This Week in Texas Methodist History March 20 Texas Methodist Journalist on Lecture Tour about Dangers of Fascism March 26, 1940 One of the most distinguished Texas Methodist laymen of the 20th century was Hubert. D. Knickerbocker who was born in Yoakum into the parsonage family in 1898. He received his education at Southwestern University and then went to Columbia University to pursue studies in psychiatry. When he got there, he discovered that the medical school tuition was too expensive so he enrolled in journalism as a cheaper alternative. He obtained employment as a reporter in Newark and New York, but returned to Texas for the 1922-1923 academic year to teach journalism at SMU. His desire to become a psychiatrist led him to studies at Munich in 1923 and while there worked part time as a reporter for the United Press. He was therefore on he scene in Munich when Adolph Hitler staged his Beer Hall Putsch. For the next ten years Knickerbocker worked as a reporter instead of studying medicine. He left Munich for Berlin and by 1928 was bureau chief for the New York Evening Post and Philadelphia Ledger. From his post in Berlin he covered Central Europe and Russia. A series of articles about Russia’s Five Year Plan won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1931. His criticism of the Soviet Union made him many friends in Germany, and he circulated in the upper echelons of society. He also published six book in German and several more in English. When Hitler came to power in 1933, he was pushed out of Berlin, but not journalism. He supplied reports from the wars in Ethiopia, Spain, China, and Czechoslovakia for the Hearst Corporation. When World War II began in Europe he was imbedded with Allied forces and became one of the American war correspondents with the greatest knowledge of the Germans. After about a month being embedded with Allied troops, Knickerbocker returned to the United States on a lecture tour designed to build support for the Allied cause. On March 2 After about a month being embedded with Allied troops, Knickerbocker returned to the United States on a lecture tour designed to build support for the Allied cause. On March 25, 1940 Time Magazine reported on his 71st lecture in Minneapolis. He called for immediate U. S. entry into the war. One should remember that in March 1940 there was strong isolationist sentiment in the U. S. and even organized support for Adolph Hitler. Obviously the U. S. did enter the war in 1940, and Knickerbocker continued lecturing in 1941. In April he spoke at UT Austin and on Nov. 20, 1941 he was in a heated dispute after a SMU lecture with isolationist students. (My parents were SMU students at the time. I wonder if they attended the lecture.) In 1941 he also went to work for the Chicago Sun and reported from the South Pacific. He also covered the war in North Africa and in Europe as the official correspondent for the First Division of the U. S. Army. That same year Southwestern University award him the Litt. D. degree. After the war he worked for WOR, a radio station in Newark, New Jersey. He died in July 1949 in a plane crash near Bombay while on a journalist mission. His remains were interred in Sewri Christian Cemetery in what is today Mumbai. His father had retired to University Park and outlived his son by five years. He died in 1954.

This Week in Texas Methodist Hiatory March 13 Famous Orator, Evangeline Booth, Speaks in Houston, Backded by Methodist Chori March 21, 1922 One of the most famous orators of the early 20th century came to Houston and spoke in the City Auditorium on March 21, 1922. The orator was Evangeline (Eva) Booth, the 7th child of William and Catherine Booth, founders of the Salvation Army. By 1922 Booth was well known as one of the main administrators of the Salvation Army that provided leadership opportunities to both men and women. Eva grew up in the Salvation Army and by 15 was selling the organization’s newpaper in the slums of London. When she turned 21 in 1887, she achieved the rank of sergeant and was assigned to some of the roughest sections of England. In 1896 her father as General of the Salvation Army sent her to New York City to deal with a crisis. Eva’s brother, Ballington had created a rival organization, Volunteers of America, and was in the process of seceding from the Salvation Army. When she arrived at the New York headquarters, she found the doors locked to her so Eva climbed in through a rear window, wrapping herself in an American flag and signing Over Jordan Without Fear while accompanying herself on a concertina. She quelled the revolt. Eva was appointed Territorial Commander of the US and Canada and held that position until 1934. A test came during World War I when General Pershing did not want Salvation Army members to accompany his American Expeditionary Force to the battlefield of France, but Eva persisted, and eventually sent 250 war workers. Her appearance in Houston was a great event. Lt. Governor of Texas Lynch Davidson introduced her, Mayor Oscar Holcombe welcomed her to the city. The First Methodist Church Choir sang. The Humble Company band played. Members of the American Legion served as ushers. Booth spent the day inspected Army work in Houston. The visit was part of an inspection tour. The previous Sunday afternoon she had spoken in Dallas to overflow crowds. She retired in 1939 and lived in up state New York where she died in 1950.