The Weekly Crusader, Volume 4, Number 3, December 6, 1963 Page: 2 of 8
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the thousands of people n^e myself who had dedicated them-
selves to protecting "due process of law" and to preserving our
Constitutional concepts, and how this long labor, and its pen-
alty of personal abuse and misunderstanding, would be in vain
if the American public accepted this lie .before the true facts
were knowiL, It would begin a witch hunt that would exceed
all similar actions in history.
These thoughts brought me out of my state of shock, and
propelled me into action — into the same action that each
emergency in my life has prompted. I fell on my knees and
asked God's guidance and His will in the matter, for this was
another crisis where I needed higher counsel than any human
can provide. I prayed aloud to God, blotting out the raucous
sounds of the television, ignoring the telephone in my room,
which had begun to ring as I began to pray. I got my answer.
I received the blessed assurance I sought. Then, I sat down
and prepared the following statement, and sent it to the news-
papers, wire services, radio and television:
"I have never been so shocked in all my life as I am today
over the death of President Kennedy. Out of respect for our
President, I am cancelling our eight-hour radio broadcast I
had planned for tonight on XERB; also, I am cancelling my
California, Arizona and New Mexico speaking tour which was
to start here in San Diego Sunday. I am going home to con-
tact our Christian Crusade friends across the nation to in-
augurate a month of prayer for this nation. Only God can
save us now.
"Many people did not agree with the political philosophies
of Mr. Kennedy, including myself, but the American tradition
is to solve your differences with the free vote, not by going
beyond the law and performing such a satanic act as that
which has happened today.
"The thing that happened in Dallas is repulsive to every
Bible-believing Christian in this country. And, in a time of
emotional stress like this, we should be driven to our knees
seeking the will of God out of this confusion. I know that's
what I'm going to do. I'm going to pray for this country . . .
for our new President, Mr. Johnson, and for the family of
Mr. Kennedy. (Also, I'm going to pray that God will have
mercy on this assassin and that he may be brought to quick
justice.)
"This is no time for falling apart as a nation, but is a time
for united action in prayer to preserve this union of states as
a free and independent nation."
Then I sat back down to watch and listen as the minute-
by-minute developments were flashed over television. And I,
like over one hundred million other Americans, watched the
arrest of Lee Oswald — and within minutes, heard him identi-
fied ^as a known Communist sympathizer — and then as a
hand-core defector! * — \
Now, I thought, America knew the answer to "How —
Who — and WHY!" Now, I thought, Moscow's charge of
right-wing influence on the assassination would be stilled. And
then my heart stood still! Over the television came the
smearing words of the newscaster, refusing to acknowledge
Oswald's connection with the murder — now that he had
been identified as a Communist! My fear returned, but this
time, mingled with indignation and anger — and I know that,
.jmliinns__£fL-mtriotic. conservative Christians Telt as I did, at
that moment.
through a hate campaign directeu at me by the liberals and
left-wing element, and having seen the degree to which they
will go to destroy anyone who stands in their way, my heart
told me that their hatred knew no limitation and their ven-
geance knows no bounds.
I know — and you know — that no true conservative in
the United States would stoop to taking the law into his own
hands. I know — and you know — that any man who would
assassinate the President of the United States, in these days
when we still have "due process of law," would not be a con-
servative or a patriot, but an anarchist. I hold them in the
same contempt that I hold the communists or any man who
would go beyond the law to achieve an end. In my thinking,
the end never justifies the meana.
Conservatives stand for law. We preach obedience to the
law. For that reason, we opposed the racial demonstrators
who took the law into their own hands and carried on racial
agitations, defying state and local laws, without regard to
"due process of law." My main criticism of the racial agitators
is the fact that they have no regard for the law — that they go
beyond the law in an emotional period of American history
to accomplish their end. No American — no minority group
— no majority group — can ever justify breaking the law or
circumventing the law to accomplish their self-justified goals.
You would have to lead an Anti-Communist Movement to
know what the liberals are capable of — the hatred, incrimina-
tions, intimidations and coercion they constantly .throw at the
leaders of the" anti-communist cause. I cannot describe ade-
*~quateIy^he~lTeartache ih3 persecution heaped upon any leader
of an anti-communist movement by the liberal left-wing. With
unlimited finances, and being in control of the national media
— television, radio and publications — they can destroy a man
without any shrug of conscience or regard for "due process of
law." It is this lawless spirit that is preached by the commun-
ists, and practiced by far too many liberals whom we oppose,
I knew from the moment of prayer in a hotel room in San
Diego that no conservative had done this awful thing — that
it was someone on the left, undoubtedly a communist, but
how could we convince the American people, unless he was
apprehended and the case was proven?
Sick at heart, but determined to abide in the strength I
had found in prayer, I flew back to Tulsa that Friday night.
Some of my associates at Christian Crusade were waiting for
me at the airport when my plane landed at midnight, and at
my home, we talked into the night about the great tragedy
that had befallen the land, and about what Christian Crusade
could offer in leadership to a bewildered, frightened people.
Of this, I am certain: the revelation, within one hour ofj
the President's death, that Lee Oswald, a communist, ha*
killed the President of the United States, was the only thin^
that saved the leaders of the anti-communist movements o
the United States. Indeed, I praise God that the Dallas Police
Department appr^ehdeHtEe~true assassin withirTa matteFof
jriinutes after the death of the President, Q£ there would
have been other senseless killings of innocent men T)eF6Fe~~the
[day was over, due to the vitriolic agitation and dishonest
U
propaganda dispensed by the left-wing television commenta-
tors. ~ ~-
It may be difficult for my readers to understand my fear
upon hearing the right-wing accused of participation in Presi-
dent Kennedy's death. May I assure you, as one who has gone
Taking their cue from the parrotings of these frantic,
fanatic truth-twisters, the "vocal" so-called leaders of com-
munities all over the land took up the hue and cry, unthinking
in some cases, calculated in others. Within a matter of hours,
liberal after liberal, including Protestant clergymen, Jewish
rabbis, and even a member of the Supreme Court, Earl War-
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Christian Crusade. The Weekly Crusader, Volume 4, Number 3, December 6, 1963, periodical, December 6, 1963; Tulsa, Oklahoma. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth190990/m1/2/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives.