George S. Benson
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George Stuart Benson (born September 26, 1898, Dewey County, Oklahoma; died December 15, 1991, Searcy, Arkansas) was a missionary to China, 1925-36; founder and principal, Canton Bible School, 1933-36; president, Harding College, 1936-65; chancellor, Oklahoma Christian University, 1956-67. For other persons named George Benson, see Benson (surname).
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[edit] Education
Graduated in first class of Harper College, 1923; B.A., Harding College, 1925; B.S., Oklahoma A&M University, 1925; M.A., University of Chicago, 1931.
[edit] Career
George S. Benson started his career of religious and political education as a missionary to China for eleven years, 1925-1936. The Communists forced him out of China in 1936, an experience which led him to adopt as his life's mission the goals of defending freedom and free enterprise and the related goal of educating Americans about the threat of socialism and communism. Early in his career as president of Harding College, he established on campus the National Education Program (NEP) to pursue these ends, working closely with Harding professor James D. Bales. Conducting a broad range of activities, including a film series, and both a nationally syndicated newspaper column and radio show by Benson, its activities reached many millions of Americans. As a result of these activities Harding and the NEP was widely known and association with patriotism and free-enterprise education in America. Naturally, this nationalism resonated both with its proponents and its opponents. About this time, Harding College also received its first substantial national opposition and criticism in the news media, much of it in association criticism of the movement supporting the Goldwater campaign.
Benson exercised a great influence on education at other Church of Christ-related institutions also. The American Studies Institute at Abilene Christian College and the American Citizenship Center at Oklahoma Christian College were among the programs initially modeled on his work at Harding with the NEP. Following his resignation from the presidency of Harding in 1965, he continued to assist in the development of several other Church of Christ-related institutions, including Oklahoma Christian College, Lubbock Christian College, Alabama Christian College (Now Faulkner University), and George Pepperdine College. Benson also exerted a significant influence on the political culture of Churches of Christ. While Churches of Christ generally saw this as a favorable development, it also received substantial criticism beginning in the mid-60s.
[edit] External links
- Oklahoma University History Through The Ages - George Benson
(http://www.oc.edu/ochistory/view.asp?ID=George_S._Benson)
- The War We Are In, Part 2 - Televised speech by Dr. Benson
[edit] Bibliography
Missionary Experiences (Edmond, OK 1987)
L. Edward Hicks, Sometimes in the Wrong But Never in Doubt: George Benson and the Education of the New Religious Right (Knoxville, 1994);
John C. Stevens, Before Any Were Willing: The Story of George S. Benson (Searcy AR, 1991);
"George S. Benson: Conservative, Anti-Communist, Pro-American Speaker" Ph.D dissertation, Wayne State University, 1963
Ted Altman, “The Contributions of George S. Benson to Christian Education, “ Ed.D dissertation, North Texas University, 1970.
