George S. Benson

George Stuart Benson (September 26, 1898—December 15, 1991) was an American missionary, college administrator, and conservative political activist. After fleeing communist uprisings in China as a missionary, Benson became an anticommunist and conservative activist, taking stances against the New Deal, and later, racial integration. Benson served for many years as the president of Harding College, and oversaw a large propaganda network through his National Education Program, which sponsored short cartoons, "Freedom Forums" (gatherings of business people to promote the American way), and lecture tours for Benson.
Education.
Benson graduated from Harper College, a junior college. He went on to earn a B.A. from Harding College, a B.S. from Oklahoma A&M University, and an M.A. from the University of Chicago in 1931. He received several honorary doctorates including those from Harding University, 1932; Knox College (Illinois), 1948; and Oklahoma Christian University, 1968.
Missionary career.
George S. Benson started his career of religious and political education as a missionary to what is now Guangzhou, China, for eleven years, 1925-1936. After only 6 months in Kwei Hsien, Communist propagandists arrived and "insisted that these intruders should be either killed or driven out". The Bensons had difficulty finding a boat to take them to Hong Kong because of threats against those who carried foreigners. After a year in Hong Kong, George Pepperdine offered them support to work in the Philippines. George pitched a tent in Pinamalayan and started preaching, making converts and establishing a congregation. Sixty days later, he left for Paglasan and then Baguio, where he followed a similar procedure successfully. While passing through 30 years later, Benson "found the church at Baguio still continuing faithful to the Lord". 
The Bensons returned to China in 1929. George taught English for a year at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. Through this experience, he decided that "the most effective way to reach the Chinese people was through teaching English". Benson started the Canton English Finishing School, followed by the Canton Bible School in 1933. These schools continued to operate until 1949.
Administrative career.
Harding College.
Benson left China in 1936, at the invitation of J.N. Armstrong, to succeed him as president of Harding College. The college had not yet repaid any of its debt from the 1934 Searcy campus purchase, so it's prospects were bleak. Finances were further challenged by a controversy that isolated the school from potential donors in the Churches of Christ: In 1935, President Armstrong was accused of being sympathetic to Premillennialism in the Gospel Advocate and Gospel Guardian, which may have led to his resignation. Upon assuming the presidency, Benson was pressured to fire Armstrong from the Bible faculty, and then criticized in publications such as The Bible Banner when he would not. Benson traveled around the country raising money to pay the $70,000 debt and on Thanksgiving Day of 1939, Armstrong was able to toss the cancelled mortgage into a fire.
In 1937, Harding began holding "Distinguished Speaker" lectures on campus with speakers such as James L. Kraft and Charles F. Kettering. In 1943, Benson started and directed Camp Tahkodah, purchasing it himself after the board refused his suggestion that the college buy it. In 1954, Harding was accredited by the North Central Association. During Benson's 29-year presidency, Harding grew from 324 to 1228 students and 15 buildings were erected, increasing the campus value from $600,000 to $25 million. 
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 University, Lubbock Christian College, Alabama Christian College (Now Faulkner University), and George Pepperdine College. 
Desegregation.
Benson resisted efforts by students and faculty to desegregate Harding, but in the fall of 1963, faced with upcoming civil rights legislation that would require integration or the forbearance of federal funds, he announced that the school would accept black students, and the next semester three were enrolled. This was a year after Harding's graduate school in Memphis had done so. Benson's stated reasons for opposing desegregation in 1956 were that the "community is not yet ready" and that time was required for the South to absorb the "great shock" of the Supreme Court decision. He claimed that integrating at that time would cause white students to leave Harding, and that equal educational opportunities were available for all without integration. As an example, he stated that The Little Rock Nine left a far better building and their own teachers to go to Central." Losing financial support was likely also a concern. But he especially feared that interracial marriage would follow integration, and warned of "increased destruction to properties, increased gonorrhea and syphilis, and increased pregnancies." He expressed his belief that segregation was the natural order of creation, stating at one time that with "the blackbirds and bluebirds, the blue jays and mockingbirds, they don't mix and mingle together, young people!" In a 1966 sermon he maintained that "Before God, all men are equal, but in like manner there is no reason to think the Lord wants a mixing of the races and the creating of just one mongrel race. Benson also believed that black people were "under the curse of Ham", a reference to one of Noah's sons in the book of Genesis that was often used as a biblical justification of segregation and inferiority of black people. 
In 1957, student body president Bill Floyd circulated a "statement of attitude" that affirmed that the signers were ready to accept black students. Before this had circulated, Benson announced in the required daily chapel that students should not sign it, yet over 85 percent of the student body and almost one hundred faculty and staff signed this document. Benson dismissed the statement as "not an accurate expression of student feeling" and explained "they didn't understand what they were signing". The following day students posted an ironic "whites only" sign in the lily pool, a decorative pond that serves as the central gathering place on the Searcy campus. In a 1958 chapel speech, Benson claimed that few blacks desired to attend Harding, and that he personally provided funds to attend all-black colleges to those few that applied.
Benson did not explain the 1963 decision to change course and accept black students. "Congress was already considering what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964", and the Freed–Hardeman University president attributed his own school's 1964 policy change "to the mistake of accepting federal funds". On the other hand, Benson "turned down a lucrative offer" to start a segregated college in Mississippi and he personally raised support for the students who broke the color barrier at Harding. Reactions at the time were positive. The student newspaper stated "Benson's leadership in the movement for equal opportunity makes us proud". The Arkansas Gazette reported that Harding was the first private college in Arkansas to integrate and editorialized "they and Dr. Benson deserve an ovation...for the grace with which they have undertaken this social change". More recently, the Arkansas Times has reported that Harding was actually second. However, integration preceded slowly, with blacks comprising less than 2% of the student body in 1970, and challenges in areas like roommate assignments, dating and athletics continued well beyond Benson's presidency.
National Education Program.
Early in his career as president of Harding College, Benson established the National Education Program (NEP) which became a bastion of right-wing political activism. He worked closely with Harding professor James D. Bales, conducting a broad range of activities, including a film series, a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and radio show. As a result of these activities, Harding and the NEP were widely known for an association with patriotism and free-enterprise information in America. This represented a dramatic turn from the anti-political and pacifist values of Harding College founding influences James A. Harding and David Lipscomb.
In the early 1960's, Harding College also received its first substantial national opposition and criticism in the news media, much of it in association with criticism of the movement supporting the Barry Goldwater campaign.
Benson influenced nationalist agendas at other Church of Christ-related institutions also. The American Studies Institute at Abilene Christian College and the American Citizenship Center at Oklahoma Christian University were among the programs initially modeled on his work at Harding with the NEP. Benson also exerted a significant influence on the political culture of Churches of Christ. While some Churches of Christ saw this as a favorable development, others saw it as an abandonment of early values, and this conservative and nationalistic emphasis received substantial criticism beginning in the mid-60s.
Oklahoma Christian College (1956-67).
In early 1955, Central Christian College president Baird met with Benson and expressed that the school's situation in Bartlesville, OK was hopeless. He asked for Benson's help with moving the school to Tulsa or Oklahoma City. After a year of Benson "leading and guiding the moving program", the board named him Chancellor so he could represent the college on a more authoritative basis, and asked Harding to release Benson for approximately a third of his time. Benson primarily focused on fund raising, delegating day-to-day operations to President Baird. When the college sought accreditation, the North Central Examining Committee's December 1965 report was critical of the college's dual leadership, so Benson made plans to retire. Benson connected the college with major donors such as the Gaylords and Davissons.
To avoid confusion with the nearby Central State College following the move to Oklahoma City, Benson recommended changing the name to Oklahoma Christian College.
Zambia Christian Schools (1964-84).
In 1964, the newly independent Zambian government offered land to Church of Christ missionary J.D. Merritt if he would build a secondary school on it. Merritt asked Benson to help raise funds for that purpose. Namwianga Christian Secondary School opened in 1966 and Kabanga Christian Secondary School several years later. In 1989, George Benson Christian College opened as a teacher training college on the Namwianga Mission site.
Benson served a Chairman of the Board of Zambian Christian Schools until 1984. He was "heavily involved" because "he wanted a multitude of Zambians to receive an education where they would get to know Christ as their personal savior."
Alabama Christian College (1975-81).
Benson was appointed as chancellor of Alabama Christian College in 1975. He served as interim president and chief executive in 1981. During his years as chancellor, debt was reduced from $3.5 million to $1 million and college operations were strengthened.
Honors and legacy.
Benson was a recipient of the Tax Foundation's Distinguished Service Award in 1941. Dr. Benson was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1972 and to the Oklahoma State University Hall of Fame in 1976.
Buildings are named in his honor at Harding University, Freed Hardeman University, and Faulkner University. There was formerly a building named for Benson at Oklahoma Christian University, where a student-led civil rights event in 1969 ultimately led to 18 students being arrested and expelled. In 2020, Oklahoma Christian removed Benson's name from the building because of his segregationist views.
Personal life.
He married Sally Ellis Hockaday in 1925, and within a week they left for China. Two daughters, Mary Ruth and Lois were born in Hong Kong.
Sally Ellis died December 17, 1981. On February 22, 1983, George married his long-time secretary Marguerite O'Banion.