The NAE rebranded fundamentalism as evangelicalism in 1942, preserving its militancy

Evidence

To launch the offensive, a group of fundamentalist leaders came together in 1942 to form the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). Their choice of the word “evangelical” was strategic. Aware of their image problem, fundamentalists knew they needed to rebrand their movement. The fact that some of the more militant fundamentalists had started their own organization (the American Council of Christian Churches, under the leadership of fundamentalist Carl McIntire) helped with this project, enabling the NAE to distance itself from more reactionary elements, and it was at this time that “evangelical” came to connote a more forward-looking alternative to the militant, separatist fundamentalism that had become an object of ridicule. But evangelicals never entirely abandoned a combative posture, and even as evangelicals worked to bring a new respectability to their “old-time religion,” fundamentalists fought to define the contours of that faith. The affinities ran deep, and it was not always possible to distinguish one from the other; eventually, fundamentalists would inject their militancy back into the broader evangelical movement. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 50

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the strategic origin of the term ‘evangelical’ as a fundamentalist rebrand, carrying combative DNA from the start.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s stated task of contesting whether this strand IS white evangelicalism or a dominant strand within it — Du Mez is already framing it as origin story.