Religion is a key, but largely underappreciated factor in the actions of many US presidents. Most of the writings about religion and the presidency focus on the religious beliefs and practices of certain chief executives widely known to have been men of deep faith. There are substantial works, for example, on the role of religion in the lives and administrations of such modern era presidents as Jimmy Carter , George W. Bush , and Barack Obama . Each of these three men openly expressed his strong faith commitment as a presidential candidate and as a result attracted support from coreligionists as well as attention and commentary from political observers who took note. Once in the White House , each of them continued to integrate his faith and religious-oriented themes in ways that may have seemed for many Americans to be distinctive among presidents.
The role of faith to numerous other presidents has not attracted much interest. Leading analyses of many presidents of sincere religious commitment have either ignored religion or inaccurately characterized these leaders as nonreligious men who merely used appeals to faith for politically calculated reasons. According to Gary Scott Smith, one of the leading scholars doing serious in-depth analysis of the role of religion in the presidency and the contributor of Chap. 2 in this volume: âEven though thousands of volumes have been written about Americaâs presidents, we do not know much about the precise nature of their faith or how it affected their performance and policies.â 1
Consider that there are major biographies of such presidents as Harry S. Truman , Dwight Eisenhower , and Ronald Reagan that make only a passing reference or none at all to religion in the lives of these leaders who were religious and guided by faith in many of their major policy decisions. The chapters presented here on Truman, Eisenhower, and Reagan offer an important addition to the historical record of these presidencies.
Much of the leading literature on earlier presidents such as Washington, Jefferson , and Madison repeats common and inaccurate descriptions of the role of religion in their lives. The authors of the first three chapters of this volume, Gary Scott Smith (Washington), Thomas J. Buckley, S.J., (Jefferson), and Vincent Phillip Muñoz (Madison), make compelling cases that neglecting the role of religion in the lives and presidencies of these leaders leaves a very incomplete historical record. Furthermore, many studies emphasize the utility of religion for presidents to attract and maintain political support or to justify their actions in office. Lucas Morelâs chapter on Lincoln especially addresses this issue and concludes that the presidentâs commitment to religion was much deeper than a vehicle of political appeal or policy rationalization.
Neglecting or misunderstanding the religion factor contributes to an incomplete understanding of presidents and the presidency . As the following chapters show, there are serious works on religion and the American founding period in particular, on the religious beliefs and practices of some of the nationâs leading founders and early presidents (Chaps. 2â4 here), on the faith of Abraham Lincoln (Chap. 5), and also on the religious beliefs and practices of certain modern presidents such as Carter (Chap. 9), Reagan (Chap. 10), George W. Bush (Chap. 12), and Obama (Chap. 13). But regarding the modern presidency, there are also a number of highly polemical and better-known works on the importance of faith to certain presidents. During the George W. Bush era in particular, there was a near explosion of books and essays on the presidentâs religiosity, with some lavishing praises on him as a man of genuine faith commitment and others characterizing him as a captive of the conservative evangelical-led religious right movement. Thus, much of what most Americans read about religion and the US presidency these days is highly polemical and agenda-driven.
A Wall of Separation?
A part of the widespread discomfort with writing about religion and the presidency is the belief that the US constitutional system supports what Thomas Jefferson called a âwall of separation between church and state .â Large bodies of scholarship and judicial opinions have taken Jeffersonâs famous phrase to advocate the strict separationist view. However, religion scholar Thomas J. Buckley, S.J., (Chap. 3) shows that this statement from Jeffersonâs 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association has often been taken out of context to mean that the third president had advocated a separation that was absolute. Buckleyâs examinations of Jeffersonâs presidency tell a different story, one in which religion played an important role in many arenas. Jeffersonâs presidential addresses, private correspondences, and the public papers of his administration reveal that the third president contributed significantly to the development of American civil religion , more so than any of his contemporaries.
Furthermore, and most fascinating from a contemporary standpoint, Jefferson directed government funds to support the work of Christian missionary groups to âcivilizeâ and to convert Native American Indians . As one example, Buckley reports in Chap. 3 here, âwith his approval, the federal government encouraged a Presbyterian Ministerâs work among the Cherokees by appropriating several hundred dollars to found what was designed as a Christian school to teach religion along with other subjects.â
Scholars have erroneously placed a number of presidents of the modern era in the nonreligious category. For example, many perceived a publicly concealed religiosity as a lack of serious faith commitment on Harry S Trumanâs part. Elizabeth Edwards Spalding (Chap. 6) has studied the importance of faith to Trumanâs foreign policy and concludes that although widely regarded as one who cared little about religion, Truman, the second Baptist to serve in the White House , was a believer and someone who saw the Cold War as a moral clash against atheistic communism. Spalding reveals that Truman was deeply religious, but that he was often uncomfortable with overt displays of faith and he was skeptical of those who claimed that their own religion gave them a favored relationship with God .
Truman reached out to religious groups to aid the West in the Cold War. Spalding explains that the president believed that because the battle of the Cold War was a moral as well as strategic one, he needed to enlist the support of different religions to defeat communism. He gave a policy address at a Catholic college to showcase his desire to enlist the support of the Church in combating communism, and he made efforts to establish formal relations between the USA and the Vatican to further this effort. Also, Truman wrote to the president of the Baptist World Alliance : âTo succeed in our quest for righteousness we must, in St. Paulâs luminous phrase, put on the armor of God.â 2
Many scholars have characterized Dwight D. Eisenhower as perhaps the least religious of any of the modern presidents. Jack Holl (Chap. 7) studied Eisenhowerâs religious faith commitment and concluded that the presidentâs biographers have mostly gotten the story wrong. An overriding theme in Eisenhower studies is that although the man had had a strong religious upbringing, he all but abandoned religious faith after entering West Point . As Holl points out in this volume, âno one emphasizes the influence of Eisenhowerâs deeply ingrained religious beliefs on his public life and work.â This finding is almost astonishing when placed against the backdrop of a close examination of Eisenhowerâs words and his actions as president. To illustrate perhaps most tellingly, Eisenhower said a mere 4 years prior to being elected president that âI am the most intensely religious man I know.â 3
A part of the Eisenhower image as nonreligious derives from rhetoric that he employed that struck many observers as superficial. Frequently quoted was the president-electâs comment in a December 1952 address to the Freedom Foundation: âOur form of government has no sense, unless it is grounded in a deeply felt religious faith, and I donât care what it is.â 4 Furthermore, Eisenhower was open about his aversion to organized religion. But Eisenhower was the first president to write his own inaugural prayer; he was baptized in the White House ; he approved âone nation, under Godâ being added to the Pledge of Allegiance and âIn God We Trustâ to the US currency; and he also appointed a new office of special assistant for religion in his administration.
Like Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan did not attend church services while president and he also seemed to harbor an aversion to organized religion. Reagan biographers characterized the man as mostly indifferent to religion , except to the extent that he could attract the political support of religiously motivated voters who liked his conservative social issue positions. This conventional view of Reagan has held for years, although the one scholar to fully examine Reaganâs religious faith and commitment has arrived at a completely opposite conclusion.
Paul Kengor (Chap. 10) reviewed Reaganâs private papers and letters and interviewed many of the people who were closest to the former president. He finds that Reagan was a deeply religious man. The neglect and misunderstanding of Reaganâs religiosity, Kengor writes here, âleaves an unbridgeable gap in our own understanding of Reagan and what made him tick, especially in the great calling of his political life: his cold war crusade against the Soviet Union .â Like Truman, Reagan perceived the battle of the Cold War as not merely a strategic one, but a moral one. Reagan avoided church attendance as president largely out of security concerns. He had regularly attended services prior to h...