Love's Working Arm: How Lutherans Became Mainstream Americans Through Their Work with Displaced Persons

• Other Authors: Amundson, Anna (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: History
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-8932

This dissertation traces the process by which American Lutherans used charity work, particularly the provision of social services to refugees, to enter mainstream American society in the middle of the twentieth century. In the years following World War I, after Americanization campaigners branded them a suspicious and foreign element, American Lutherans began a significant reappraisal of their position in American society. Illustrating the increasing secularization of American society during this period, Lutheran leaders downplayed their ethnic and theological differences to seek a closer relationship with the American government and participation in cooperative charity projects as a way to enhance their image with the American public. By the end of World War II, millions of Lutheran laypeople set aside their differences to support their church's role in the government's refugee resettlement program. Church leaders encouraged their members to donate money, food, or clothing, sponsor refugees, and welcome them into American churches. They also lobbied for the inclusion of refugees in government programs that typically had citizenship and residency requirements, such as county poor relief. In the process, they helped to create the parameters of the public-private partnership between government bodies and religious voluntary agencies that still exists today to assist refugees entering the United States. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Summer Semester, 2014. === April 18, 2014. === Displaced Persons, Immigration, Lutheran, Refugees, World War I, World War II === Includes bibliographical references. === Suzanne Sinke, Professor Directing Dissertation; Amanda Porterfield, University Representative; Jennifer Koslow, Committee Member; Will Hanley, Committee Member; Edward Gray, Committee Member.