- J. B. Matthews
Joseph Brown Matthews, Sr. (
June 28 ,1894 –July 16 ,1966 ), better known as J. B. Matthews, was a former Methodist churchman who charged in 1953 that U.S. Protestant ministers "are the largest single group supporting" Communism in theUnited States .cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Matthews Story |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818667,00.html |quote= |publisher=Time (magazine) |date=August 10 ,1953 |accessdate=2008-03-17 ] He was chief investigator for theMartin Dies, Jr. House Committee on Un-American Activities .Biography
He was born in
Hopkinsville, Kentucky onJune 28 ,1894 .cite web |url=http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/rbmscl/matthews/inv/ |title=Joseph Brown Matthews |accessdate=2008-03-17 |quote= |publisher=Duke University ]He attended
Asbury College , then became a Methodist missionary inJava . Matthews returned to theUnited States and studied in several different seminaries, before joining the faculty of Scarritt, a Methodist training college inNashville, Tennessee . He was forced to leave because of a "furor over an interracial party held in his home, at which whites were reported to have danced with Negroes."In 1949 he married Ruth Inglis as his third wife. She was a consultant for the
Hearst Corporation . She was treasurer, assistant publisher, and trustee ofConsumers' Research . She was a professor of sociology at theUniversity of Washington and research editor of Combat, a subsidiary of "National Review ". She helped launch Deadline Data on World Affairs and she was a staff member of the House Committee on Internal Security.In July of 1953, Matthews published an article titled "Reds in our Churches" in "
The American Mercury " magazine, where he said that United States Protestant ministers "are the largest single group supporting" Communism in theUnited States . [cite web |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~lillsie/McCarthyism/downfall.html |title=McCarthy's Downfall |accessdate=2008-03-17 |quote=In June 1953, J.B. Matthews was appointed as McCarthy's research director. In July, Matthews published an article called "Reds in our churches" in the conservative American Mercury. In it, Matthews referred to the Protestant clergy as " the largest single group supporting the Communist apparatus in the United States." The result was a public outrage at Matthews as well as his boss McCarthy. |publisher=Mount Holyoke College ] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Uncheckable Charge |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806677,00.html |quote='The largest single group supporting the Communist apparatus in the U.S. today is composed of Protestant clergymen.' This astounding and inherently uncheckable statement appears in the July issue of the American Mercury under the byline of Joseph B. Matthews. No sooner had his article been spotted than the protests began to crackle. |publisher=Time (magazine) |date=July 13 ,1953 |accessdate=2008-03-18 ]Publications
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=fjO4HQAACAAJ&dq Fascism] (1934)
* [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.harpers.org/media/pages/1934/06/thumb/0001.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.harpers.org/subjects/JBMatthews&h=149&w=100&sz=3&hl=en&start=1&sig2=UY4R-O5LNzsjfaVvdnECbA&um=1&tbnid=Yup8Y5liAWSHjM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=64&ei=S8HeR7HBCIjOgQKLhoHmAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522Joseph%2BBrown%2BMatthews%2522%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enUS233US233%26sa%3DN Must America go fascist?] inHarpers Bazaar (1934)
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=LMFAAAAAIAAJ&q Partners in Plunder: The Cost of Business Dictatorship] (1935)
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=aiYEAAAAMAAJ&dq Guinea Pigs No More] (1936)
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=34NGGQAACAAJ&dq Odyssey of a Fellow Traveler] (1938)Further reading
*cite journal | title = J. B. Matthews and the ‘‘Counter-subversives’’ | author = Robert M. Lichtman | journal = American Communist History | year = 2006 | volume = 5 | issue = 1
External links
* [http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/rbmscl/matthews/inv/ Joseph Brown Matthews archive] at
Duke University References
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