Harry F. Ward

Harry Frederick Ward Jr. (15 October 1873 – 9 December 1966) was an English-born American Methodist minister and political activist who identified himself with the movement for Christian socialism, best remembered as first national chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from its creation in 1920 until his resignation in protest of the organization's decision to bar communists in 1940.

Background Harry Frederick Ward Jr., was born on October 15, 1873, in Chiswick (on the outskirts of London), Middlesex, England. His parents were Harry F. Ward Sr., a successful businessman and Methodist lay minister, and Fanny Jeffrey. Ward's upbringing was steeped both in commercial and religious values and he began working in his father's business as a wagon-driver during his teenage years.

In October 1900, Ward was moved to the 47th Street Methodist Episcopal Church, another pastorate in the Chicago stockyards district with a congregation composed largely of working-class immigrants from Eastern Europe. Ward was increasingly radicalized by contact with the impoverished workers who attended his church. Ward himself joined the fledgling Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America in a show of solidarity with his parishioners. He also joined the Civic Club of Chicago, where he became the chairman of its Committee on Labor Conditions. Ward evangelized the social gospel, sermonizing on matters of economics and poverty and the potential role of the church in the rectification of the structural failings of society.

Following the birth of his second son in 1905, Ward took a one-year sabbatical leave during which time he seems to have read the works of Karl Marx for the first time. In the estimation of Ward biographer David Nelson Duke, the introduction to Marxism was not transformative for Ward, but rather "offered labels for and an interpretation of what he knew firsthand" from his life amongst Chicago's working poor.

Ward returned to the pulpit in the fall of 1906 reenergized. Over the course of the next year he began to formulate plans with a trio of like-minded Methodist ministers from Ohio and others to establish a new organization within the Methodist community dedicated to advance religious principles through practical politics. This group, the Methodist Federation for Social Service (MFSS), was formally brought into being at a National Conference held in Washington, DC, on December 3, 1907. and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the ACLU's lone communist board member, was forced out soon after.

HUAC allegations In 1953, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) named him as one of three Methodist ministers who was a Communist conspirator. Ward rejected HUAC's finding as "completely false" and stated he had never joined a political party.

Toward the end of his life, Ward consulted to the Religious Freedom Committee, which organized a national campaign to abolish HUAC, which changed its name in 1969 and disbanded in 1975.

Vietnam protest In 1963, Ward was one of many signatories of an open letter that asked US President John F. Kennedy to stop the war in Vietnam.

Personal life and death

Ward married Daisy Kendall in 1899. The couple had two children: Gordon Hugh Ward (born June 27, 1903), who later became an agricultural economics professor, and the artist Lynd Kendall Ward (born June 1905). A daughter, Muriel, was born in February 1907.

During his final two years Ward was weak, bedridden, and in need of constant care from home aides. Ward died on December 9, 1966, at the age of 93, in his home in Fort Lee, New Jersey, with a small private funeral held on December 12. A public memorial service was held at Union Theological Seminary on January 4, 1967, with fewer than the chapel's capacity of 500 persons in attendance.

Awards 1931: Honorary Law Degree (LLD), University of Wisconsin

Works

Books and pamphlets

Social Ministry: An Introduction to the Study and Practice of Social Service. Editor. New York: Eaton and Mains. 1910.

A Year Book of the Church and Social Service in the United States. 1. Editor. New York: Fleming H. Revell. 1914.

Poverty and Wealth: From the Viewpoint of the Kingdom of God. Edited by Meyer, Henry H. New York: Methodist Book Center. 1915. A Year Book of the Church and Social Service in the United States. 2. Editor. New York: Fleming H. Revell. 1916.

The Bible and Social Living. With Weston, Sidney A. New York: Methodist Book Concern. 1917.

What Every Church Should Know about Its Community. With Atkinson, Henry A. New York: Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. 1917.

Christianizing Community Life. With Edward, Richard H. New York: Association Press, 1918.

The Harry F. Ward Sampler: A Selection from His Writings, 1914–1963. Edited by Rubinstein, Annette T. Ardsley, New York: Methodist Federation for Social Action. 1963.

Selected articles