Oliver North fused religious piety with National Security Council operations

Evidence

In his role at the NSC, North had led the hunt for the perpetrators of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing and had helped plan the invasion of Grenada and the bombing of Libya. Through all of this, he wore his faith on his sleeve. His conversation was seasoned with religious expressions and he drove a station wagon with a bumper sticker boasting “GOD IS PRO-LIFIC.” As one of his friends explained, “To Ollie, religion, flag and family are all part of the same makeup.” He prayed privately with President Reagan; he participated in Bible studies, prayer groups, and Christian retreats; and he and his wife were active members of the Officers’ Christian Fellowship. As he worked to drum up support for aid to the Contras, he collaborated closely with leaders of the Christian Right who shared his God-and-country faith, even assisting the Gospel Crusade in producing Studies in Faith and Freedom, a documentary in support of the Contras. To evangelical leaders, “Ollie was a shining example of American righteousness.” — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 284

Categorization

• XREF: Direct evidence for the militarized-evangelical merger central to the book’s thesis; also feeds the reader’s contestation point about whether this strand is white evangelicalism or a dominant strand.