Garfield Bromley Oxnam (August 14, 1891 – March 12, 1963) was a

social reformer A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...

and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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in the

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, elected in 1936.

Early life

Garfield Bromley Oxnam was born in Los Angeles on August 14, 1891. His father was a

mining engineer Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

and instilled in his son a conservative theology. Oxnam embraced these beliefs in his youth, even describing

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

as "the biggest idiocy ever presented to the public." However, in his early 20s Oxnam gravitated towards

Dana W. Bartlett Dana Webster Bartlett (October 27, 1860 – July 16, 1942) was an American Congregationalist minister, settlement house director, and writer. He was an early advocate of the City Beautiful movement. Biography He was born in Bangor, Main ...

and the movements of the Social Gospel.Sitton, Tom (August 2011). ''Metropolis in the Making: Los Angeles in the 1920s.'' University of California Press. Oxnam's political tendencies moved further left at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. Under the tutelage of Progressive teachers Emory S. Bogardus, Rockwell D. Hunt, and

James Main Dixon right , 235px , James Main Dixon, 1902 James Main Dixon FRSE (1856, Paisley – 27 September 1933) was a Scottish teacher and author, and an important scholar of the Scots language. Life He was born in Paisley in Scotland the son of Rev ...

, Oxnam was encouraged to apply his knowledge of social issues in real life settings in Los Angeles. Oxnam became a volunteer Housing Inspector for the Los Angeles Housing Commission and ventured through the poorest districts of Los Angeles, a city that falsely proclaimed to have no slums. He took copious notes from his field work and vowed to use the power of the Church to eradicate the slums in Los Angeles.

Social reform in Los Angeles

He graduated from the University of Southern California in 1913 and from the

Boston University School of Theology Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) is the oldest theological seminary of American Methodism and the founding school of Boston University, the largest private research university in New England. It is one of thirteen theological school ...

in 1915. He was ordained in 1916 and then headed west to briefly run a church in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

's Central Valley. However, he felt a strong desire to return to his hometown Oxnam, G. Bromley (1954). ''I Protest.'' Harper & Brothers Publishers. and eventually presided over the

Church of All Nations The Church of All Nations, also known as the Church or Basilica of the Agony, is a Roman Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, next to the Garden of Gethsemane. It enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said ...

, a multiethnic Church in Downtown Los Angeles. Through Oxnam's personal surveys, the Church of All Nations was comprised more than 46 nationalities.Laslett, John H.M. (2012). ''Sunshine Was Never Enough: Los Angeles Workers 1880-2010.''

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. Oxnam's unprecedented fight for racial inclusion spearheaded the fight for immigrant worker rights in the ethnically diverse Los Angeles. He said the Methodist Church, which preached for greater racial integration, did not do enough in practice to further this cause. Oxnam advocated for the

Americanization Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the United States of America, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, te ...

of immigrants, but he fought with local Los Angeles organizations like Colonel Leroy Smith and the Better America Foundation over what Americanization truly meant. To Oxnam, the concept of Americanization went far beyond the Better America Foundation's narrow patriotic rhetoric, it embodied the education for citizenship based on

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

and

workers' rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...

. This idea meant great potential strength for unions and

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The ...

rights because it would reduce the ethnic divisions between workers. Oxnam, seeing an opportunity to improve the lives of Los Angeles citizens, ran to be on the

Los Angeles Board of Education Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

in what became an intense symbolic battle between the workingmen of Los Angeles and its conservative business owners. Oxnam was even accused of instigating a plot to "sovietize the public schools" in response to his declaration that teachers' opinions should be involved when they were making policy decisions. He ultimately lost the election as a result of slanderous accusations by the

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and the Better America Foundation, which were later used as evidence by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

After Los Angeles

Oxnam left Los Angeles to be a professor of

social ethics Macroethics (from the Greek prefix "makros-" meaning "large" and "ethos" meaning character) is a term coined in the late 20th century to distinguish large-scale ethics from individual ethics, or microethics. It is a type of applied ethics. Macroeth ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

in 1927. One year later he became president of De Pauw University, Greencastle,

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, where he was popular among students because he permitted dancing. As President he achieved a high level of national and international recognition, bringing DePauw unprecedented public attention. He stepped down as president upon his election as bishop in 1936, but still remained a prominent public figure. He advocated for progressive Church measures like Christian unity. He said on national television: :One of the principles we've got to insist upon is diversity in unity. In a word, we've got to conserve all the values of the many different searches for the eternal. Oxnam also took slightly controversial positions against the Cold War. He opposed compulsory military training and the

military reserves A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

in peacetime for fear of how the rigors of military training and life can affect a man's thinking and philosophy. He also opposed the use of the atomic bomb by saying “There is something morally wrong with a weapon who destroys humanity.” He was accused of being a communist by

Donald L. Jackson Donald Lester Jackson (January 23, 1910 – May 27, 1981) was a U.S. Representative from California from 1947 to 1961. Born in Ipswich, Edmunds County, South Dakota, Jackson attended the public schools of South Dakota and California. Bi ...

and appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee on July 21, 1953. He was extensively questioned about his communist sympathies and his relations with other accused communists. At this time, many of the false accusations from his campaign for the Los Angeles School Board resurfaced as evidence against him. Oxnam repudiated these accusations and offered counter evidence to disprove accusations that he was related with the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

and had spoken at rallies with various radicals. In 1958, Bishop Oxnam was successful in helping to found the School of International Service (SIS) at American University, the national Methodist university in Washington, D.C. In that effort, Oxnam was able to convince the General Conference of The Methodist Church to contribute over $1 million for the school's creation. The founding of the SIS was part of a vision held by Oxnam to create an academic institution "pledged to the study, proclamation and practice of the principles of freedom and the maintenance of civil, economic, and religious liberty by training competent and consecrated men and women for the international service of the state, the community and the church." Bishop Oxnam was also responsible for the relocation of Westminster Theological Seminary from Westminster, Maryland to a location in Washington, D.C. on land belonging to American University. Once relocated, the seminary was renamed

Wesley Theological Seminary Wesley Theological Seminary is a United Methodist Church seminary in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1882. History Wesley Theological Seminary can trace its roots back to the 1881 meeting of the Methodist Protestant Church's Maryland Annua ...

. After Oxnam's death in 1963, his ashes were interred at

Wesley Seminary Wesley Seminary is an evangelical Christian theological seminary that was founded by the Wesleyan Church denomination and Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU). Wesley Seminary is located on Indiana Wesleyan University's main campus in Marion, In ...

in the chapel that bears his name. His son, Robert Fisher Oxnam, was also president of a Methodist-founded university,

Drew University Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three sch ...

, from 1961 to 1974.

Bibliography

;Selected writings *''Russian Impressions'', Los Angeles, 1927. *''Personalities in Social Reform'', New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1950. *''I Protest'', New York: Harper, 1954. ;Writing about G. Bromley Oxnam * Rembert Gilman Smith, ''Garfield Bromley Oxnam, Revolutionist?'', Houston: Rembert Gilman Smith, 1953. * Robert Moats Miller, ''Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam'', Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990.

References

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