Teaching Anticommunism: Fred C. Schwarz, the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade and American Postwar Conservatism

This study constitutes the contextualized and analytical biography of Frederick Charles Schwarz (1914-2009), an anticommunist figure who had a marked influence on American postwar conservatism. Born in Brisbane, Australia, and trained as a physician, Schwarz was a conservative evangelical layman who developed during the WWII years an antipathy for communism. Having acquainted himself with the basics of Marxist-Leninism, he became renowned for his sermons which combined fire and brimstone with scholarly exposés of communist theory. Invited to North America for a lecture tour in 1950, at the peak of McCarthyism, he settled permanently in the United States in 1953 and founded the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade (CACC), which he led until 1998. By the late 1950's, the Crusade had become one of the most important conservative organizations in America, notably due to the well-attended weeklong anticommunism "schools" it held in many cities. The Crusade also extended its activities worldwide to combat communism in several Third World countries. Despite the Crusade's decline from the mid-1960's on, Schwarz and his organization had, during their prime years, a discernable impact on American conservatism. The history of Schwarz and the CACC highlights many elements central to a better understanding of the evolution and durability of the American right to this day.