This chapter traces the extraordinary role that evangelical Christian colleges and universities have played in propagating right-wing values that have aided in the Republicanization of the South. Through a case study of Harding College in Arkansas, the reader gains insight into the inculcation of a particular brand of “Americanism,” proper religion, and economic rightism that fortified political conservatism and helped break the South away from its decades-long allegiance to the Democratic Party. The roles of long-time Harding president George Benson and Professor James Bales are especially...

This chapter traces the extraordinary role that evangelical Christian colleges and universities have played in propagating right-wing values that have aided in the Republicanization of the South. Through a case study of Harding College in Arkansas, the reader gains insight into the inculcation of a particular brand of “Americanism,” proper religion, and economic rightism that fortified political conservatism and helped break the South away from its decades-long allegiance to the Democratic Party. The roles of long-time Harding president George Benson and Professor James Bales are especially noteworthy. The chapter follows developments at Harding and connects them to the outside world, through the Cold War and anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s, civil rights, racial unrest, and Vietnam in the 1960s, the culture changes of the 1970s, and the active involvement of the Religious Right in politics since 1980.