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Reuben H. Markham

January 01, 1970

Reuben Henry Markham (February 21, 1887 – December 29, 1949) was a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor who wrote numerous books, including "an attack on fascism,"[1]The Wave of the Past, which urged American intervention in World War II. After the war he published four works condemning the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe.

Reuben H. Markham
Reuben Markham in 1943
Born(1887-02-21)February 21, 1887
Smith Center, Kansas, U.S.
DiedDecember 29, 1949(1949-12-29) (aged 62)
EducationWashburn College
Columbia University
Occupation(s)Journalist, author
Notable workThe Wave of the Past

Early life edit

Reuben Markham was born on a farm in Smith County, Kansas on February 21, 1887. His grandfather, Reuben Fuller Markham, and his father, Lucius Markham, were both Congregational ministers. Markham family records show that Reuben Fuller Markham participated in the Underground Railroad.[2] During Reconstruction era, he was a financial agent for the American Missionary Association,[3] which founded eleven historically black colleges,[4] including Beach Institute in Savannah, Georgia where he taught from 1875 to 1880.[5] At 14, Markham was sent to Washburn Academy in Topeka, Kansas, where he also attended Washburn College, graduating in 1908, as valedictorian. The following year, he married Mary Gall, who had been the class salutatorian. Matriculating at Union Theological Seminary, Markham also received an M.A. in education from Columbia University. In 1912, Markham too was ordained as a minister in the Congregational church.

Years in Bulgaria edit

That same year, Markham and his wife volunteered as missionary-educators for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Samokov, Bulgaria, where the Board operated Western style Boys and Girls boarding schools on the same campus. Their three children, Eleonora, Helen and Jordan were born in Samokov.

In 1918, the Markhams returned to America across war-torn Europe,[6] with the assistance of the American legation in Sofia, and the Bulgarian government, which helped fund the trip, in order to support the position of the Wilson Administration, the Congregational church and Bulgaria that America not declare war on the Balkan nation.[7] With the approval of the American Board, Markham testified in front of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which decided to recommend American neutrality towards Bulgaria.[8]

After completing his testimony, he joined a government sponsored YMCA mission to provide agricultural expertise to Russia, but was turned back in Murmansk in 1918 by the revolutionary Soviet government.[9] In order to finish the year of YMCA work, he assisted Russian prisoners of war in France.

Markham returned to Bulgaria in 1920, where in addition to his teaching, he began to edit the Mission's publications, as well as write for Bulgarian newspapers, using them to criticize the Bulgarian regime's treatment of workers and peasants after a military coup in 1923. He "was forced to resign (from the Mission) in 1925… as a result of his outspoken opposition to official persecution of the peasants."[10] Markham then started his own Bulgarian language newspaper, Svet, (World), which addressed Bulgaria's major issues, including governmental repression. He wrote about the "illegal" "slaughter" of prisoners "killed without trial or sentence." Markham was charged by the government for this reporting and put on trial in May 1927 in Sofia, but was acquitted. Svet shut down on August 2, 1928. [11]

Foreign Correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor edit

From 1927 until his death in 1949, Markham worked primarily as a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor. After joining the Monitor's staff in 1927,[12] he soon became correspondent for the Balkans. In 1931, he self-published Meet Bulgaria,[13] describing Bulgarian history, economics and culture.

In 1933, the Markhams moved from Sofia to Vienna, where Reuben became the Monitor's Central European correspondent. Vienna was the home of an active Anglo-American press corps during the interwar years, including Dorothy Thompson, William Shirer, and John Gunther.[14] Here Markham was given several broader assignments as well. In 1935, he was sent to Ethiopia to cover the Italian invasion.[15] The following year, he travelled to the Middle East, where he combined stories on current conditions with Biblical events. He turned this work into the Bulgarian language book, "The Cradle of Humanity, Past and Present."[16] In 1938, Markham covered the Anschluss from Vienna, and afterwards moved his Monitor headquarters to Budapest.

Returning to the United States in June, 1939, Markham conducted a lecture tour and wrote a series of articles in August for the Monitor entitled "Rediscovering America," in which he directly addressed his position in the looming war. "I had long observed the workings of the Nazi machine and had felt convinced that its builders would not pause in the expansionist program....If these states (Great Britain and France) are crushed, the foundations for democracy will be swept away....The issue is clear….self-government…is in danger of destruction....Humanity may again be thrust into the old abyss of absolutism....I believe that is my struggle too."[17] The Markhams were caught by the outbreak of World War II and remained in the United States. For the next three years, he carried out assignments of feature articles about America, such as "Mr. Markham Goes to Washington," and "Mr. Markham Polls the People."[18]

World War II edit

In March 1941, Markham weighed in on 'the Great Debate'[19] over America's entry into World War II, when he published The Wave of the Past,[20] his rebuttal to Anne Morrow Lindbergh's no. 1, non-fiction, best seller The Wave of the Future which President Franklin Roosevelt referenced in his third inaugural address.[21] She called her book "a moral argument for isolationism."[22] In contrast, Markham, whose "hostility to Nazism was instinctive and passionate,"[23] argued that isolationism would lead to the loss of American freedom.[24] "In this issue," Markham wrote, "there are only two sides. No neutral course remains...he either opposes the onslaught of Hitlerism or supports it. If he makes no choice, that is a choice; if he takes no action, he is on Hitler's side; if he does not act, that is an act--for Hitler.... To prevent that will be our first step. Whatever it may cost, we shall take it."[25]

The Wave of the Past sold 70,000 copies in its first four months, making it too a best seller.[26] By June, there were 123,000 copies printed,[27][28] and it was mentioned by Eleanor Roosevelt in her daily column, My Day. "Another small book by an American who originally came from Kansas but has lived for many years in the Balkans is apparently inspired by Anne Lindbergh's book, 'The Wave of the Future.' Markham writes 'The Wave of the Past' and insists 'The past has its mark and the future has its mark. The one is slavery and the other is freedom.' I think you will find both of these books of interest."[29]

The Wave of the Past also states that "tyrants become world masters only when...men call...tyranny freedom."[30] Explaining how dictatorships distort reality by equating opposites, Markham wrote in an article at this time in the Monitor that "the multitudes are told that chains give freedom, that slavery is liberty, that war is peace, that the black resurging past is the future."[31] These concepts and phrasing anticipate the Ministry of Truth's slogans in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: "WAR IS PEACE, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" .[32]

Once the United States entered the war, Markham was able to participate in the national effort by joining the Office of War Information (OWI) as the Deputy Director for the Balkans. In February 1944, he returned to Europe, spending much of his time at a listening station in Bari, Italy. There he saw a great deal of the Partisan movement led by Communist Joseph Tito, and came to think it would install a dictatorial regime if it were to come to power. He wrote: "I have just spent months in direct contact with (the Partisans) and...I saw they are by no means democratic. They are among the world's most fanatical autocrats."[33]

As a result, "he was one of the first to perceive what was happening in Eastern Europe in 1944."[34] When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Roosevelt threw their support to Tito, and withdrew it from Serbian Chetnik leader Draza Mihailovic, Markham believed it meant that the post-war Yugoslavia would become Communist, as might all of southeastern Europe.[35] He felt that Britain and "to a certain extent" America were complicit in helping Tito fight the Serbs in a civil war. "...the Serbs say," he wrote, "that in 1944 they went through another Kossovo, inflicted not by hostile invaders only but also by their allies, their Croat fellow-citizens and Serb Communists. If the Serbs didn't forget the old Kossovo, will they forget the new?...I am not saying this will be nice. I am not praising Serb nationalism....I am just reporting....someday it will explode."[36]

Unwilling to support this policy, Markham resigned from the government in October 1944. The Director of OWI, Elmer Davis, explained, "Eventually, he came to the conclusion that American policy in dealing with the Balkan countries—the support of all elements, including the Communists, that were resisting the Germans—was mistaken....The event proved that the policy which was followed led to precisely the unfortunate results which he foresaw."[37]

The Cold War edit

In 1945, after the war ended, the Monitor posted Markham to Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania where he wrote about Communist activities in Central and Southeastern Europe. The White House had also wanted to get him back into Eastern Europe, and once there, in addition to his journalism, he was able to send his findings directly to the President[38] through the State Department's Mission in Sofia, Bulgaria, reporting that "the majority of Bulgaria considers itself in totalitarian prison."[39] In June 1946, he was expelled from Romania and denied entrance to other Communist controlled nations:[40] "his going from that scene was considered by all Romanians as a sort of national tragedy."[41] Fellow journalist, Dorothy Thompson, described his work. "Mr. Markham has done the fairest and most objective reporting from any Russian-occupied area. He has been meticulous about details, figures and places....If, therefore, Mr. Markham...cannot operate in Russian and Russian-occupied territory, the burden is on the Russians to prove that any honest...reporter can."[42] Meeting with reporters afterwards, the expelled Monitor correspondent described one incident telling them that after covering a peasant party meeting that was broken up by a 'band of ruffians,' he had spent the night with "the local leader of the peasant party in Bucovina....Later the 'band of ruffians'...came into the house at midnight and killed the political leader with bursts of machine gun fire."[43] Shortly after his expulsion, on August 7, Markham met directly with President Truman at the White House.[44]

While in Bulgaria, Markham issued a call for the United States to provide economic assistance to a devastated Europe, predating the Marshall Plan by almost two years. "The choice clearly falls upon America. We must lead in the healing, restoring and recovering. It is the most onerous and the grandest task we ever performed. It is harder than Valley Forge or Gettysburg. We must give of our purse and larder and heart."[45]

Markham was known for "his outspoken stand against communism,"[46] writing and lecturing to warn the United States of the dangers of totalitarian Communist rule.[47] He completed his book on Yugoslavia, Tito's Imperial Communism, in 1947.[48] Writing about Yugoslavia was challenging, not only over the question of whether or not to support Tito, but also because of Yugoslavia's ethnic animosities, which exploded in the 1990s. Markham himself wrote, "Practically every point treated in this book is controversial...."[49] In its announcement of its publication, the University of North Carolina Press stated that this "book presents more fully than ever before the Serb point of view...."[50]

A second work describing events in Eastern Europe, Rumania Under the Soviet Yoke came out in 1949. The New York Times wrote that Markham's volume "presents the facts of Soviet Communism in Rumania in stirring and human terms.…By writing about one country (of Eastern Europe) in detail and with understanding, Markham has written about them all."[51] In 1949, he also self published a pamphlet entitled Let Us Protestants Awake! that criticized Protestant church leaders who lent their support to Communist-led regimes in Europe.[52]

In May 1949, Markham returned to government service on "the urgent insistence of Washington,"[53] in the newly created Central Intelligence Agency.[54][55] He worked closely with the National Committee for a Free Europe, negotiating its covert relationship with the Office of Policy Coordination, along with its head Frank Wisner.[56] One of Markham's primary responsibilities was to edit a "series of pamphlets on the influence of Communism on the different phases of life in Eastern and Southeastern Europe."[57] He met frequently with Eastern European exiles, collecting information on the most recent Communist activity in their countries. The day before he suffered his heart attack he completed editing "Communists Crush Churches in Eastern Europe," the first in his projected series of booklets.[58]

After his death on December 29, 1949, the Christian Science Monitor published an editorial about Markham entitled "Friend of Humanity" saying: "Moscow understood how devastatingly its pretended regard for the 'little man,' its ideological abstractions and its massive brutality were shown up by this humanitarian scholar's genuine love of liberty and of his fellow men."[59]

Legacy edit

Markham was "noted as a writer, lecturer, and author," according to the New York Times,[60] and for opposing dictatorships from his days in Bulgaria in the 1920s, to Nazi Germany, to the Soviet Union after World War II.[61] He had decades of experience in the Balkans[62] and used his pen to bring attention to these countries as they fell under Communist rule. Erwin Canham, the Monitor's longest serving editor, wrote that Markham's "work stands almost alone in American journalism for its simplicity, integrity, and direct, personal knowledge."[63]

Publications edit

  • A Poor Man's Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, 1924 (In Bulgarian)
  • Bulgaria Today and Tomorrow, 1926
  • Meet Bulgaria, 1931
  • The Cradle of Humanity, Past and Present, 1937 (In Bulgarian)
  • The Wave of the Past, 1941
  • Tito's Imperial Communism, 1947
  • Let Us Protestants Awake!, 1949
  • Rumania Under the Soviet Yoke, 1949
  • Communists Crush Churches in Eastern Europe, 1950

Awards edit

  • Distinguished Service Award, Washburn University Alumni Association, 1949[64]
  • Royal Order of Civil Merit, Bulgaria, Commander, 1939[65]

References edit

  1. ^ Raditsa, Bogdan (January 14, 1950). "R.H. Markham 1887-1949". The New Leader.
  2. ^ Van Dyke, Ted. "Friend of Humanity". Washburn University Alumni Magazine. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  3. ^ 44th Session, Minutes of the General Association, Congregational Ministers and Churches of Kansas. Kansas City, Kansas: E. E. Rowland, Pr. 1898. p. 48.
  4. ^ Chandler, D.L. (3 September 2018). "Little Known Black History Facts: American Missionary Association". Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  5. ^ Richardson, Joe (1986). Christian Reconstruction. Athens and London: The University of Georgia Press. p. 206.
  6. ^ "Kansans Who Have Spent Last Six Years in Bulgaria". Topeka Daily Capital. April 25, 1918.
  7. ^ Velichkov, Alexander (2001). "Reuben Henry Markham and Bulgaria". Bulgarian Historical Review (1–2): 129-162.
  8. ^ Hall, William (1938). Puritans in the Balkans. Sofia: Studia Historico-Philologica Serdicensia. p. 260-262.
  9. ^ Copeland, Jeffrey (2018). The YMCA at War. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 110.
  10. ^ "Obituary". New York Times. December 31, 1949.
  11. ^ Velichkov, Alexander (2001). "Reuben Henry Markham and Bulgaria". Bulgarian Historical Review (1–2): 129-162.
  12. ^ Canham, Erwin (1958). The Commitment to Freedom. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 346.
  13. ^ Markham, Reuben (1931). Meet Bulgaria. Sofia, Bulgaria: The Author.
  14. ^ Durning, Dan. "Vienna's Cafe Louvre in the 1920s and 1930s: Meeting Place of Foreign Correspondents". Academia. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  15. ^ "Two Mules and Saddles". Mary Baker Eddy Library. March 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  16. ^ Markham, Reuben (1937). Past and Present: Cradle of Humanity. Sofia: Author.
  17. ^ Markham, Reuben (August 28, 1939). "Lincoln's Union Issue Returns In World Form". The Christian Science Monitor.
  18. ^ Canham, Erwin (1958). The Commitment to Freedom. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 347.
  19. ^ "The Great Debate". National WWII Museum. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  20. ^ Markham, Reuben (1941). The Wave of the Past. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
  21. ^ "Roosevelt's Third Inaugural Address". The Avalon Project. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  22. ^ Olson, Lynne (2013). Those Angry Days. New York: Random House. p. xvi, 243, 245.
  23. ^ Chamberlin, William (January 3, 1955). "Reuben Markham: Foe of Tyrants". The New Leader.
  24. ^ Singal, Daniel. From Victorian to Modernist Thought in the South, 1919-1945. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 295.
  25. ^ Markham, Reuben (1941). The Wave of the Past. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 54,55.
  26. ^ Singal, Daniel. From Victorian to Modernist Thought in the South, 1919-1945. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 295.
  27. ^ Markham, Reuben (1941). The Wave of the Past (Third Printing ed.). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
  28. ^ "Press Sells 100,000 Copies of Markham Book". The Chapel Hill Weekly. April 11, 1941.
  29. ^ Roosevelt, Eleanor. "My Day". The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Digital Edition. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  30. ^ Markham, Reuben (1941). The Wave of the Past. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 7.
  31. ^ Markham, Reuben (March 1, 1941). "The World Looks to America". The Christian Science Monitor.
  32. ^ Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four. p. 4.
  33. ^ Markham, Reuben (January 31, 1945). "Our Political Immorality". The Christian Century.
  34. ^ Page, John (Fall 1962). "Never a Neutralist in the Struggle Between Imperfect Right and Absolute Wrong". American Bulgarian Review. XII (2): 25.
  35. ^ Markham, Reuben (1949). Rumania Under the Soviet Yoke. Boston: Meador Publishing Co. pp. 174, 175.
  36. ^ Markham, Reuben (May 19, 1945). "The Serbian Volcano". The New Leader.
  37. ^ Canham, Erwin (1958). Commitment to Freedom. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 347.
  38. ^ "Obituary". Washington Post. December 31, 1949.
  39. ^ "Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers". Office of the Historian State Department. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  40. ^ "Obituary". New York Herald Tribune. December 31, 1949.
  41. ^ Andrica, Theodore (January 12, 1950). "Reuben Markham". The Christian Science Monitor.
  42. ^ Thompson, Dorothy (July 1, 1946). "On the Record". The Evening Star.
  43. ^ Associated Press (June 27, 1946). "Protests Rule in Bulgaria and Romania". The Times (Streator, Illinois).
  44. ^ "Daily Appointments, August 7, 1946". Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  45. ^ Markham, Reuben (October 6, 1945). "American Century of Good Will". The Christian Science Monitor.
  46. ^ "Obituary". Washington Star. December 31, 1949.
  47. ^ Lehrman, Hal (Spring 1962). "Markham Honored as Educator, Journalist and Public Figure". American Bulgarian Review. XII (1): 22.
  48. ^ Markham, Reuben (1947). Tito's Imperial Communism. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
  49. ^ Markham, Reuben (1947). Tito's Imperial Communism. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. preface, vii.
  50. ^ University of North Carolina Press. Summer Releases, 1947
  51. ^ Ebon, Martin (May 1, 1949). "The Rumanians and Soviet Policy: Rumania Under the Soviet Yoke". New York Times.
  52. ^ Markham, Reuben (1949). Let Us Protestants Awake!. 18 Fairfield St., Boston 16, Mass.: Author.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  53. ^ Lehrman, Hal (Spring 1962). "Markham Honored as Educator, Journalist and Public Figure". American Bulgarian Review. XII (1): 22.
  54. ^ Lulushi, Albert (2014). Operation Valuable Fiend. Arcade Publishing Co. p. Chapter 4.
  55. ^ (PDF). BGFIEND OPERATIONS. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  56. ^ "Letter from Frank Wisner to DeWitt Poole". Wilson Center Digital History Archive. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
  57. ^ Markham, Reuben (1950). Communists Crush Churches in Eastern Europe. Boston: Meador Publishing Co. p. Back Cover.
  58. ^ Markham, Reuben. Communists Crush Churches in Eastern Europe. Boston: Meador Publishng Company.
  59. ^ "Editorial". The Christian Science Monitor. December 31, 1949.
  60. ^ "Obituary". New York Times. No. December 31, 1949.
  61. ^ Page, John (Fall 1962). "Never a Neutralist in the Struggle Between Imperfect Right and Absolute Wrong". American Bulgarian Review. XII (2): 25.
  62. ^ Barrett, Edward (Spring 1962). "RHM Could Have No Boss, But His Own Conscience". American Bulgarian Review. XII (1): 24.
  63. ^ Canham, Erwin (1958). The Commitment to Freedom. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. pp. 349–350.
  64. ^ "Past Alumni Award Honorees". Washburn University Alumni Association. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  65. ^ Velichkov, Alexander (2001). "Reuben Henry Markham and Bulgaria". Bulgarian Historical Review (1–2): 129-162.

January 01, 1970
reuben, markham, reuben, henry, markham, february, 1887, december, 1949, journalist, christian, science, monitor, wrote, numerous, books, including, attack, fascism, wave, past, which, urged, american, intervention, world, after, published, four, works, condem. Reuben Henry Markham February 21 1887 December 29 1949 was a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor who wrote numerous books including an attack on fascism 1 The Wave of the Past which urged American intervention in World War II After the war he published four works condemning the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe Reuben H MarkhamReuben Markham in 1943Born 1887 02 21 February 21 1887Smith Center Kansas U S DiedDecember 29 1949 1949 12 29 aged 62 EducationWashburn CollegeColumbia UniversityOccupation s Journalist authorNotable workThe Wave of the Past Contents 1 Early life 2 Years in Bulgaria 3 Foreign Correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor 4 World War II 5 The Cold War 6 Legacy 7 Publications 8 Awards 9 ReferencesEarly life editReuben Markham was born on a farm in Smith County Kansas on February 21 1887 His grandfather Reuben Fuller Markham and his father Lucius Markham were both Congregational ministers Markham family records show that Reuben Fuller Markham participated in the Underground Railroad 2 During Reconstruction era he was a financial agent for the American Missionary Association 3 which founded eleven historically black colleges 4 including Beach Institute in Savannah Georgia where he taught from 1875 to 1880 5 At 14 Markham was sent to Washburn Academy in Topeka Kansas where he also attended Washburn College graduating in 1908 as valedictorian The following year he married Mary Gall who had been the class salutatorian Matriculating at Union Theological Seminary Markham also received an M A in education from Columbia University In 1912 Markham too was ordained as a minister in the Congregational church Years in Bulgaria editThat same year Markham and his wife volunteered as missionary educators for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Samokov Bulgaria where the Board operated Western style Boys and Girls boarding schools on the same campus Their three children Eleonora Helen and Jordan were born in Samokov In 1918 the Markhams returned to America across war torn Europe 6 with the assistance of the American legation in Sofia and the Bulgarian government which helped fund the trip in order to support the position of the Wilson Administration the Congregational church and Bulgaria that America not declare war on the Balkan nation 7 With the approval of the American Board Markham testified in front of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations which decided to recommend American neutrality towards Bulgaria 8 After completing his testimony he joined a government sponsored YMCA mission to provide agricultural expertise to Russia but was turned back in Murmansk in 1918 by the revolutionary Soviet government 9 In order to finish the year of YMCA work he assisted Russian prisoners of war in France Markham returned to Bulgaria in 1920 where in addition to his teaching he began to edit the Mission s publications as well as write for Bulgarian newspapers using them to criticize the Bulgarian regime s treatment of workers and peasants after a military coup in 1923 He was forced to resign from the Mission in 1925 as a result of his outspoken opposition to official persecution of the peasants 10 Markham then started his own Bulgarian language newspaper Svet World which addressed Bulgaria s major issues including governmental repression He wrote about the illegal slaughter of prisoners killed without trial or sentence Markham was charged by the government for this reporting and put on trial in May 1927 in Sofia but was acquitted Svet shut down on August 2 1928 11 Foreign Correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor editFrom 1927 until his death in 1949 Markham worked primarily as a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor After joining the Monitor s staff in 1927 12 he soon became correspondent for the Balkans In 1931 he self published Meet Bulgaria 13 describing Bulgarian history economics and culture In 1933 the Markhams moved from Sofia to Vienna where Reuben became the Monitor s Central European correspondent Vienna was the home of an active Anglo American press corps during the interwar years including Dorothy Thompson William Shirer and John Gunther 14 Here Markham was given several broader assignments as well In 1935 he was sent to Ethiopia to cover the Italian invasion 15 The following year he travelled to the Middle East where he combined stories on current conditions with Biblical events He turned this work into the Bulgarian language book The Cradle of Humanity Past and Present 16 In 1938 Markham covered the Anschluss from Vienna and afterwards moved his Monitor headquarters to Budapest Returning to the United States in June 1939 Markham conducted a lecture tour and wrote a series of articles in August for the Monitor entitled Rediscovering America in which he directly addressed his position in the looming war I had long observed the workings of the Nazi machine and had felt convinced that its builders would not pause in the expansionist program If these states Great Britain and France are crushed the foundations for democracy will be swept away The issue is clear self government is in danger of destruction Humanity may again be thrust into the old abyss of absolutism I believe that is my struggle too 17 The Markhams were caught by the outbreak of World War II and remained in the United States For the next three years he carried out assignments of feature articles about America such as Mr Markham Goes to Washington and Mr Markham Polls the People 18 World War II editIn March 1941 Markham weighed in on the Great Debate 19 over America s entry into World War II when he published The Wave of the Past 20 his rebuttal to Anne Morrow Lindbergh s no 1 non fiction best seller The Wave of the Future which President Franklin Roosevelt referenced in his third inaugural address 21 She called her book a moral argument for isolationism 22 In contrast Markham whose hostility to Nazism was instinctive and passionate 23 argued that isolationism would lead to the loss of American freedom 24 In this issue Markham wrote there are only two sides No neutral course remains he either opposes the onslaught of Hitlerism or supports it If he makes no choice that is a choice if he takes no action he is on Hitler s side if he does not act that is an act for Hitler To prevent that will be our first step Whatever it may cost we shall take it 25 The Wave of the Past sold 70 000 copies in its first four months making it too a best seller 26 By June there were 123 000 copies printed 27 28 and it was mentioned by Eleanor Roosevelt in her daily column My Day Another small book by an American who originally came from Kansas but has lived for many years in the Balkans is apparently inspired by Anne Lindbergh s book The Wave of the Future Markham writes The Wave of the Past and insists The past has its mark and the future has its mark The one is slavery and the other is freedom I think you will find both of these books of interest 29 The Wave of the Past also states that tyrants become world masters only when men call tyranny freedom 30 Explaining how dictatorships distort reality by equating opposites Markham wrote in an article at this time in the Monitor that the multitudes are told that chains give freedom that slavery is liberty that war is peace that the black resurging past is the future 31 These concepts and phrasing anticipate the Ministry of Truth s slogans in George Orwell s Nineteen Eighty Four WAR IS PEACE SLAVERY IS FREEDOM IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH 32 Once the United States entered the war Markham was able to participate in the national effort by joining the Office of War Information OWI as the Deputy Director for the Balkans In February 1944 he returned to Europe spending much of his time at a listening station in Bari Italy There he saw a great deal of the Partisan movement led by Communist Joseph Tito and came to think it would install a dictatorial regime if it were to come to power He wrote I have just spent months in direct contact with the Partisans and I saw they are by no means democratic They are among the world s most fanatical autocrats 33 As a result he was one of the first to perceive what was happening in Eastern Europe in 1944 34 When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Roosevelt threw their support to Tito and withdrew it from Serbian Chetnik leader Draza Mihailovic Markham believed it meant that the post war Yugoslavia would become Communist as might all of southeastern Europe 35 He felt that Britain and to a certain extent America were complicit in helping Tito fight the Serbs in a civil war the Serbs say he wrote that in 1944 they went through another Kossovo inflicted not by hostile invaders only but also by their allies their Croat fellow citizens and Serb Communists If the Serbs didn t forget the old Kossovo will they forget the new I am not saying this will be nice I am not praising Serb nationalism I am just reporting someday it will explode 36 Unwilling to support this policy Markham resigned from the government in October 1944 The Director of OWI Elmer Davis explained Eventually he came to the conclusion that American policy in dealing with the Balkan countries the support of all elements including the Communists that were resisting the Germans was mistaken The event proved that the policy which was followed led to precisely the unfortunate results which he foresaw 37 The Cold War editIn 1945 after the war ended the Monitor posted Markham to Bulgaria Hungary and Romania where he wrote about Communist activities in Central and Southeastern Europe The White House had also wanted to get him back into Eastern Europe and once there in addition to his journalism he was able to send his findings directly to the President 38 through the State Department s Mission in Sofia Bulgaria reporting that the majority of Bulgaria considers itself in totalitarian prison 39 In June 1946 he was expelled from Romania and denied entrance to other Communist controlled nations 40 his going from that scene was considered by all Romanians as a sort of national tragedy 41 Fellow journalist Dorothy Thompson described his work Mr Markham has done the fairest and most objective reporting from any Russian occupied area He has been meticulous about details figures and places If therefore Mr Markham cannot operate in Russian and Russian occupied territory the burden is on the Russians to prove that any honest reporter can 42 Meeting with reporters afterwards the expelled Monitor correspondent described one incident telling them that after covering a peasant party meeting that was broken up by a band of ruffians he had spent the night with the local leader of the peasant party in Bucovina Later the band of ruffians came into the house at midnight and killed the political leader with bursts of machine gun fire 43 Shortly after his expulsion on August 7 Markham met directly with President Truman at the White House 44 While in Bulgaria Markham issued a call for the United States to provide economic assistance to a devastated Europe predating the Marshall Plan by almost two years The choice clearly falls upon America We must lead in the healing restoring and recovering It is the most onerous and the grandest task we ever performed It is harder than Valley Forge or Gettysburg We must give of our purse and larder and heart 45 Markham was known for his outspoken stand against communism 46 writing and lecturing to warn the United States of the dangers of totalitarian Communist rule 47 He completed his book on Yugoslavia Tito s Imperial Communism in 1947 48 Writing about Yugoslavia was challenging not only over the question of whether or not to support Tito but also because of Yugoslavia s ethnic animosities which exploded in the 1990s Markham himself wrote Practically every point treated in this book is controversial 49 In its announcement of its publication the University of North Carolina Press stated that this book presents more fully than ever before the Serb point of view 50 A second work describing events in Eastern Europe Rumania Under the Soviet Yoke came out in 1949 The New York Times wrote that Markham s volume presents the facts of Soviet Communism in Rumania in stirring and human terms By writing about one country of Eastern Europe in detail and with understanding Markham has written about them all 51 In 1949 he also self published a pamphlet entitled Let Us Protestants Awake that criticized Protestant church leaders who lent their support to Communist led regimes in Europe 52 In May 1949 Markham returned to government service on the urgent insistence of Washington 53 in the newly created Central Intelligence Agency 54 55 He worked closely with the National Committee for a Free Europe negotiating its covert relationship with the Office of Policy Coordination along with its head Frank Wisner 56 One of Markham s primary responsibilities was to edit a series of pamphlets on the influence of Communism on the different phases of life in Eastern and Southeastern Europe 57 He met frequently with Eastern European exiles collecting information on the most recent Communist activity in their countries The day before he suffered his heart attack he completed editing Communists Crush Churches in Eastern Europe the first in his projected series of booklets 58 After his death on December 29 1949 the Christian Science Monitor published an editorial about Markham entitled Friend of Humanity saying Moscow understood how devastatingly its pretended regard for the little man its ideological abstractions and its massive brutality were shown up by this humanitarian scholar s genuine love of liberty and of his fellow men 59 Legacy editMarkham was noted as a writer lecturer and author according to the New York Times 60 and for opposing dictatorships from his days in Bulgaria in the 1920s to Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union after World War II 61 He had decades of experience in the Balkans 62 and used his pen to bring attention to these countries as they fell under Communist rule Erwin Canham the Monitor s longest serving editor wrote that Markham s work stands almost alone in American journalism for its simplicity integrity and direct personal knowledge 63 Publications editA Poor Man s Pilgrimage to the Holy Land 1924 In Bulgarian Bulgaria Today and Tomorrow 1926 Meet Bulgaria 1931 The Cradle of Humanity Past and Present 1937 In Bulgarian The Wave of the Past 1941 Tito s Imperial Communism 1947 Let Us Protestants Awake 1949 Rumania Under the Soviet Yoke 1949 Communists Crush Churches in Eastern Europe 1950Awards editDistinguished Service Award Washburn University Alumni Association 1949 64 Royal Order of Civil Merit Bulgaria Commander 1939 65 References edit Raditsa Bogdan January 14 1950 R H Markham 1887 1949 The New Leader Van Dyke Ted Friend of Humanity Washburn University Alumni Magazine Retrieved May 27 2021 44th Session Minutes of the General Association Congregational Ministers and Churches of Kansas Kansas City Kansas E E Rowland Pr 1898 p 48 Chandler D L 3 September 2018 Little Known Black History Facts American Missionary Association Retrieved August 20 2020 Richardson Joe 1986 Christian Reconstruction Athens and London The University of Georgia Press p 206 Kansans Who Have Spent Last Six Years in Bulgaria Topeka Daily Capital April 25 1918 Velichkov Alexander 2001 Reuben Henry Markham and Bulgaria Bulgarian Historical Review 1 2 129 162 Hall William 1938 Puritans in the Balkans Sofia Studia Historico Philologica Serdicensia p 260 262 Copeland Jeffrey 2018 The YMCA at War Rowman amp Littlefield p 110 Obituary New York Times December 31 1949 Velichkov Alexander 2001 Reuben Henry Markham and Bulgaria Bulgarian Historical Review 1 2 129 162 Canham Erwin 1958 The Commitment to Freedom Boston Houghton Mifflin Co p 346 Markham Reuben 1931 Meet Bulgaria Sofia Bulgaria The Author Durning Dan Vienna s Cafe Louvre in the 1920s and 1930s Meeting Place of Foreign Correspondents Academia Retrieved January 16 2022 Two Mules and Saddles Mary Baker Eddy Library March 2017 Retrieved May 11 2020 Markham Reuben 1937 Past and Present Cradle of Humanity Sofia Author Markham Reuben August 28 1939 Lincoln s Union Issue Returns In World Form The Christian Science Monitor Canham Erwin 1958 The Commitment to Freedom Boston Houghton Mifflin Co p 347 The Great Debate National WWII Museum Retrieved June 5 2020 Markham Reuben 1941 The Wave of the Past Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press Roosevelt s Third Inaugural Address The Avalon Project Retrieved January 2 2021 Olson Lynne 2013 Those Angry Days New York Random House p xvi 243 245 Chamberlin William January 3 1955 Reuben Markham Foe of Tyrants The New Leader Singal Daniel From Victorian to Modernist Thought in the South 1919 1945 Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press p 295 Markham Reuben 1941 The Wave of the Past Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press p 54 55 Singal Daniel From Victorian to Modernist Thought in the South 1919 1945 Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press p 295 Markham Reuben 1941 The Wave of the Past Third Printing ed Chapel Hill NC University of North Carolina Press Press Sells 100 000 Copies of Markham Book The Chapel Hill Weekly April 11 1941 Roosevelt Eleanor My Day The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Digital Edition Retrieved May 22 2020 Markham Reuben 1941 The Wave of the Past Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press p 7 Markham Reuben March 1 1941 The World Looks to America The Christian Science Monitor Orwell George 1949 Nineteen Eighty Four p 4 Markham Reuben January 31 1945 Our Political Immorality The Christian Century Page John Fall 1962 Never a Neutralist in the Struggle Between Imperfect Right and Absolute Wrong American Bulgarian Review XII 2 25 Markham Reuben 1949 Rumania Under the Soviet Yoke Boston Meador Publishing Co pp 174 175 Markham Reuben May 19 1945 The Serbian Volcano The New Leader Canham Erwin 1958 Commitment to Freedom Boston Houghton Mifflin Co p 347 Obituary Washington Post December 31 1949 Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers Office of the Historian State Department Retrieved May 14 2020 Obituary New York Herald Tribune December 31 1949 Andrica Theodore January 12 1950 Reuben Markham The Christian Science Monitor Thompson Dorothy July 1 1946 On the Record The Evening Star Associated Press June 27 1946 Protests Rule in Bulgaria and Romania The Times Streator Illinois Daily Appointments August 7 1946 Harry S Truman Library amp Museum Retrieved May 23 2020 Markham Reuben October 6 1945 American Century of Good Will The Christian Science Monitor Obituary Washington Star December 31 1949 Lehrman Hal Spring 1962 Markham Honored as Educator Journalist and Public Figure American Bulgarian Review XII 1 22 Markham Reuben 1947 Tito s Imperial Communism Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina Press Markham Reuben 1947 Tito s Imperial Communism Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press p preface vii University of North Carolina Press Summer Releases 1947 Ebon Martin May 1 1949 The Rumanians and Soviet Policy Rumania Under the Soviet Yoke New York Times Markham Reuben 1949 Let Us Protestants Awake 18 Fairfield St Boston 16 Mass Author a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location link Lehrman Hal Spring 1962 Markham Honored as Educator Journalist and Public Figure American Bulgarian Review XII 1 22 Lulushi Albert 2014 Operation Valuable Fiend Arcade Publishing Co p Chapter 4 Memorandum Oct 4 1949 PDF BGFIEND OPERATIONS Archived from the original PDF on January 23 2017 Retrieved May 22 2020 Letter from Frank Wisner to DeWitt Poole Wilson Center Digital History Archive Retrieved May 27 2021 Markham Reuben 1950 Communists Crush Churches in Eastern Europe Boston Meador Publishing Co p Back Cover Markham Reuben Communists Crush Churches in Eastern Europe Boston Meador Publishng Company Editorial The Christian Science Monitor December 31 1949 Obituary New York Times No December 31 1949 Page John Fall 1962 Never a Neutralist in the Struggle Between Imperfect Right and Absolute Wrong American Bulgarian Review XII 2 25 Barrett Edward Spring 1962 RHM Could Have No Boss But His Own Conscience American Bulgarian Review XII 1 24 Canham Erwin 1958 The Commitment to Freedom Boston Houghton Mifflin Co pp 349 350 Past Alumni Award Honorees Washburn University Alumni Association Retrieved July 19 2020 Velichkov Alexander 2001 Reuben Henry Markham and Bulgaria Bulgarian Historical Review 1 2 129 162 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Reuben H Markham amp oldid 1195262466, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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