In 1946, Walter Russell Bowie wrote the following Christmas story about fictional men who had been in Bethlehem on the night that Mary gave birth to Jesus.

Our greatest need today is the certainty of God, the profound conviction that he does rule, that his righteousness and justice and love are imperishable.

Christians should not allow themselves to be swept along on the tides of popular resentment and feeling, but should plant their feet firmly on the rock of fact and of Christian love. Only thus will the truth be discerned amidst the babels of conflicting opinions.

“We have,” said an exuberant campaign orator in the recent campaign, “the moral leadership of the world. The whole world trusts in our devotion to freedom and expects us to save mankind from totalitarianism.” That is how we see ourselves, at least in our more complacent moods. The world does not see us as we see ourselves.

We are in a battle with despair these days. One cannot but regret interpretations which weigh the struggle on the side of defeat, especially when one’s own judgment is that such interpretations leave out great areas of fact which give one the right to cherish hope.

The Tree of Liberty, like every other tree, is judged by its fruits. The fruits of the tree are the citizens of the Republic, and the moral health of the Republic is known by the character of its citizens.

“The frightening danger of our disunion is that we face a world—at least the Western world —that is so largely united.”

“The resistance to Russian expansion in Europe is right. The spectacle of American progressives supporting Wallace in opposing that resistance brings dismay to most European democrats.”

Keynoting a “Beat Dewey” rally at Madison Square Garden on September 12, 1946, Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace warned Americans against the Truman administration’s “get tough with Russia” policy. Reinhold Niebuhr responded.