Bobbly Welch: "We Got Liberals"; Landmarks Dekalb Annual Meeting
Sunday Octo 13 I attended the annual meeting of the Main Historical chapter of Dekalb County, Alabama: Landmarks. Judge Randall Cole made the presentation this year and I was surprised about his honesty with local history, especially some Civil Rights incidents of the 60's. Ft. Payne HS admitted ten people of color in 65, remarkable for Alabama.
As part of his presentation he named locals who have made a name for themselves outside the county. Among those was Mr. Howard who debated Clarence Darrow and ran as a Populist for President of the United States calling for the impeachment of
Grover Cleveland; a man who headed the Kennnedy Rocket Center in Florida, and of course the Alabama mega country group with Mark Herndon.
He did not mention Bobby Welch who was baptized in the waters of FBC here by Dan Ireland. Bama's blue nose for a good bit of the last quarter of the 20th Century. Ireland helped obfuscate some of the real issues of fundamentalism in the state.
Welch was a local part of a big puzzle that Jon Appleton speaks to in my earlier blog today.
In an evangelism conference on a Wednesday afternoon of the Kansas City SBC in 1984 the 1,000 or so preachers were getting rabid. One journalist noted that Bobby Welch got to a microphone and shouted, Fellows "We got Liberals," What are we gonna do about it.
So the dying vestiges of the Birch Society mentality giving birth 20 years later to the tea party had a strong in the flesh carrion call in Bobby Welch. In that sense when grouped with like minded Jerry Vines not far away in Rome Georgia, Welch mighta been key leader in a movement much more influential even if in a nefarious way than the celebrities Judge Cole named Sunday.
The Vietnam Vet, rascal of a football player in the early 60s for the wildcats before he got right with Jesus for better or worse child of Ft Payne deserves notice and exploration. There is an easy wiki google of the SBC "conservative resurgence" if you want to look. Here's hoping that serious historians with the Landmarks group will study this review by Mark Noll of a few years ago:
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books/magazine/88644/review-daniel-williams-darren-dochuk-christian-right
And make sure the local library, even the Jennifer Wilkins branch in Collinsville has copies of my friend www.randallbalmer.com bio of President Carter when it comes out April of next year.
As part of his presentation he named locals who have made a name for themselves outside the county. Among those was Mr. Howard who debated Clarence Darrow and ran as a Populist for President of the United States calling for the impeachment of
Grover Cleveland; a man who headed the Kennnedy Rocket Center in Florida, and of course the Alabama mega country group with Mark Herndon.
He did not mention Bobby Welch who was baptized in the waters of FBC here by Dan Ireland. Bama's blue nose for a good bit of the last quarter of the 20th Century. Ireland helped obfuscate some of the real issues of fundamentalism in the state.
Welch was a local part of a big puzzle that Jon Appleton speaks to in my earlier blog today.
In an evangelism conference on a Wednesday afternoon of the Kansas City SBC in 1984 the 1,000 or so preachers were getting rabid. One journalist noted that Bobby Welch got to a microphone and shouted, Fellows "We got Liberals," What are we gonna do about it.
So the dying vestiges of the Birch Society mentality giving birth 20 years later to the tea party had a strong in the flesh carrion call in Bobby Welch. In that sense when grouped with like minded Jerry Vines not far away in Rome Georgia, Welch mighta been key leader in a movement much more influential even if in a nefarious way than the celebrities Judge Cole named Sunday.
The Vietnam Vet, rascal of a football player in the early 60s for the wildcats before he got right with Jesus for better or worse child of Ft Payne deserves notice and exploration. There is an easy wiki google of the SBC "conservative resurgence" if you want to look. Here's hoping that serious historians with the Landmarks group will study this review by Mark Noll of a few years ago:
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books/magazine/88644/review-daniel-williams-darren-dochuk-christian-right
And make sure the local library, even the Jennifer Wilkins branch in Collinsville has copies of my friend www.randallbalmer.com bio of President Carter when it comes out April of next year.
posted by foxofbama | 1:35 PM
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