.d., FC; Dan Widlicker to CEF, n.d., FC; “A friend” [letterhead: Headquarters, Thirteenth Naval District, Seattle, Washington] to CEF, May 27, 1943, FC; Richard T. Kroll to CEF, June 10, 1948, FC (HCJB broadcasted from Quito, Ecuador); script, February 13, 1944, p. 1, FC.

28. Private Palmer Pyle to CEF, November 12, 1944, FC.

29. Quoted in Fuller, D., Give the Winds a Mighty Voice, 165 Google Scholar; script, April 9, 1944, pp. 2-3, FC.

30. Script, January 5, 1941, p. 1, FC.

31. Mrs. C. E. Sundgren to CEF, March 1, 1943, FC.

32. Script, April 6, 1941, p. 2, FC. Several hospitalized soldiers reported using this method of evangelism.

33. Script, March 2, 1941, p. 1, FC.

34. Script, February 27, 1944, p. 2, FC.

35. John M. Moreman to CEF, July 11, 1943, FC; Mrs. Barton Dowdy to CEF, August 18, 1942, FC; Rudolph R. Axt to CEF, February 22, 1943, [sic] throughout, FC; quoting son's recent letter, Mrs. W. T. Oden to CEF, June 7, 1943, FC.

36. Gerald Tidings to CEF, n.d., FC; “David” to “Sis Fuller,” n.d., FC; script, November 2, 1941, p. 1, FC; script, January 23, 1941, p. 2, FC.

37. Myrtle Koch to CEF, n.d., FC; Heart to Heart Talk, July 1943, November 1943, March 1944, March 1945, FC.

38. Script, February 16, 1941, p. 1, FC; Script, February 23, 1941, p. 4, FC; “Old Fashioned Revival Hour,” December 2, 1945, FC.

39. Script, April 23, 1944, p. 2, FC; Script, May 28, 1944, p. 2, FC. Page break after the second “United,” followed by “must know Rev. Fuller” in Grace Fuller's handwriting at bottom of the page. Page three is missing.

40. Script, March 23, 1941, p. 1, FC (Grace Fuller used the opportunity to inform the audience further about the Spanish broadcast set to begin in weeks); Script, April 6, 1941, p. 4, FC.

41. Script, May 17, 1942, p. 4, FC.

42. Script, March 26, 1944, pp. 2-3, FC.

43. Script, September 17, 1944, pp. 3-4, FC.

44. Radio Daily, April 19, 1941; Topeka Daily Capitol, May 23, 1941; FC, Scrapbook 2.115; Script, February 16, 1941, p. 1, FC; Script, March 23, 1941, p. 1, FC

45. “Proposal for Affiliation of Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. as a Subsidiary to the Fuller Evangelistic Foundation,” in W. Cameron Townsend to Charles E. Fuller, n.d., internal evidence April 1943, FC.

46. Pasadena Star-News, n.d. (internal evidence points to Summer 1944), Scrapbook 2.96, FC; Alva Baird to Rose Baessler, n.d., FC. After the war, Fuller scrapped those plans and began Fuller Theological Seminary upon the insistence of Harold John Ockenga, a leader of the National Association of Evangelicals. Ockenga became the school's first president. Fuller felt unsatisfied with the seminary until its School of World Mission was begun in 1965.

47. For examples, see Jamestown Evening Journal, n.d., internal evidence September 1941, FC, Scrapbook 2.25; Jackson, Tennessee, Sun, October 6, 1940, FC, Scrapbook 2.64; Greenville News, May 15, 1941, FC, Scrapbook 2.117A.

48. Script, February 16, 1941, p. 1, FC; Script, April 9, 1944, p. 1, FC.

49. Script, March 2, 1941, p. 2, FC.

50. Script, April 23, 1944, p. 2, FC.

51. Script, April 23, 1944, pp. 1-2, FC; Script, n.d., file marked “1942? after February,” p. 4, FC; Script, n.d., placed in file marked “1941, March 2, 23, 30,” p. 3, FC. Grace Fuller changed the word “bait” to “lift”—“your program has provided the lift we so often need.”

52. Script, February 23, 1941, p. 1, FC.

53. Script, January 26, 1941, p. 1, February 23, 1941, p. 1, March 14, 1942, pp. 3-4, FC.

54. Script, March 2, 1941, pp. 1-2, FC.

55. Script, March 2, 1941, p. 2, FC; Script, n.d., p. 3 (internal evidence 1941), FC.

56. Script, n.d., Wartime Letters, p. 6, FC.

57. Moore, , Selling God, 8.Google Scholar

58. Wm. J. DeVey to CEF, June 26, 1942, FC. “(Hollywood)” is in text.

59. For example, see especially Moore, Selling God; Stout, Harry S., Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelism (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1991)Google Scholar; and Lambert, Frank, “Peddler in Divinity”: George Whitefield and the Transatlantic Revivals, 1737-1770 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994).Google Scholar

60. Chicago Herald American, May 31, 1946. Fuller actively promoted the Youth for Christ ministry in Southern California during this period. On numerous occasions, the organization even used his large home in Smoke Tree Ranch, Palm Springs, California, for their activities. Interview with Ted Engstrom, February 28, 1998.

61. Helen Schroeder to CEF, January 11, 1950, FC.

62. Mutual Broadcasting dropped the “Old Fashioned Revival Hour” in September 1944 because of demands by the Federal Council of Churches. Fuller managed to piece together a number of independent networks and stations to continue coverage throughout the country, but listener-ship fell without the major network's draw. In 1949, Fuller signed on with the fledgling American Broadcasting Corporation and enjoyed continued success throughout the 1950's on several hundred stations—still rivaling most secular programs. In 1950-1951, he tried his hand at television with “The Old Fashioned Meeting” on ABC. A Visual Version of the radio program, set in a Studio without an audience, the program made Fuller nervous. Despite its high Nielsen ratings, he canceled the show since costs overran income by a seven-to-one margin and Station time was going up 40 percent in 1951-1952. Gospel Broadcasting Association minutes, May 8, 1951. In 1958, Fuller abridged the radio program to thirty minutes and taped the broadcasts in a Studio. The “Old Fashioned Revival Hour” continued until his death in 1968, when it was renamed “The Joyful Sound” and hosted by several different Speakers based at Fuller Theological Seminary.

63. Rose Baessler, Charles Fuller's personal secretary from 1940 to 1963, estimated that, during the 1950's, around four hundred letters each week arrived reporting a conversion. See Fuller, D., Give the Winds a Mighty Voice, 171.Google Scholar If one estimates that the same number holds true during the show's more popular years, then more than five hundred thousand people reported conversions.