Wikipedia

Leon Milton Birkhead

Leon Milton Birkhead (April 28, 1885 – December 1, 1954) was an American Unitarian minister who founded the Friends of Democracy after a 1935 visit to Nazi Germany. It was a pro-democracy, anti-fascist, and anti-communist propaganda group that targeted those Birkhead considered totalitarian.

Leon Milton Birkhead
Birkhead c. 1927
Born(1885-04-28)April 28, 1885
Winfield, Missouri, U.S.
DiedDecember 1, 1954(1954-12-01) (aged 69)
New York City, New York, U.S.
EducationMcKendree College
Occupations
  • Minister
  • propagandist
Known forFriends of Democracy, Inc.
SpouseAgnes Schiereck
Children1
Religion
ChurchAll Souls Unitarian Church (The Liberal Center) (1917–1939)

Early life

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Childhood

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Birkhead was born on April 28, 1885, near Winfield, Missouri, to Hiram Lincoln "Link" and Mattie (née Turnball) Birkhead. Birkhead was usually referred to with his initials, L. M., by those close to him.[1] His father was originally affiliated with the Restoration Movement before becoming a Baptist and his mother was a Methodist, which Birkhead was as well. His parents were the descendants of English immigrants who moved to America in the late 1600s. He was the oldest of seven children and became a minister because his mother, who had been raised by a dentist cousin, wanted her son to enter a respected profession, and Birkhead concluded that the ministry was even more respected than dentistry. His father had a 100-acre farm and the crops from the 1903 harvest were to pay for Birkhead's college tuition, but they were destroyed by flooding. He spent 1903 working for a St. Louis shoe company, saving enough to attend McKendree College in 1904.[2][3]

Education

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At McKendree, a Methodist college in Lebanon, Illinois, Birkhead's time was split between his education and fieldwork as a preacher in Southern Illinois. In 1904, he was ordained to preach but not give communion or commence marriage. He described his revivals as belonging to the Holy Roller variety. He also organized a church in Granite City, Illinois, and served a church in Madison, Illinois. After studying geology, Birkhead began to doubt the story of creation. He graduated in 1910 with a Bachelor of Arts. He then attended the conservative Methodist Drew Theological Seminary in an attempt to make his views more orthodox. Repulsed by the rejection of modernism he saw, Birkhead recalled that he became agnostic. He then attended the more liberal Union Theological Seminary as well as Columbia University. Exposed to various liberal religious views, Birkhead said he began to think himself too liberal for Methodism, but he said that friends convinced him he would be better served as a liberalizing force inside the church than outside. He did not receive any more degrees, but was still often referred to as "Doctor".[2][3] Birkhead was fully ordained as a Methodist minister in March 1911 and began working as an assistant pastor at a large church in New York City. The head minister of that church frequently advertised it and Birkhead came to participate in the advertising, something he incorporated and became well known for in his later endeavors.[4]

Missouri Methodist ministries

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Birkhead (top center) in 1927, who was officiating the wedding of Josephine Haldeman-Julius, daughter of E. Haldeman-Julius and Marcet Haldeman-Julius, and Aubrey Roselle

In 1912, he was assigned to St. Louis's Maple Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church as an assistant pastor. In 1913, he became senior pastor after his predecessor left for a church in Baltimore. Later in 1913, he became pastor at Wagoner Memorial Church, also in St. Louis. His sermons frequently dealt with the social and economic problems of the time.[5] He also co-founded a debating society with Roger Nash Baldwin, who later co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization Birkhead was also active in.[2][6]

Birkhead was more radical than most of the church's membership and, under his leadership, Sunday morning sermon attendance and donations suffered a significant decline; church leaders were unhappy. In 1915, Birkhead criticized the evangelist Billy Sunday, who he called "more a freak than an evangelist". His opposition to Sunday was unpopular and sparked questioning on whether he could continue to serve. On March 10, 1915, Birkhead resigned from the Methodist Episcopal ministry and the Wagoner M. E. Church. Birkhead said that most of his flock were not ready for his ideas and he declared himself in disagreement with all of Methodism's 25 articles. He declared that real Christianity was "love to God and love to man". Birkhead rejected the existence of miracles, the resurrection, the Immaculate Conception, Moses's receiving of the Ten Commandments and authorship of the first two books of the Old Testament, and the existence of heaven and hell. Birkhead was a proponent of the Social Gospel.[7]

Personal life

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Birkhead met Agnes Schiereck at while doing mission work at the church she attended in downtown St. Louis. She was born in St. Louis on April 20, 1886 and had been working as a stenographer in 1907 when she passed the civil service exam, becoming a deputy collector of the Internal Revenue Service. At the St. Louis office, she was the youngest and only woman to serve as deputy collector. They married in September 1913 and she left her job, which was customary. Their only child, Kenneth, was born on November 15, 1914. Agnes left the Methodist church at the same time as Birkhead, saying it was after several years of thought and independent of her husband's decision.[8] She would later aid in the founding of the first Planned Parenthood in Kansas City, Missouri.[9]

Unitarianism

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By the end of March 1915, Birkhead had been admitted as a Unitarian minister.[6] He said the purpose of the Unitarian church was "to affirm frequently that it is possible to be decent and honorable without accepting meaningless and outgrown traditions and beliefs."[2] In July 1915, Birkhead went to Wichita, Kansas, to take head of the First Unitarian Church. The church had been formed in 1903 but by the time of his arrival was stagnant, with attendance averaging below 50 on Sundays. By the end of 1915, the church's membership had increased by 25%. The church's finances significantly improved. Birkhead complained that his salary was insufficient[10] and in 1917 he was invited to All Souls Unitarian Church in Kansas City, Missouri. The church became more secular under his leadership.[2][11] By 1933, he was no longer styling himself as the minister of All Souls Unitarian Church who delivered Sunday sermons, but as the "Speaker" ("Leader and Editor" after 1935) of "The Liberal Center" who delivered lectures on Sunday.[12] The name change to "The Liberal Center" was unofficial,[11] but approved by 75% of congregants.[12]

Birkhead was at loggerheads with much of Kansas City's clergy, with his most fierce opposition coming from Bill Stidger, a moderate minister. However, the debates between the two kept religion near the minds of Kansas City's residents.[13] Lester Mondale, who would later succeed him as minister of All Souls, said that most of the city's clergy hated Birkhead. Mondale noted in particular an occasion when all of the city's ministers had prayed for rain during a severe drought; Birkhead was the only minister in attendance to bring an umbrella, which the other ministers thought was mocking them.[14]

Scopes Monkey Trial

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In late June 1925, Birkhead and his family drove to the town of Dayton, Tennessee, to take part in the Scopes Monkey Trial, in which the ACLU challenged the legality of a law banning the teaching of evolution. Birkhead began assisting the ACLU's Clarence Darrow-led defense team which was opposed by a William Jennings Bryan-led prosecution. Charles Francis Potter, another Unitarian minister, also aided the defense. H. L. Mencken, reporting on the trial for The Baltimore Sun, would note that Birkhead and Potter were "prowling around the town looking for a chance to discharge their 'hellish heresies'".[15][16] Mencken and Birkhead became good friends at the trial and began a decades-long correspondence, where Mencken, an opponent of religion, would always address Birkhead as "Dear Pastor" as they gossiped about mutual friends and debated freedom of speech and press.[2][17][18]

Birkhead (far left) during the Scopes Monkey Trial

There are conflicting accounts of where Birkhead and his family resided during the trial. In his reporting, Mencken said that they were encamped on a road outside the town. In a friendly profile by Ely Jacques Kahn Jr. in The New Yorker, they are said to have brought a portable tent to Dayton and, unable to find camping ground in it, they got permission to pitch it on the lawn of the house where Darrow and fellow defense attornies Arthur Garfield Hays and Dudley Field Malone were staying.[2] Potter, in his autobiography, says they were staying with him at the former home of First Lady Edith Wilson. Potter recounted that the house lacked water at the outset of the trial and an emergency pipeline was accidentally destroyed by Emanuel and Marcet Haldeman-Julius when they visited; Birkhead first met the Haldeman-Juliuses at the trial. Agnes worked as a stenographer for the defense, with one person present recalling that the work had left her "almost ill". Birkhead ran errands during the trial and worked with preparing scientists to testify, though they were ultimately not allowed to and the defense was defeated. Birkhead felt the defense erred in trying to prove no conflict between Christianity and evolution, which he said obviously existed.[16]

Elmer Gantry

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In January 1926, the American writer Sinclair Lewis came to Kansas City to research a novel critical of ministers and fundamental Christianity, what would eventually become Elmer Gantry. For novels on subjects that Lewis had little familiarity with, he often sought the aid of a subject-matter expert; for his 1925 critique of science culture, Arrowsmith, he received the aid of microbiologist Paul de Kruif. He came to Kansas City as it was the residence of Stidger, who had encouraged him to write a novel about preachers in 1922 when they met on the Chautauqua circuit. Lewis planned for Stidger to be the subject-matter expert for Elmer Gantry, and Stidger spent a few weeks guiding Lewis around the city and introduced him to many ministers. There are conflicting accounts of how Birkhead and Lewis met. Biographers of Mencken say that he put forward Birkhead's name to serve as Lewis's aide.[19][20] Birkhead knew of Lewis and had favorably reviewed his novels.[21] Birkhead said he met Lewis at a party in January 1926 and Kahn said that Birkhead was introduced to Lewis by another minister.[2] Biographers of Lewis generally conclude that Stidger brought Lewis into contact with Birkhead, possibly by bringing Lewis along to a meeting of the Southwest Federation of Religious Liberals, a group that Birkhead organized and which met semi-regularly.[22][23]

At that meeting, Birkhead said that Lewis decided he wanted him to be his technical advisor, replacing Stidger. Before Lewis left Kansas City on January 28, it had been arranged that Birkhead would guide him when he returned in April.[24] Lewis considered Birkhead's contribution to be similar to de Kruif's, although unlike de Kruif, who was an uncredited author of Arrowsmith and received 25% of its royalties, Birkhead did not write any of Elmer Gantry or receive any royalties.[25][26][27] Various explanations have been put forward for why Lewis picked Birkhead. Birkhead thought Lewis picked him as he was able to smoke and swear in his presence. Lewis sometimes repeated that reasoning;[28] on other occasions, he said that it was because Birkhead had a sense of humor and was knowledgeable about Eastern religions.[2] Lewis said he would use Birkhead to learn more about preachers.[29] In May 1926, Lewis would tell his publisher:

I couldn't have a better man than Birkhead to give me dope. Personally most charming as well as most learned, young enough to be comradely, he has had ten years as a Methodist preacher, ten as a Unitarian, both observantly; and though he doesn't even smoke, he enjoys language of the type made holy by Paul and Spike and myself.

— Sinclair Lewis[30]

Lewis returned in April and stayed at the Birkheads home. Lewis said he had most of the novel sketched out and Birkhead said Lewis had already begun working on an outline when Lewis arrived. Lewis had the Southwest Federation of Religious Liberals meet weekly on Sunday under his guidance. The group has since been referred to as "Sinclair Lewis's Sunday School Class" or "Sinclair Lewis's Laboratory", with its existence before Lewis arrived often forgotten. It was made up of about 15 ministers, mostly liberal, from disparate denominations; most were Protestant, but it included an agnostic leader of the Rationalist Society, a Roman Catholic priest, and Rabbi Samuel S. Mayerberg. Stidger was part of the group. It had few conservatives and no fundamentalists, with there being little record of Lewis meeting with any fundamentalists at all.[31] Most writers conclude that it was largely made up of "charlatans and opportunists" or "clowns and hypocrites", while noting that Birkhead was "noble and good", although John Tyler Blake argued that these characterizations have little basis in fact.[32] Lewis's research included acquiring a library of about 200 books relating to ministry, nearly all of which were recommended by Birkhead.[33] At the meetings, Lewis and the ministers would engage in discussions about religion and he would interrogate the morality of the ministers and attack them.[34]

On May 16, 1926, Birkhead met with several other iconoclasts in Kansas City. From left to right: Gilbert Frankau, Sinclair Lewis, Birkhead, Clarence Darrow, Emanuel Haldeman-Julius, Birkhead's wife, and Darrow's wife.

Also in April, Lewis was awarded and declined the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for Arrowsmith. Birkhead also recounted his own memories and experiences to Lewis. Many details in Elmer Gantry are derived from the Sunday School meetings, Birkhead's memories, and the books Birkhead provided. While he was in Kansas City, Lewis also gave various provocative speeches at various pulpits, beginning with a speech he delivered at All Souls that was nearly identical in substance to a speech Birkhead delivered in January.[35] One April 18 speech in particular, where Lewis challenged God to strike him down, garnered significant attention. Lewis left Kansas City on May 15.[36][37][38]

Lewis came to rural Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, on June 3 to write the novel; the Birkhead family joined him a week later. Lewis and his Hawaiian chefs stayed in two tents while the Birkhead family stayed in a cabin nearby that Lewis had requisitioned from a friend. Lewis's nieces and Kenneth took a mutual interest in each other. Passersby recalled that the Birkheads stayed close to Lewis to aide him in writing the novel, with Birkhead providing his knowledge and acting as a sounding board while Agnes worked as a stenographer and housekeeper.[39][40] In late August, Lewis's father died; soon after Lewis and the Birkheads returned from his funeral, Lewis prepared to leave Pequot. Lewis's wife opposed his proposal that they travel Europe with Birkhead so he could finish the novel. The Birkheads soon left, with about one-half or two-thirds of the novel complete; Lewis finished the rest without them.[41]

I. M. Hargett, a minister who Lewis clashed with and who is sometimes put forward as the basis for Elmer Gantry, would advertise multiple May sermons with the sentence "Sinclair Lewis and Dr. Birkhead writing a preacher book. Woe to us preachers".[42] In Kahn's profile, he says that Elmer Gantry was originally going to be dedicated to Birkhead, but Lewis thought it would ruin Birkhead if an anti-ministerial book was dedicated to him, an active minister. It was instead dedicated to their good friend Mencken.[2] Lewis arranged it so that he was in Europe when Elmer Gantry was published in March 1927.[43] He asked the Birkheads to join him, but Birkhead declined because he wanted to be in the United States when the novel was published.[44]

Upon its publication, Elmer Gantry generated widespread controversy, including among Kansas City's ministers. Stidger attacked the novel as inaccurate, also saying that Lewis was drunk writing it. Birkhead strenuously denied that claim; Lewis was drunk while writing large portions of it.[45][46] Stidger accused Lewis of cowardice in not responding to him and accurately said that he was hiding in Europe. Lewis would privately write "Bill Stidger in his comments on my book must have been hit hard from the way he squeals! I shan't answer him; Birkhead will do that". Birkhead engaged in an exhaustive and extensive defense of Lewis and the novel, praising it as accurate and attacking Stidger. He was the novel's most active and energetic defender. Birkhead gained nationwide publicity and his congregation increased in size; only Lewis profited more from the novel.[47] Most critics conclude that Birkhead was correct on the merits of the debate.[48] Some members of All Souls left the church as a result of Birkhead's defense of the novel.[49][50]

Birkhead is often put forward as the basis of the character Frank Shallard and he bears strong similarities to the character.[51] Birkhead denied being the basis of Shallard.[52] Birkhead also likely influenced the character Andrew Pengilly.[53] John Tyler Blake, in his PhD dissertation on Elmer Gantry, noted multiple similarities between Birkhead and Elmer Gantry.[54] Blake argued that the novel suffers greatly because Lewis wrote it under Birkhead's guidance, as he never came into contact with the fundamentalist ministers he intended to satirize. The portion of the novel written when Birkhead was not present is generally considered its most unrealistic.[55]

A Humanist Manifesto

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In the 1920s, Birkhead joined the emerging religious humanism movement. By 1933, the number of texts published in support of the movement had declined. Birkhead proposed to Raymond Bragg, editor of the magazine New Humanist and secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference, that the movement create a summary of its goals and ideology to convince people to join it and increase its popularity. Bragg would become the primary author of A Humanist Manifesto, published in 1933; Birkhead was one of at least five people consulted in its early drafting and authored a portion of the document. The manifesto was signed by 34 of the United States's leading humanists, including Birkhead. Bragg and another signatory, Lester Mondale, would later succeed Birkhead as minister of All Souls. Potter, another signatory, had called for a similar statement, but Bragg thought the document adhered closer to Birkhead's vision. In 1953, The Humanist magazine asked living signatories what they would change in it. Birkhead was one of the signatories to insist on little change to it, while some members supported removing its call for socialism. William F. Schulz, a later leader of the movement, believed that Birkhead's flair had prevented him from seriously influencing the movement and that he had only popularized it.[56][57][58]

Friends of Democracy

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European travels

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In 1931, Birkhead and his family spent two and a half months vacationing in Europe. While in Germany, Birkhead recalled many Germans telling him that Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party were a transient political threat. Repulsed by the party's antisemitism, Birkhead began profiling fascist groups in the United States. Hitler assumed power in 1933; Birkhead was interested in the new Nazi regime and covered it in his lectures, which were variously titled "Hitler and the Jews", "And the Books Were Burned", "The Nazi Cult of the Blonds", and "Einstein vs. Hitler". In April 1935, doctors operated on Birkhead, removing a cancerous mass but telling him that it had spread to his bloodstream, and that he likely only had a year to live. At Agnes encouragement, who wanted Birkhead to make the best of the time he had left, Birkhead took out a loan and planned a six-week solo visit to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Birkhead said he planned to visit those countries because he opposed the attacks on minorities perpetrated by those governments.[59][60]

Birkhead entered Germany in July 1935, after a brief visit to Fascist Italy.[61] He recalled witnessing various acts of antisemitism in the country, such as a long-nosed Turk waving his passport mid-beating on the Kurfürstendamm after a mob mistook him for a Jew. Birkhead partially attributed the violence to Julius Streicher, an antisemitic publisher nicknamed "Jew Baiter Number 1", and his desire to increase the circulation of his newspaper Der Stürmer. Birkhead planned to investigate Streicher, and sought the counsel of Louis P. Lochner, bureau chief of the Associated Press's Berlin office. Lochner counseled against investigating Streicher, as his reporters had been able to uncover anything; Henry Haskell, a former congregant and president of The Kansas City Star who was coincidentally in Berlin, told Birkhead that he might as well investigate Streicher as he was in Germany.[59][60]

Birkhead traveled to Nuremberg and discovered Streicher's secret office. Streicher was not in the city. Birkhead met with Paul Wurm, Der Stürmer's foreign editor, and discussed Streicher's plan to eradicate Jewry. Wurm showed Birkhead a large amount of anti-Jewish propaganda from various countries, bragging that "we know how to convince people". Various explanations have been put forward for why Wurm did so: in an attempt to convince Birkhead to join the cause, which Birkhead agreed with but also noted Wurm's boastfulness, and some of Birkhead's friends though it was more likely he was perceived as "a harmless and bumbling tourist". After Wurm said that he had a list of Nazi groups and sympathizers in the United States, Birkhead asked for proof and was shown folders of names. Birkhead copied down as many names as he could remember. He wrote an account of his visit, including some of the names, which was published under his byline by the Associated Press and syndicated across the United States.[61][59][60]

The Associated Press withheld publication until Birkhead had left Germany for the Soviet Union. His time in the Soviet Union was largely uneventful, except for a moment where he was briefly suspected of carrying alien literature. He then traveled to Sweden, later praising its economic policies, and then returned to Nazi Germany, which Agnes said was dangerous, spending a few days in Hamburg before beginning his return to the United States. After returning, Birkhead began interviewing the names in Wurm's files and became convinced that fascism was a threat to the United States.[59][60]

Founding

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In the mid-1930s,[a] Birkhead founded the Friends of Democracy, a pro-democracy, anti-fascist, and anti-communist propaganda group dedicated to "fighting all forms of bigotry and oppression". Lewis chose the group's name.[2] In 1939, Birkhead left his ministry and moved to New York to become a soldier in the "army of democracy".[17][64]

In New York, the organization greatly expanded. It was generally considered more militantly anti-totalitarian than its contemporaries, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, and the Council Against Intolerance in America. Birkhead reconnected with Lewis in 1941. Lewis was writing a novel on the various propaganda groups that had emerged during the interwar, which he termed philanthrobbers. Birkhead provided extensive information on the groups, with Lewis teasing him as a "windmill tilter", and Lewis frequently visited him until the novel, Gideon Planish, was published in 1943.[65] Birkhead was a fierce interventionist, calling for the United States to wage war on Nazi Germany as early as 1938, prior to the outbreak of World War II. As of 1947, the group had issued seven large brochures against those Birkhead considered particularly dangerous: Father Coughlin, Gerald L. K. Smith, Henry Ford, Charles A. Lindbergh, Joseph P. Kamp, and Joseph E. McWilliams. He was also a frequent opponent of the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News. Birkhead considered fascism to be a more serious threat than communism. Birkhead was criticized by the left as a reactionary engaging in red-baiting. The right criticized Birkhead as a Pole, slanderer, communist, and Jew, the latter two considered interchangeable. Frederick Woltman, a journalist awarded the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for his anti-communist writing who usually quickly identified people as communists, defended Birkhead and noted that his dossier was filed in a "non-Red" folder. Ely Jacques Kahn Jr. noted that in a dossier compiled on left-wing figures by the House Un-American Activities Committee, Birkhead had a profile so thin that, by the committee's standards, he was "practically a reactionary".[17][64][2]

The Friends of Democracy reached its zenith in 1947, the year Birkhead was the subject to a three-part profile in The New Yorker by Ely Jacques Kahn Jr. It had dozens of paid staff, about 11,000 people subscribed to its semi-monthly bulletin, and it had offices in New York, Kansas City, Chicago, and Boston. The nation soon became more focused on communism as a threat (the Red Scare) than fascism (the Brown Scare). The organization lost its tax-exempt status, Birkhead was sued for libel multiple times, once successfully, and he was left as the only employee of the group. His health and finances deteriorated.[11]

Final years

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Birkhead died on December 1, 1954, at the age of 69, in a Manhattan hotel he had resided in for two years. A medical examiner said his death was from natural causes[66] and Birkhead had written in August that he been regularly going to a hospital specializing in cancer treatment; his wife believed he died of malnutrition and had received no medical attention in the weeks prior, and his daughter-in-law believed that he had been left destitute after being taken advantage of, wondering what happened to his vast collection of books.[67] The day after his death, his last foe, Joseph McCarthy, was censured by the U.S. Senate.[68]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Birkhead gave varying accounts of the year. In 1947, Birkhead said it was founded in 1937, a Friends of Democracy publication declared that it was founded in 1935, and the group celebrated its eleventh anniversary.[62] Jim Grebe dates it as being founded on November 1, 1937,[63] while Thomas Howell notes the inconsistencies and dates it to 1936.[62]

References

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  1. ↑ Grebe 2013, p. 121
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Kahn, Ely Jacques Jr. (August 2, 1947). "Democracy's Friend—III: Presenting Controversial Matters Controversially". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved April 19, 2026.
  3. 1 2 Grebe 2013, pp. 1–4
  4. ↑ Grebe 2013, pp. 3–4
  5. ↑ Grebe 2013, pp. 3–7
  6. 1 2 Grebe 2013, pp. 7–8
  7. ↑ Blake (1998), p. 221-222
  8. ↑ Grebe 2013, pp. 6, 8, 10
  9. ↑ "Obituary for Agnes Birkhead". The Kansas City Star. September 29, 1988. p. 3. Retrieved June 15, 2026.
  10. ↑ Grebe 2013, pp. 14–18
  11. 1 2 3 Grebe, Jim (November 30, 2004). "Birkhead, Leon Milton". Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography. Retrieved April 16, 2026.
  12. 1 2 Grebe 2013, p. 107
  13. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 174, 176
  14. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 226, 243
  15. ↑ Mencken, H. L. (July 15, 1925). "Mencken Finds Law Superseded By Bible". The Evening Sun. p. 2. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
  16. 1 2 Grebe 2013, pp. 32–36
  17. 1 2 3 Kahn, Ely Jacques Jr. (July 19, 1947). "Democracy's Friend—I: Bewilderment in Sedalia". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved April 19, 2026.
  18. ↑ Grebe 2013, pp. 113–118
  19. ↑ Kemler, Edgar (1950). The Irreverent Mr. Mencken. Little, Brown. "Lewis was at work on Elmer Gantry, with L. M. Birkhead, a freethinking clergyman recommended to him by Mencken".
  20. ↑ Hobson, Fred (October 10, 2012). Mencken: A Life. Random House Publishing Group. "directed him to the reverend L. M. Birkhead". ISBN 978-0-307-82336-6.
  21. ↑ Grebe 2013, p. 30
  22. ↑ Schorer 1961, p. 442
  23. ↑ Lingeman 2002, p. 269
  24. ↑ Schorer 1961, p. 442
  25. ↑ Hutchisson 2003, p. 133
  26. ↑ Schorer 1961, p. 524
  27. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 231
  28. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 231
  29. ↑ Grebe 2013, p. 40
  30. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 234
  31. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 87-89, 235
  32. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 83-88
  33. ↑ Hutchisson 2003, p. 134
  34. ↑ Grebe 2013, pp. 39–52
  35. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 230
  36. ↑ Hutchisson 2003, p. 134-136
  37. ↑ Schorer 1961, pp. 446–449
  38. ↑ Grebe 2013, pp. 39–52
  39. ↑ Hutchisson 2003, pp. 149–151
  40. ↑ Koblas 1981, pp. 99–103
  41. ↑ Schorer 1961, pp. 462–463
  42. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 137
  43. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 309
  44. ↑ Schorer 1961, p. 469
  45. ↑ Hutchisson 2003, p. 150
  46. ↑ Blake 1998, pp. 293–295
  47. ↑ Blake 1998, pp. 313–327
  48. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 309-310
  49. ↑ Schorer 1961, p. 475
  50. ↑ Grebe 2013, pp. 49–53
  51. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 174
  52. ↑ Grebe 2013, p. 50
  53. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 291
  54. ↑ Blake 1998, p. 220
  55. ↑ Blake 1998, pp. 293–295
  56. ↑ Grebe 2013, p. 72
  57. ↑ Schulz, William F. (2002). Making the Manifesto: The Birth of Religious Humanism. Skinner House Books. pp. 35, 55, 58, 60, 86, 90. ISBN 9781558964297.
  58. ↑ Wilson, Edwin H. (1995). Maciocha, Teresa (ed.). The Genesis of a Human Manifesto. Humanist Press. pp. 23, 33, 161. ISBN 0-931779-05-7.
  59. 1 2 3 4 Howell 2016, p. 239
  60. 1 2 3 4 Grebe 2013, pp. 89–95
  61. 1 2 Birkhead, Leon Milton (July 28, 1935). "NAZIS ASK WORLD TO COMBAT JEWS; American Clergyman Learns Streicher's Plans at Secret Office in Nuremberg". The New York Times. Associated Press. Retrieved June 8, 2026.
  62. 1 2 Howell 2016, p. 254
  63. ↑ Grebe 2013, p. 100
  64. 1 2 Kahn, Ely Jacques Jr. (July 26, 1947). "Democracy's Friend—II: Smears, Sneers, Snarls, Snorts, and Snaps". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved April 19, 2026.
  65. ↑ Schorer 1961, pp. 678, 690
  66. ↑ "Rev. Leon M. Birkhead Dies Here at 69; Funded and Led Friends of Democracy". The New York Times. December 2, 1954. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2026.
  67. ↑ Grebe 2013, pp. 136–138
  68. ↑ Burnes, Brian (December 27, 2014). "Readorama: Biography describes KC pastor Leon Birkhead, who fought fascism". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved April 19, 2026.

Bibliography

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