⬅️ Book: Jesus and John Wayne - Kristin Kobes Du Mez · Previous: Chapter 6 · Next: Chapter 8 · Source: Attachment (file not included in this release)
Chapter 7: The Greatest American Hero
Chapter Objective
Du Mez explains why Oliver North became a lasting evangelical hero even after “Olliemania” faded elsewhere. His biography joined military toughness, conversion, patriarchal family restoration, obedience, media hostility, and rule-breaking for God and country. The chapter sets his canonization against televangelist scandal and then follows evangelicalism’s institutional embrace of the military, showing how military virtue made preemptive and crusade-style warfare increasingly difficult to criticize.
North as Hero and Martyr
- Falwell compared North’s indictment to Jesus’s conviction and crucifixion, called him a true American hero, sold his speeches, and organized a pardon campaign. Conservative organizations converted his image into direct-mail revenue and group solidarity. Attachment (file not included in this release)
- Protestors insisted that heroes do not lie, but supporters interpreted prosecution as liberal persecution. North’s enemies were part of his appeal; legal wrongdoing became evidence that he had acted courageously where timid officials would not.
- North had long believed that serving country justified rule-breaking, from altering Naval Academy records to defending US conduct in Vietnam. He fashioned a Rambo-like military persona and blamed the media for reporting atrocities in ways that dishonored American soldiers. Attachment (file not included in this release)
Conversion and the Fusion of God, Flag, and Family
- Marital crisis led North to Dobson’s Dare to Discipline; later, a superior converted him from Catholicism to charismatic Protestantism. His church placed the American flag by the sanctuary and taught believers that God positioned them to exercise influence.
- At the National Security Council, North merged prayer, Bible study, antiterrorism, Contra advocacy, and covert action. A friend summarized the fusion: religion, flag, and family were one makeup. Attachment (file not included in this release)
- Senator George Mitchell offered the chapter’s democratic counterclaim: opponents can love God and country equally; God does not take sides in American politics; dissent is not disloyalty. Evangelical crowds largely preferred North’s undivided moral world.
- His memoir, church appearances, targeted direct mail, and Senate campaign monetized a constituency that distinguished “what is right” from “what is legal.” A good soldier’s lie could be necessary.
Maximized Manhood and the Need for Heroes
- Edwin Louis Cole diagnosed an “anti-hero syndrome” and taught that men exist to guide, guard, and govern. Jesus combined tenderness with the ruthless cleansing of the temple; softness, not excess toughness, was now the national danger. Attachment (file not included in this release)
- Media portrayals of foolish fathers and criticism of America as virtuous savior supposedly produced disrespect and anarchy. Christian broadcasting should reverse the moral signs and make godly men heroes.
- Yet televangelism produced Gorman, Bakker, and Swaggart scandals involving adultery, prostitution, money, manipulation, and alleged rape. Jessica Hahn’s account of Bakker reframed tabloid spectacle as abuse of religious authority and a community’s pressure to remain silent. Attachment (file not included in this release)
- North repaired the movement’s narrative and fundraising. Unlike compromised religious celebrities, he seemed to represent the remaining institution of discipline, sacrifice, and virtue: the US military.
Evangelicalizing the Military
- During the 1980s, James Dobson and Army chief of staff General John Wickham institutionalized evangelical family values in military life. Dobson’s Where’s Dad? became the foundation of the Army Family Action Plan and was intended for all 780,000 active-duty soldiers. Attachment (file not included in this release)
- Even after explicit religious language was removed, the ideology remained: fathers’ leadership strengthens families, and strong families increase combat readiness. The army gave Dobson distribution and prestige; his media gave commanders moral legitimacy after Vietnam.
- Officers’ Christian organizations encouraged “evangelism in command.” Commanders used institutional authority to invite subordinates to worship, distribute New Testaments, and turn professional encounters into conversion opportunities.
From Military Virtue to Crusade War
- Once the military itself became a source of Christian virtue, evangelicals lost conceptual distance from militarism. Rus Walton defended preventive war through the household-protection analogy: a man does not wait for an attacker to assault his wife or daughter before striking.
- Walton distinguished loving one’s own enemies from tolerating God’s enemies and joined the cross to national force. This crusade theory authorizes righteous states to attack first and treats neutrality as complicity. Attachment (file not included in this release)
- The Cold War’s end removed communism but not the framework. A flexible theology of righteous force could sanctify new foreign enemies and ruthless domestic tactics whenever Christian America seemed threatened.
Key Concepts
- Heroic illegality: Rule-breaking interpreted as virtue because the actor claims a higher patriotic or divine duty.
- Olliemania: The public and especially evangelical cult of Oliver North as soldier, martyr, and Christian patriot.
- Anti-hero syndrome: Cole’s claim that hostile media destroyed masculine authority and left the nation without virtuous models.
- Evangelism in command: The use of military leadership and professional access to promote conversion among subordinates.
- Military-family symbiosis: The exchange in which evangelical media sanctified the armed forces while the military distributed patriarchal family teaching.
- Crusade theory of warfare: A doctrine that authorizes a righteous state to wage aggressive or preventive war against forces construed as God’s enemies.
Questions for Reflection
- Why did prosecution strengthen rather than weaken North’s authority among evangelicals?
- What safeguards are needed when military command is also used for evangelism?
- How did televangelist scandal make a military hero especially valuable to the Religious Right?
- Does the protector analogy clarify preemptive war, or smuggle household gender fears into international politics?
- How can religious citizens distinguish loyalty to God from sacralization of national policy?
Citations and References
Author’s complete endnotes
Chapter 7 endnotes 1–30: Attachment (file not included in this release) · Attachment (file not included in this release).
- North’s career and reception (notes 1–14): AP and newspaper reporting; Ben Bradlee Jr., Guts and Glory; congressional testimony; North, Under Fire; and reporting on his fundraising and campaign.
- Cole and evangelical heroes (notes 15–19): Edwin Louis Cole, Maximized Manhood, and biographical reporting.
- Televangelist scandal (notes 20–24): Frances FitzGerald; John Wigger, PTL; reporting and testimony concerning Marvin Gorman, Jim Bakker, Jessica Hahn, and Jimmy Swaggart.
- Military integration and crusade war (notes 25–30): Anne Loveland; the Army edition of Where’s Dad?; John Grinalds; Rus Walton, One Nation Under God; Michael Lienesch; and Andrew Bacevich.