To encourage you to pretend as if you are in church and to move in, scoot in if you would to give the folks, not necessarily late arriving, but people who are fashionably on time room to sit. I should say that this answers individual question for me, which is if there is anything that can depress the turnout for a Lecture Sponsor or cosponsored by the central president ial history i think we now have the answer, which is no. It was raining cats and dogs when i was headed down hillcrest a few minutes ago, and i wondered, other people . There and sure enough people, i tipping the cap to all of, you you are in for a treat this evening. Thanks again for coming, my name is andy i am the id like to help the many people who made this evening possible. Starting with our friends of president ial history and our cosponsor tonight, thanks to jeff engle, who directs the Sea Ph. And especially and above all rana spits who with rudy moore, who has coordinated all the logistics. Now, during my first or received an anonymous gift in honor of Governor Bill Clementa who died earlier that. Year i dont know why he put those funds to use first before they were transmitted. Naturally, i proposed that this would be applied to my mortgage. He passed, a benefactor that like much more the idea that we use the money generated by this endowment to convert one of our socalled junior post doctoral fellowship lines to one that would support and invited senior scholar who cost more and were harder to pry away from the institutions. So, with that settled, i turned into my social director at the time, sherry smith, for suggestions about who we might target as the inaugural recipients of the senior fellowship. She immediately proposed Darren Dochuk who was from the Washington University of st. Louis, and he was working on a book about oil, religion, and politics, right up our alley given its southwestern focus. Because of other commitments, he can only join us for this meeting we love having him with us. In part because of his winning personality, youll get a taste of that in moments. But especially so we could lay some claim to the book that resulted from the time that he spent here. Its a true pleasure to welcome back to this evening as hes come back darren grew up in edmonton alberta. Listen for the vowels and you will know what i mean. He will probably murder me for saying this he started his College Career as a scholarship volleyball player, at George Mason University in fairfax virginia. The d. C. Area was too much for him. Im making that up. But for some reason he returned home to his native canada and he finished his b. A. At Simon Frazier university just outside of vancouver which he then followed up with a ph. D. In history from the university of Notre Dame. There and started his Teaching Career in the midwest, at purdue. Before a brief stint as an associate professor in the humanities at the John C dan fourth Center Religion politics Washington University. Proving that you can in fact go home again, moved to Notre Dame five years ago, where he is an associate professor of history. His first book from bible belt to Sun Grassroots politics, and the rise of evangelical conservatism published by w. Norton into 2011. When several major awards including the Jean H. Donning with price from the american historical association. And the Ellis Hawley Prize from the organization of american historians. Its truly, hes used it undergraduate classes that we have free copies, im not gonna volunteer to give them away to you, but have a lot of free copies, well leave it at that. Darren has also coedited a volume that emerged from a symposium called Sun Belt rising politics of Space Place and region published by the university of pennsylvania press. Also in 2011, it was a big year for darren. His research has been supported by the american council of societies, the national the american philosophical society, and the rockefeller foundation. It is your tonight of course, to discuss his latest book, anointed with oil. How Christianity And Crude made modern america. Published last year, in 2020, by basic books to great acclaim. Following his lecture, we will have a questions. And afterwards a Book Signing that are available for Purchase Right outside, and the Book Stand and then off to the left is a place where darren can sign them for you. Please join me in welcoming Darren Dochuk. [applause] thank you. Thanks, andy. And thanks to jeff engell, and rana, ruth and to the center for southwest studies as well as the center of a president ial history for cosponsoring the event. As you just heard, the support of islam you over the years has been tremendous. Ive been internally grateful, and its always nice to be back on campus in dallas. Even with this unusual weather. Something that i am used to having spent a good part of my life in vancouver british columbia, so. Its a real privilege to be with you today. Especially because we are on an Oil Patch. I spent a good amount of time over the last few months talking to audiences about the Oil Patch whether its down in Alberta Canada or here. Place it turns out where there is just a little bit of oil in just a bit of religion. So, it tends to be a good conversation, and im looking forward to that conversation later. Quite simply because as andy just pointed out, doing the kind of first wave of research during that four or five productive months here, i was able to pour through the papers here at smu, the pamphlets, Petroleum Pamphlet Collection which is just amazing. And you some quick trips to other archives around the state. Again, no surprise that texas looms so large in my story. But being introduced to so many colorful characters. Teal higgins of course, pictured in the top left from southEast Texas. Someone who is kind of a cross of daniel plain view from there will be blood to the apostle played by robert duval. Someone who is absolutely convinced that he could profit from oil, and profit sized oil. And he despised the efforts of geologist to thirties. Advance sure enough he came through in january 1901 predicting this it where thel top discovery well would erupt. Really putting texas on the map. Again, someone who saw himself as working with the favor of the divine. Or geologists as geologist of such a slightly later generation. This is a methodist Circuit Preacher who during its travel on horseback in the southeast, a portion of the state during the 18 eighties, 18 nineties, would look for oil, and sure enough predict where it would be. Then we move to mexico to serve as a geologist. Somebody who again, combined is locations as a cleric and as a geologist, a very compelling Figure Picture below who is most providence wildcat Oil Man. He got rich in the East Texas in the 1930s. And then he used his wealth to build an empire. But when there was also philanthropic using his money to promote civil rights. Hes also partially responsible for opening up nigeria and ghana to oil explorations in the fifties and sixties. And there are others like who i will not speak about today. Who is a very compelling figure. Someone who wore her faith on her sleeve as well. Very committed to a social gospel of human uplift and equality. And as she who as you probably know, or should know. Is responsible for taking down standard oil, forcing the governments, really compelling the government to take apart the standard monopoly 1911. This is all coming through, again, these are just a few of the characters that i got to know better at smu. Each individual saw oil as more than just a resource or commodity, for them it was a gift of the divide and of vocational calling that transcended based workings of business. Petroleum was their anointment by god, theyre called to uplift humanity. My goal and writing the book, was to explore just how it is that oil has long enraptured americans in such fashion. And how it has imprinted itself on the american soul with real lasting social and political consequences, for people certainly in the pulpits and pews of this country but also those beyond. Someone else who recognized that oil was existential, even theological for americans was president Jimmy Carter, whose words i think are appropriate for opening this talk. In summer of 1979, carter deliver this infamous speech. It was one of carters most important addresses as it came a revolution in iran and a second crisis. With dead seriousness he pleaded for people to support his energy conservation agenda. But he also asked for more. As i was preparing to speak, he explained, i began to ask myself the exact same question that i now know has been troubling many of you. Why have we been not able to get together as a nation to resolve our serious Energy Problem . Here you can just picture him kind of slamming gently his fist on the desk before him on the front of the television. It is clear that the true problem of our nation is much. Deeper deeper than gasoline lines are energy shortages. The upper even than inflation or recession. It is a crisis of confidence. It strikes at the spirit of our national. Will in the days to come, he implored, in conclusion, let us commit ourselves to gather to a rebirth of the american spirit. So, those of you of course who are aware of carters career, know that he spoke often on energy. In fact, he opened up his presidency in the spring of 1977 with an Energy Program which at which time he said, kind of the fight for renewable energy supplies and new alternative sources amounted to the quote, moral equivalent of war. And those who are aware of the 1979 Crisis Speech also know that its evolution was uneven. Many of his advisers advised him against preaching and sermonizing to the people. They wanted him to show confidence, to show that he had answers not to draw them into kind of just despair over the moral or lack of moral fortitude of the nation at that time. But carter did not budge, and went ahead anyway. And in the main takeaways of that speech therefore remained his to make alone. First that the United States had lost confidence in itself and its global standing. And second that the Crisis Wasnt just energy related, it was a spiritual crisis as well. Carters speech pointed to my questions, how to get drafted onto its soul of america, and grafted onto its global stage, painting the way for the way would be known as the americans ascension. What did it mean for this call . When the confidence of an american century bolstered by big Oil And Religion Cornfield And Carter era . So, in an effort to address these mother queries related to the book, i want to just offer the minutes we have today a glimpse of the couple of facets of what i call a religious biography of oil. And im going to focus principally on the heart of the 20th century from the thirties to the 19 seventies, i will begin by just glancing at how some american powerbrokers from the very beginning of the industry, envisioned the Petroleum Industry as essential, of american exceptionalism on an international stage. Then it will cut to the local level, and do something that i do in the, Book Move beyond altitudes. And well focus just on one whats might be familiar to a familiar Oil Patch that might be familiar to you and that is East Texas in the 1930s. And then i will finish by summarizing some of the political legacies of these crude awakenings in modern america. Petroleum achieved unprecedented status between the 19 thirties in the 19 seventies. At first, it captured americas wrought in the 19th century as the fuel and lubricants it with a light cities and its modern machineries in an economic sense. Spectacular in his arrival, democratic in its privilegeing of individuals, free labor, reverse resources, oil registered as a modern americas lifeblood. Its discovery during the civil war, and its role in setting the nations new economic course, is perceived regenerative properties as a Healing Balm for soldiers on the civil War Battlefield as well as for a nation seeking healing. All of this underscored Oils Nature for a society on the rise. This is abundantly clear in the popular literature of the time. Its Boiler Plate for the american Petroleum Industry, but it was also something that connected the property of oil, the materiality of it, to religious allegory and dreams of american providence. And destiny on an international stage. Everywhere, american oil is to be met with in the orient. It lights the temples and mosques amidst the roots of babylon. It is delight of abrahams birthplace. It burns in the grotto of negativity in bethlehem on the acropolis of athens and in the Cottage And Palace along the banks of the euphrates and the golden horn. It reached the wildes of australia and shed its radiance over many a dark african waste. American petroleum is the true cosmopolite omnipresent and omnipotent in fulfilling its great mission of enlightening the whole universe. [laughs] . Bold . Yes. Nothing cautious about that either. As much as u. S. Oil was mythologized or used as Boiler Plate, it also influenced got very individuals with real clout. They translated crude and christianity in their shared vision of the future into real corporate structures and outcomes. Their efforts were evident in early generations of the oil industry, but they carried special weight as u. S. Influence spread globally in the 20th century. Two sons of missionaries i think service illustrations here. Consider the first pictured above, this is henry [inaudible], the famous publisher whose parents were missionaries in china funded by the rockefellers. In february of 1941, he used the pages of life magazine, which he owned, to beseech americans to recognize their status as protector of the free world and create the first american century, the first great american century in his term. Loose had actually tested this charge a month earlier in a talk at the american petroleum institute. There he praised oil men for being the vanguards of americas expanded role. Having within a dynamic spirit of freedom and enterprise, and a genius for cooperation and organization, it follows inevitably that you do not stop at the frontier of mountains or sea or jungle, nor at the manmade frontiers of knowledge or traditional hope for your sense of the illimitable Round Ness of the world. I salute you. Loose was especially enamored with large oil corporations that were exploring for oil across the globe. And in the process, spreading modern technologies and know how. It was at this time that the seven sisters, as they would become known, derided as such, were which included five major u. S. Oil companies. Texaco, standard, New Jersey or exxon, standard new york mobile. This is the moment at which these companies were turning toward South America and the arabian peninsula, urged on by washington to discover new fields and secure american hegemony before domestic reserves ran out. Again, weve had several cycles of Peak Oil over the last 120 years. This was coming in the wake of fears of Peak Oil in the inter War Period and anticipating what was going to come next as the Automobile Industry continued to expand, especially in the United States and post War Period. For loose, their corporate Labors Contract a sense of limitless power, which, when harnessed by god fearing patriots, have the capacity to transform the world. He drew a metaphor to encourage his compatriots to use oil to fuel international advancement with america at the head. Scholars have proved how this nation singular possession of petroleum served really as the pillar of the american century. But loose, the very architect of the term, suggests that a religion of [inaudible] outreach and global development be included as its twin column. A second individual does as well. William eddie, who is pictured below kneeling, was the son of presbyterian missionaries in the middle east. In fact, his parents were among a generation of american protestant missionaries who moved to beirut. There they spread mission bases, but also developed hospitals and schools, such as American University in beirut. Trained at princeton, eddie went on to teach at dartmouth before accepting the presidency of Hobart College in 1986. By the early 1940s, and he was a man of protestant confidence in who envisioned a new World Order which consisted of crude. While traveling for financial support for his school, he lectured on, quote, the power of god in a secular world, which implored lay people to be the, quote, shock troops of the church and to assume the super secular task of raising up each sector of the globe. You and i, he declared, you and i who believe in christianity are not due to weakness. We served the only totalitarian king. We who follow Christ Need to follow ourselves with tolerance, reverence and charity, and then, wherever we walk, we shall find ourselves standing on holy ground. Within months, and he was acting on this imperative, serving as an officer with the office of strategic services, eventually the cia, to survey arabia for subsurface crude. Key knowledge of its people and their faith in god and bring u. S. Into union with this rising kingdom. Five years after claiming allegiance to a totalitarian and tolerant christianity, he oversaw a historic deal between the saudis and Americas President , roosevelt, pictured here before you. Installing the u. S. In the region for good. Again, doing so truly committed to what he saw as a religious alliance, a moral alliance, between people who shared faith in monotheism and the book. Eddie subsequent career testified to the potency of this liberal internationalist vision. As a higher consultant for the Chevron Texaco owned iramco, and in arabic and political sympathy, he promoted peace between western and saudi interests by way of mutual ambition and shared respect for the divine. Through aggressive proliferation of corporate promotion, as well as practical and destruction in how to live and elaborate in a land saturated with god and black gold, and eat not only wrapped the myth of capitalism and corporate benevolence. He also animated Ground Level operations on cultural sites and in the oil camps with a tenor of intercultural and [inaudible] exchange. One of the more i think fascinating lines of work that my research took me into was looking at the kind of interior lives, the internal workings of ram co, especially in the 19 forties, 19 fifties and 19 1960s. There, William Eddie and several other managers, many of them coming from missionary backgrounds, devised a whole kind of institutional structure by which product is Theism And Islam could kind of create a shared community, a shared knowledge of one another. For instance, they established the arabian Affairs Division and then ousted with some of the leading scholars of islam in the world. The whos who, really. This division was really responsible for education, four in culture asian and for, again, creating a sense of internationalist a communicable exchange. They also created, secretively because they were not allowed technically in this theocracy, morale groups. Kind of small groups of christian worship and they did so of course, they call them morale groups because they could not call them with a really were, congregations and parishes. And again, its a system that proliferated in the shadows, but reinforcing again their own kind of religious commitments to this enterprise as something more than a pursuit of black gold. By the late fifties, there were at least 5000 workers attending the catholic morale groups. Thousands of others doing as well from anglican, evangelical and eventually other groups. And finally, at the highest altitude they called for a moral alliance of america and the arab world, linking american catholics and protestants with muslims based on shared monotheism. In the book i talk about the effect on politics in washington in the late 1950s, when eisenhower wanted to create a judea christian america to reinforce a sense of purpose, always in the face of communism. But also because of the lobbying of these arab is, they wanted to reach out and include muslims in this quadrilateral. Of course, with broader international political implications. The sense of vocation spoke, in other words, to the aspirations of a whole cadre of visionaries. Powerbrokers with rising influences in mid 20th century, major oil and the state. They adhere to what i call in the book a civil religion of crude. A confidence that big religion, identified as ecumenical, internationalist, civil and cosmopolitan, wedded to big oil to find by integration, combination and collective effort between State And Company informed fields, Couldnt Guarantee this nations global influence. The lynchpin of this cadre was, again alluded to earlier, the rockefeller family. A family that was known to support the missionaries both in china, where his parents worked, and those working in a much tougher soil in the middle east. John the Rockefeller Junior embodied this civil religion accrued by placing the profits of his Familys Spender Oil empire in the service of a philanthropy that stressed scientifically informed international development. In the realm of corporate relations meanwhile, his influence was imprinted on the lamp, the magazine produced by standard New Jersey, or exxon, to keep employees, stockholders and the public inspired to advance Petroleums Humanitarianism into modernizing society. Genius sense of mission got a boost in 1940 when his five sons founded the rockefeller Brothers Fund. Of the five, none was more important in linking oil to global economic initiatives the Nelson Rockefeller, here pictured with a pointer. His work with inter american affairs placed him at the forefront of u. S. Plans in South America. We dont have time to go into just the influence that he had within major oil circles. His work with Creel Oil in venezuela in the thirties was very crucial to his own kind of Career Development at that time. He insisted that his Oil Company hone its kind of human relations policies and deal with locals on a more equal playing field. At the heart of that was also a sense of embodying, or embedding, a kind of religion, in the case of venezuela catalystism, on company compounds, for instance, to help provide a foundation for this vision. And he reached out to his coexecutives and managers and called on them to be secular missionaries, if you will. Nelsons agenda would assume an urgency in the early forties and increasingly in the late forties as latin america becomes a sight of political contestation. The fear of communism of course is looming large. With that in mind, President Truman would i like his program in 1949 in which he said american Foreman Policy and international engagement had to focus on economic uplift and a vision of developing the globe to win the hearts and minds through the application of economic know how. And again, this is very much coming out of, and in line with, Nelson Rockefeller. And aramco would incidentally build its model, in some ways drawing on some of the same lessons that Nelson Rockefeller would offer in venezuela. Nelson was not outspokenly religious, but he was a man who longed to reshape the southern hemisphere in the image of christian democracy. He believed that his civil religion of crude would still stymy Communisms Influence there and ensure Americas Place at the head of the new international order. Indeed, big oils apostles may not have worn biblical [inaudible] on their sleeves, [inaudible] for the sake of universal brotherhood and a logic of service. Yet, however much they were drained of its dogmatism, oils promise continued to inform their actions. Its saluted solicitations to expound gods mounties from the earth with a higher sense of being. Oils global topographys in this way became the theological plains. The civil religion of crude is one threat in oils religious biography. Certainly vital to understanding the United States his role in international context. But if we want to understand some of the profoundest turns in modern u. S. Religion politics, we must also look to the american Oil Patch, a unique landscape out of which stirred in a reversible challenge to the rockefeller gospel. They are amid jungles of their acts and the glow of refining fires, countless citizens stirred up with spiritual ardor, and have long upheld a Carbon Gospel of their own, when that i call wild cat christianity. In technical terms, the progenitors of this fate were wildcats themselves. Independent oil hunters who drilled Wildcat Discovery wells on domestic frontiers. Emboldened by Oils Rule of capture, the business is founding legal code, which granted any Man Authority to tap subsurface crude, aggressively and on their terms, while. Wildcat led the industry a manic and cutthroat essence that would endure across time. For john reckon fell or senior but John Rockefeller senior, that mindset was wasteful. His was a bureaucratic outlook that lined up with the protestant work ethic, which is some good capitalists would uphold rules of calculation and control. Where is rockefeller sought to dull oils lazy laissezfaire free for all by consolidating the industry, the small competitors who abhorred his monopoly in oils first frontier of western pennsylvania, considered their rule of capture sacracinct. It protected their wishes to act alone, we had before their god or on their patch of soil. They reveled in Risk Taking and accepted the volatilitys of chants and pursued profits as if there were no tomorrow. While Christian Hannity also captured in sacred terms the resilient utopian expectations that accompanied their quest to drill, amid their Sectors Boom Bust cycles and fluctuations of Health And Wealth, their faith offered meaning through a theology that nurtured personal, mystical encounter with soil and an active higher being. A fierce individualism fortified by smallscale association. And notions of time that anticipated the violence of life in the age of oil. At the turn of the 20th century, Wildcat Christianity was forced out of its original home in the alleghenies by the rockefellers. The relocated west of the mississippi. Those of you who are familiar with the history of oil know that this is a story of migration in western pennsylvania that would flourish into the 1890s. But soon, of course, the epicenter of american oil would shift west. It would do so much to the surprise of the rockefellers, John Archibald perhaps you are aware, famously said in the early 1890s that he would drink every gallon of Oil West of the mississippi. That is how sure he was that oil did not exist there. And others would have the last lap of course. That would be the small producers who were forced out and decided to go hunting for it with their doodlebugs and whatever other vices, prayer, and whatever Geologist Knowledge they had into western drains. There they would discovers oil in southern california, central and south thanks this with special top. That really put texas on the map and started the texas gusher age. That then would of course culminated in many ways in the east Texas Strike of the 1930s. The story does not end there, of course, it goes to west texas and elsewhere as you all know. But i would like to pause now and just, again, flush out what this Wildcat Christianity look like on the ground. I have talked at length about the executives and the managerial class, but i want to just give you a brief sense of what i think are four constitutive of facets of Wildcat Christianity entity. As they appeared in East Texas in the 1930s. I know we have at least one person here from East Texas and the audience somewhere. So how did Wildcat Religion come to define the western Oil Patch in such a potent and lasting form . Well, lets take a look at this briefly. How did it start first of all . Well, it started with daisy bradford, a christian woman who recruited wild Cat Columbus to find oil on her form. A self made profit from alabama whos only education came from the Moore Alight Memory easing the old testament, he was an underfinanced operator who could only work shallow pulls. He was sure the god would guide him to crude. With word of something growing, people dressed in their sunday best to make their way to bradfords farm to watch the magic man at work. On october 5th, 1930, audible gargling could be heard in the casing. Next came a spurt and then a flow, all of which electrified the crowd. One witness described the scene as hilarious. Oil, they cried, oil. Some jumped up and down with a joy, tossing straw hats high into the air to demonstrate their feelings. One crewmen pulled out his Pistol And Shot at the Oil Spray in the sky. He was quickly tackled of course, a danger all around. Joiner simply turned pale at his creation, almost in disbelief that what he had prophesized had come true. What came true was epic and proportions. The east Texas Pool was to be discovered as the largest up to that point ever discovered in the world. It was a lake of 43 miles long, ten miles wide, containing 5. 5 billion barrels. Whats happened overnight is a booming population with this new booming economy. Workers from all over the region poured into East Texas looking for employment. What else is going on at this time . The depression, yes. So here you have in the poorest counties of one of the poorest regions, all of a sudden this explosion of possibility. People are ready to take full advantage of that no matter the cost. More jobs, higher incomes, prospering heartland towns, this was the odd circumstance that made East Texas an island during the entirety of Americas Decade of depression. The phenomenal excess of Abundance Lead to it acquiring a larger than life feel. What were again, when did it create culturally in the pews and the pulpits . Four essentials to the Wildcat Faith i would say. Enraptured with the black stuff, East Texas citizens revamped a Wildcat System of Belief Association and politics that were legitimate their ownership of this new Material Form of wealth. First, amid the excitement of this gusher age, they intensified the spiritual outlook that saw god as the reason for their escape from affliction into abundance. Even as they envisioned this providential force, they also embraced the mysteries, the curious workings of chance and, in keeping with their Prosperity Gospel, celebrated the speculative and supernatural dimensions of faith, oil and the market. Good christians they believed were to spend more Energy Riding and maximizing the winds of oil than trying to control and discipline them. Several features of this booming Landscape Kind of reinforce this mindset, the landscape itself of course, once farmland is now jungle of derricks. I think the joke in one of these towns was that you could jump from one derrick to the next and travel for blocks on end. Which was not so bad when you are trying to escape a fire. The rise of the wildcat personality, the wildcatter and perhaps many of you have read about the big rich. Syd richardson, haunt, and others who hit it big here. Reinforcing again the ability of the independent Oil Man to dream big, and to not just dream big but have Others Dream with them. And theres reasons for this. At the first outset of the strike, the first discovery, major Oil Company standards refused to go in. Their geologists said this is just a small little pocket. Dont worry about it. Well, youve got all these small producers still using a range of devices to find oil, continually striking another well, another kind of expression of oil wealth. So why is this important . As late as 1935, independents will manage more than half of the 22,500 wells in operation in East Texas. This is not just mythological or mythical, it is something concrete. The power of the independent oil men and wildcatter now assumes a new form. Church life itself would change. One of my favorite pictures is the oil derricks around this church property, not an unusual occurrence or site. Many churches saw this is a way to gain riches and they would bring in they would lease their land out. Often they would open up by concentrating their land and then they would spot the well. One church did not have to wait long until the richest to pour in. New buildings would follow. There was, it turns out, a revival in gothic architecture throughout this region. So even the poorest churches of christ, and acostas, could now pour their money into incredibly impressive architectural forms. The windfall for East Texas lucky citizens also created a second effect, a levelling of class. A new populist dream. And a rising conviction that plain folk could finally realize their destinies as equals, that the rockefellers no longer had their grip on them. As one writer offered, here was a democratic opportunity that pushed social and economic frontiers far beyond adam smiths wildest dreams. Oil saturated with riches pouring into their offering plates, even especially the most marginalized religious folk, could enjoy the launch into this new social order. They too could contribute, for instance, into sending their riches to small christian colleges, some larger like baylor, to support them during the depression. Taking ownership of religious institutions really, beyond the four counties of East Texas. Bolstered by the success of their communities, looking to future gains, east Texas Church Folk nevertheless knew that oil was inpermanent. A local captured this sentiment when he titled his memoir, where oil flows, Joy And Woe curiously mingle. Showers of Wealth And Health today could mean deluge of Misfortune Tomorrow he lamented. This was the tradeoff of life in an oil dreamscape, where the Temper Elegy and frailty of everything, and an inevitable future of depletion always clouded the soul. When you strike oil, he said, you let loose hades. And hades was indeed apparent in East Texas. The usual outbreaks of fire and destruction, injuries and death, but in the case of East Texas, really the ultimate form of devastation occurred at the new London School in 1937. This was a brandnew million Dollar School of 700 kids. It was the envy of school districts around the country. On one of the classrooms there was a plaque to which students would look at on a daily basis. Oil and natural gas are East Texas is greatest mineral blessings. Without them, the school would not be here and none of this none of us would be here learning our lessons. On one day at the end of the class, the last Class Session in fact, someone flicked on the switch in a mechanical room and what immediately happened was beyond belief. One of the schools brand new buildings literally exploded into the air. We have stories of children in the other building seeing one minute a building there, going down to tie their shoes and looking up to not see it anymore. For the next 18 hours, oil workers poured in to the town. They were hoping to find the children buried beneath the rubble using their hands to claw out workers coming from dallas. There was media as well including a young walter cronkite. The end of this was 300 children dead, one third of the towns average population. Incidentally, it would be the reason why the federal government would mandate [inaudible] for natural gas. But again, this is life in the new Oil Patch in East Texas. For many east texans, the calamities generated new thinking. Theyre existence encourage them to appreciate lifes surprising bursts of Health And Wealth as a miraculous interlude in an otherwise difficult slide towards cataclysmic and. And pray to an all powerful being who gives and takes away suddenly, but who is always there. Theres was a mentality that defied post millennial confidence in the gradual betterment of humanity. They accepted the hellacious reversals of an apocalyptic mode. But rather than dwell on despair, local pastors urged citizens to renew their faith in a christ who expected them to use Whats Prosperity they had in the passing moment to prepare for his return. Surely god is beginning the revival here that is destined to wake america, they charged in the wake of the new london disaster. Even so we. Fourth dimension of this, and this is where we will focus for the remaining minutes. That is the political side of this, the spirit of rebellion that is generated in East Texas. Amid the forment Oil Patch, citizens absorbed the related truth, that they alone have the courage to stare down darkness with uncompromising drive including in their work. If time is running out, death and an afterlife on the horizon, what is a god fearing person to do except drill . Was it not incumbent on them now to use politics to guarantee them that right . Those who inhabited Oil Patches were there for also filled with the spirit of rebellion. They would be led by this cohort of wildcat, not a small one at this juncture. There would be earlier fights on behalf of wild cats, we can go back to the 19 teens talking about the fight against standard at the federal level. But its really the 1930s 1930s that will spark this rebellion in full. Thanks to the work of other historians, we know its at the new deal where the rise of a Post World conservative takes root, largely in reaction to Franklin D. Roosevelts policies on labor for instance. But i argue in the book that we also need to understand just how central oil and Texas Oil is to this movement. The revolt intensified in the 1930s and especially the 1940s. Partly in response to the new deal policies trying to curtail some of the excesses of East Texas and the chaos. But also in reaction to u. S. Oils shift abroad, which was encouraged by harold Achilles Secretary of the interior pictured below on the right. Unable to tap faraway pools and frustrated by Washingtons Investment in foreign instead of domestic production, wary of internationalist projects, and feeling abandoned, independent oil men responded politically. Instrumental in this Counteraction And Illustrative of wildcat religious political rise was Jay Howard Pugh, whose muscular Faith And Fuel values followed the traditions of his father. Again, not an uncommon story. Jay Howard Pugh is the son of a man who was almost drawn driven out of business by standard in pennsylvania. Jay howard assumed the seriousness of his father. One senator once quipped that Jay Howard Pugh not only talks like an affidavit, he looks like one. He was a serious looking fellow, he had some bushy eyebrows, but this is a man who preached a sermon at the company Christmas Party every year. Insisting on why you had to use the King James version. A smart, conservative, serious businessman and christian. As a result of [inaudible] rootedness in texas, its first kind of leverage would come from moving to Spindle Top almost immediately. It would take a foothold there. It would then have a big hold of East Texas and even though it was based in pennsylvania, sunoco would become the square dealer as many said family run company of East Texas. So Jay Howard Pugh assumed the role of wildcat political warrior naturally. What were some of the initial political victories . Here we will kind of take us to the present moment in the next few moments. How does the spirit of Rebellion Manifest itself in a broader political movement . Some of these pivots are hidden ones i think in this history. A first victory for the pughs and the wildcatters of East Texas. It was their Dissension And Protest against [inaudible] they wanted to manage the drill sites coming online in the middle east especially. Ickes so himself is being one of the leaders of this coalition. And as he sought to, this was an attempt to further the internationalist oil ambitions and the civil religion of crude that ickes shared with eddie and loose. Thanks to the pews use the media outlets that they used, and there were considerable, to stir up opposition to their agreement. This would be a failed attempt. Ickes plan would place the american Petroleum Industry under the bureaucratic control of the federal government and expose it to foreign interests. As a result of this protest, which made its way into washington, roosevelt would have the agreement in 1945. Truman would kill it a short time later. A second victory, a quieter one, is at this very moment. Israel of course becomes a state. Because of their alliances and a need and a mandate to work only in arab muslim oil producing states, the majors could not move into israel. So who does israel turn to . Led by a number of oil executives with american oil experience, they will turn to the independence of texas. The independence from texas would welcome the opportunity and often with their prophesy and bibles in hand, they would travel to the holy land to use scripture to hunt for crude. It would be a frustrating journey at first, but this is one that continues for many independent oil men. Strengthening once again as well this relationship with israel. Pew would have other means of promoting his politics. One would be the formation in 1948 of the pew charitable trusts and especially his own trust within this. That was, in his words, quote, to acquaint americans with the values of a free market the paralying effects of governmental controls and the interdependence of christian humanity and freedom. Again, nothing subtle. The third victory, and really the key victory i think to getting us closer to what happens in the 1960s and 70s, culminating in 1980, is the tide lance controversy. This is going to arise when truman seizes control of ten miles of offshore oil, leasing not just in texas but also in california and along the coast in louisiana. This would lead to a revolt of unprecedented nature among independents. And they would fight back. They would fight and 48, in some cases on behalf of the dixiecrat party. You know of course about the issue of race and civil rights and how that sparks strom thurmans alternative to the democratic party. But the fight was also important as well. More importantly, though, it would lead to 1952 and the work of wildcatters and their allies in the church. Especially evangelicals in the southwest, especially evangelical preachers like the emerging Star Evangelist Billy Graham, who at this very juncture would make dallas his second home. He would make first baptist his church membership. Proximity to the hunts and so forth perhaps likely part of his reasoning therefor. But it would be this alliance of an emerging evangelical movement, which again we know the political outcome of to some degree, and wildcatters that we would see the revolt really come to fruition in 1952. Churches and oil associations rallied behind the eisenhower ticket. In the case of Syd Richardson and Billy Graham, actually being industry instrumental in wooing Dwight Eisenhower to the republican ticket. The result would be Eisenhowers Victory of handing back the control of tidelands over to the states. This was a valuable commodity. Much of the leasing was funding public education in texas. So again, the fight for control of tidelands is also a family Values Issue as well. This forged an alliance that would have lasting effects. You might be wondering with this is. This is Billy Grahams evangelistic ministry that started a Movie Company in the 1950s. His first movie produced was mr. Texas. His second movie was oil town, usa. It celebrated the potential of the wildcatter should he come to christ and personal salvation, to use that wealth in those riches to promote the gospel that Billy Graham preached to large audiences throughout the world. What were some of the next steps beyond this . The unabashed evangelical call to politicking for petroleum would continue. In 1964, many powerbrokers within this emerging block through support behind Barry Goldwater whose campaign for the Gop Ticket caused liberal critics to rail against extremists in the oil funded political right. But for independent Oil Churchman like pew who bankrolled the arizonian, there was no question who was on the wrong side of the spectrum. Rockefeller republicans. Besides conjuring up memories of one families near destruction of anothers sustenance, rockefeller also registered with pew as the face of a coercive system of Centralization And Compromise that headlong threatened to emasculate his profession and the countries hallowed institutions and beliefs. I know much about Nelson Rockefeller, pew wrote privately, and he would be the worst man that i could think of for president of this country of ours. To put a republican in as president like nelson, who supports all the evils that have brought this country to its knees, would be the most tragic thing that could happen. Goldwaters vanquishing of rockefeller in the gop primaries gave pew great pleasure, so too goldwaters Acceptance Speech which trumpeted the wildcat ethnic. I would remind you that extremism in the pursue of [inaudible] having defeated their Arch Rival and his vision, they seem to control at least overtime of the republican party. Meanwhile, they continue to build economic empires. Oil Production And Refining centers designed to secure oil reserves for the continent. And one of the most impressive was the great canadian oil sands project, built in 1960s by Jake Howard Pew in partnership with the evangelical premier of alberta at the time, whose friendship was shared thanks to Billy Graham. So a kind of a triangulation here politics, religion and oil. In 1952, pew would invest 250 million dollars in the Athabasca Oil sands. This would be the largest private investment of its kind in candidate at that juncture. 54,000 acres of muskeg out of which they wanted to draw oil. The project began in 1964. It was christened at least in 1967. The opening ceremonies was a great celebration full of prayer and singing, almost like a revival. This venture combines drama and science, man against nature, daring. Great canadian oil sands stood as a tribute to mans Inventiveness And Determination to overcome the obstacles of nature and a signal that the dawn of a new age had arrived. Richard nixon would rely on the same system of support to win his victory in 1968 and 72. His vision was, like Goldwater And Ronald reagan, tightly attuned to the religious topography of the Oil Patch. Through his rise to billy through his ties to Billy Graham rather and Son Belt based ministries, he gained access to the aspirations of an ascendant force that would soon redefine the american political landscape. Indeed, the energy crises of the 1970s would empower the southwestern based evangelical and Oil Movement and republican right. On one hand, the global ruptures of the decade and the struggles of major Oil Companies to handle opec and the quest by arab oil producing countries to nationalize their industries undermined the multinational corporations and the civil religion of crude that rockefellers had once stood for. On the other, the Prosperity Gospel and [inaudible] that had captured the Oil Patch mindset in the 1930s now bloomed on a national stage, propelling the evangelical Movement Phenomenon that was associated as a whole into the national consciousness. Famously, of course, one magazine declaring in 1976, the year of the evangelicals as well as Oil Funded Superstructures of education. All symbolizing the rise of this oil fueled evangelical movement, which was really by this point the Beating Heart of Wildcat Christianity. Meanwhile, evangelicals purchased books that pinned the Oil Crisis on reliance on muslim oil. They profit sized that the end of the world was imminent in part because washington had forsaken the interests and values of independent oil. Among the most popular offers of such books was john [inaudible] based right here at dallas theological seminary who wrote for a sprawling national audience. His books reached millions of readers. In it, he channeled americans able to tempt freely the abundant oil pulls off the Gulf Coast and alaska, underneath southwestern soil and the shale deposits of wyoming in colorado, they might yet survive another day. Pairing pre mullin early in this Premillennium List Understanding with [inaudible] evangelicals in the Southwest Oil and church associations forcefully sold the message that it was the patriotic independence of the u. S. Oil past that could save america from the dependency on foreigners and from its slide into godlessness. They wanted to bring their Fuel And Family values to the white house. Jimmy carter would feel the effects of that ambition. As historians have been the sized throughout, social politics looms large here as well. Carters support of equal rights amendment, womens rights, all rankled evangelicals who had come to see Jimmy Carter as anything but evangelical by 79. Independent oil men were among those who led the fight for social conservatism. With Jake Howard Pew now deceased, it was up to other bank rollers to boost the cause. The junior hunt endorsed bill Brights Campus Crusade for christ which proposed a one billion venture to proselytize Youth And Sponsor francis schaffer, whos 1979 manifesto sparked evangelicals antiabortion crusade. But not much triggered hunt and his rage more than Carters Energy politics. The President Support of e. R. A. And abortion rights infuriated them. But Carters Crisis of Confidence Speech was equally damning in their eyes. In this dour, [inaudible] carter bemoans conservation. The attack on oil made in more listing terms was, in their minds, the final straw. Over the course of the next year, republican candidate Ronald Reagan inflamed their anger with his hard Driving Quest for the presidency. Running on the slogan, lets make america great again. We can won the hearts and minds of the american Oil Patch. Quote, we must remove government obstacles to energy production. It is no program simply to say use less energy. Malaise had no place in reagans vocabulary. Exuding and audacity that the Oil Patch embraced, he traveled to texas and mingled with preachers and petrol kings, promising them that the nation would be great again as soon as washington bureaucrats let rugged wildcatters open up new frontiers of extracted wealth and got fearing pioneers raised their children in communities calibrated to an honorable past. The structures of Wildcat Christianity, its funding of mega schools and pastors, would indeed welcome and amplify Ronald Reagans message and prove he to his electoral win in 1980. Regan would make one of his Supporters Secretary of the interior. In this role, james what would seat with that evangelicalisms longstanding fears of federal encroachment on their resource would find policy outlets. And in the spirit of the southwest wild catters who had begun their fight against the new Deal Order by confronting the Interior Secretary of a different ilk, he would promise to restore custodianship of the Oil Patch to the people who had long worked as theirs. Although his career in washington would be short, the Wildcat Revolt he helped solidify would continue to strengthen in the 19 eighties and beyond right until today. Each step forward for Wildcat Republicanism would mean a step back from the dreams of men like William Eddie. Rising frustrations with opec and its own claims to crude as god given, festering worry about liberal drifts and energy policy, heightened tensions with aramco and middle eastern oil suppliers, and suspicions that americas turn to foreign oil in 1940 was at the root of the shortages in the 1970s, intensified and anxiety that the gops new elite used in their mind the rockefeller vision. By the 19 eighties, with Saudi Arabia now the sole owner of aramco, the Countrys Morale groups and moral alliance disbanded and [inaudible] one could say at this juncture that [inaudible] and its 20 pillars of international Oil And Religion had succumbed. Of course, there were other signs as well including the persian Gulf War and a violent remapping of oil interests and american confidence in the middle east. Today its very clear that the exceptional authority loose proclaimed for his carbon rich country is no longer americas to enjoy alone. That underlines a irony in play. Meanwhile, one could consider current politics as the third day in the sun. In a recent texas swing, Mike Pence headlined fundraising dinners whose seats were filled by oil men. We are putting american energy first, proclaimed pence, with echoes of Ronald Reagan he heralded the three pillars of american greatness. Faith, freedom and the vast god given natural resources. He promised that developing them would make america great again. There is a familiar refrain, one that Jay Howard pews appears in East Texas would recognize. At the same time, the picture of the Oil Patch as static is also misleading. As much as i have emphasized two of the 20th century Carbon Gospels, other Oil Patch gospels have acquired authority and created legacies as well. Recent battles over Energy And Environment has exposed dissent with an Oil Patches over the efficacy of the wildcat imperative. Evidence, for instance, in children of the wildcat of the Wildcat Gospel and the Oil Patch, rallying against the Keystone Pipeline and the Alberta Oil sands. One evangelist among them for the carbon free gospel states it simply. Many people see the pipeline as a political or an economic issue. But i see it is a moral issue. And yet another ironic twist, joining the rockefeller Brothers Fund to finance this anti Alberta Oil Sands Protest is the pew charitable trust. The proud creation of Jay Howard pew, the great canadian oil sands project, is now under attack from another of his institutional legacies. Finally, as much as Wildcat Religion continues to possess the pulpits and pews of the american Oil Patch. Oils effects on spiritual health are being debated and the cried. This Oil And Gas truly of god, they ask . Regardless of what side americans fall and current energy politics, one thing remains consistent with the past. Its a dynamic that Jimmy Carter rightly perceived in his 1979 speech. That energy debates in this country are as animated by competing world views of the here and now and thereafter, as they are by sheer economics. That for combatants across the spectrum, waging them is the moral equivalent of war. Thank you. We have a few minutes for questions. Hi, thank you very much for your talk tonight. One comment, one question. The comment, it was the event of the new London School explosion. By the way, im a registered professional engineer in the state of texas. It was that one event that the State Legislature implemented the licensing of professional engineers that designed and built public infrastructure . That was another outflow from that one tragic event. Thank you. The question i have is my grandfather grew up in East Texas on the farm. At that time people were flooding from the farms too long view, henderson, kilgore, to work out in the fields. And quickly, the parents, the mothers in particular, reeled the boys back in because there was such massive loss of life and limb in that type of occupation. Luckily im here because he migrated from there into dallas during the depression and left the fields to come here to find a safer employment. But was there anything in your research that talked about trying to reconcile the religion with this extremely dangerous work . Great question, great point, and thanks for that story as well. I certainly brushed over in an effort to show how enchanting this Oil Boom was. It was also absolutely devastating and people knew from the getgo that there was a flipside to this. I could have gone on about that. First of all, those who went to kill gore and long view did not always get jobs. In fact, the Labor Pool was quickly saturated and they often found themselves in food lines. So that did not necessarily lineup with this Prosperity Gospel. And of course, the destruction of lives was just profound. I write in the book about other instances that pale in comparison to london, but also on a daily basis opening your Newspaper And Hearing someone else falling off an Oil Rig and killing themselves. Or impaling them selves. I guess what i would add to that is even the downside, the dark side of the Oil Boom, even the bus cycle, it ultimately reinforced this kind of religious worldview. It came to expect the calamity. Certainly not welcoming it, but expecting it as part of this new reality. Pentacostal, why would it flourish . Its kind of the sense of the supernatural workings of god in this crazy environment with rich potential. But its also a gospel of healing. Yes . My grandfather worked in the [inaudible] [inaudible] he lost his toe one time and went to the hospital and it cost 500 dollars. So he went to Fort Worth and found a [inaudible] for sure. [laughs] thank you very much for your talk. This might be a basic question, but could you talk about what was driving the demand . What was the biggest . Was it the heating oil, vehicles . Youve talked mostly about the supply side. Right, that changes over time. Early on its mostly a luminescent. As the Whale Industry dies in the mid ninteenth century, there needs to be alternatives. Oil would come to represent that possibility. Lubricants in machinery in a emerging industrial society. Then at the turn of the Century Fuel of course. That would be churchill turning the british naval fleet to oil rather than coal famously. That comes with a whole host of geopolitical kind of strategies that are going to lead to the 20th century of war. And then the automobile of course. Especially the twenties and fifties where we talk about the dawn of the hydrocarbon age. The age of freeways and rapid expansion of suburbs and so forth. So thanks. Of course, during war is well, fuel of all kinds right. In fact, as much as pew hated harold ickes, he loved getting those federal contracts during World War ii. And senoko produced refined i think more Aviation Fuel than any other company. I think matching if not beating standard New Jersey, its great enemy. So thank you government for those contracts. It allowed pew to come out of a war all the better positioned, both at a corporate and philanthropic level to have an influence. Yes. I recently finished Rachel Maddows book blowout. Have you read it . This question comes up quite often. I should probably just sit down and read it. [laughs] i was just going to ask you to comment because im sure shes read your book as part of her research. But she further connects the dots of big oil with the farright, but also into countries that are not democratic because where people have a voice, they forced him to reduce their margins to clean up after themselves, etc. Good question. I hope shes read my book. Ive been at a few of these talks where theyre like i have to send her my book. So if you have direct access, maybe sent her in email. But i would love to have a conversation with her. Obviously shes on the mark and what you see here today, and will read through the book, is how to put it . You know, giving these subjects at all levels somewhat the benefit of the doubt. Trying to show through the description of just how oil has been a destructive force globally and the same companies have done great damage, something that Rachel Maddow highlights and rightly so. But im trying to explain in a broader historical Narrative And Context just how people were willing to take on those costs even at a personal level. Or what were their motivations, their intent . I highlighted, im not trying to romanticized this, but i highlighted just a few individual whose work for international Oil Companies stemmed from pretty profound personal convictions. They certainly wrestled with the machinists of middle eastern politics. In fact, William Eddie would die a bitter man in the sixties because he saw the american government shifting course from this War Alliance to a support of israel. So he saw how this region was erupting. He grappled with the fact that he was partly responsible for bringing oil to this region, or building in apparatus. So that is a dark and very important facet of this story and im glad Rachel Maddow has told it. I will go read her book now and see if she told it well. We have time for one more question. Do you envision an addendum to this book with the socalled singularity and producing our own oil . Hopefully there is in addendum. That might include, well, i will say this, the addendum will include fracking perhaps and some of the other more recent, you know, i declare the american century over as the way i see it. But of course, after another fear of Peak Oil in the early 2000. Of Peak Oil in the early 2000. Hes more secured now than it was before. The oil. So alternative energy sources, are going to perhaps be expanded on account of the same type of entrepreneurialism as we see in the wild Kathleen Effort of yesteryear. There might be other ways in which this unfolds. Certainly the large national companies and the scale now of oil on the global scale and the politics of that is going to become you know and saudi aramco now, thats the most profitable company in the world. And all of these are things to watch in the coming few years. But honestly, i have enjoyed my time in oil. Im not sure how much more time i will spend didnt. I did enjoyed being in texas, and in my next topic i have to find a way to come back. So thank you. The that concludes our event but there are books outside, and we will have what them signed. Thank you. John f. Kennedy was the first catholic to be elected president of the United States. During the 1960 campaign, many protestant groups publicly opposed senator kennedy, fearing the influence of the pope in the catholic church on his presidency. Next on real america, from September 12th 1960, democratic nominee john f. Kennedy on the topic of church and state, religious freedom and tolerance. He spoke to a meeting of houston ministers. Paid for by the kennedy, johnson texas campaign committee, the broadcast includes an extended Question And Answer but