Can somebody tell me, what happened to the liberal preacher in ELMER GANTRY?

[raccoon]

(this came up in another forum and now my curiousity is aroused.)

[Little Star]

1. The Reverend Leon M. Birkhead....

Is this the the liberal preacher of which you speak? This whole article is worth a read, but here is a quote about what happened to him in the end.

1947 was the high-water mark of Birkhead's crusade. In that year E. J. (Ely Jacques) Kahn, Jr. wrote a three-part profile in the New Yorker which chronicled his career and the work of Friends of Democracy. The Friends then had dozens of paid staff in New York, and offices in Kansas City, Chicago, and Boston as well. Agnes ran the office in Kansas City. The Friends had distributed forty million pieces of literature exposing fascist and communist propaganda. Approximately eleven thousand people subscribed to its semi-monthly bulletin called Friends of Democracy's Battle. Sponsors included Will Durant, Frederick May Eliot, Thomas Mann, Van Wyck Brooks and John Dewey. Rex Stout, the popular mystery writer, served as its national chairman. He called Birkhead a man who "looks like Franklin, talks like Paine and fights like Washington."

But the tide began to turn against Birkhead in 1947. The Friends of Democracy then lost their tax-exempt status. Emboldened by his earlier success Birkhead made incautious statements that led to libel suits, one of which was successful. More important, America's fear of fascism, or the "Brown Scare," was on the decline, while fear of Communism, "the Red Scare," was rising. In the early 1950s Friends of Democracy had declined to a one-man operation. Birkhead's health and finances deteriorated. He was estranged from his wife. His last targets, in his regular column for Exposé magazine, were Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. In December 1954 Birkhead died, alone, in a Manhattan hotel room.

http://www25-temp.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/leonmiltonbirkhead.html

[raccoon]

2. Don't think so, but it's an interesting story. Thanks for posting. nt

[Little Star]

3. Hey I tried. LOL!

[dmallind]

4. Question can be answered two ways

Birkhead was not a character but was a preacher who showed Lewis around during his research for the book and became a friend of his. He's quite possibly a partial model for Frank Shallard the more genuine preacher whose death Gantry causes in the book.

EDIT - having recalled the original reference in the thread you mention I think the most germane point is that Shallard was brutally whipped by outraged congregants after he made statements supporting evolution.

[raccoon]

5. OMFG. Thanks. nt