Evangelical media rehabilitated the military’s public image in post-Vietnam America

Evidence

In turn, Dobson helped burnish the image of the military. In 1984, Focus on the Family magazine published a cover story on Dobson’s work with the army and brought Wickham and other military leaders on Dobson’s daily radio program. The next year the magazine ran another article praising Wickham’s pro-family stance; Dobson made sure to send Wickham a copy, noting that it had been distributed to 650,000 people on their mailing list. Reaching millions of regular listeners, Dobson helped rehabilitate Americans’ view of the military in the post-Vietnam era: “We’ve been led to believe that military generals and admirals are egocentric maniacs who are itching to blow up the world,” he wrote in a Focus on the Family newsletter, but “nothing could be further from the truth.” Commanders like Wickham were “dedicated patriots who have sacrificed dearly for their country.” The military was a noble institution. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 308

Categorization

• XREF: Mutual reinforcement of institutions (media + military) parallels the reputation-system dynamics in Milgrom and the diamond-bourse work — a symbiotic exchange of legitimacy and access.