A Humorous Letter that captures the Mood of a Divided America....
"I felt we would not enter World War II. We had learned our lesson, I thought, from the last war. Surely we would get burned again. So I went merrily on my way, doing my thing, and not worrying very much about the ultimate consequences of what was happening in Europe." - H. Bishop Holliman, 1991, a Navy veteran of World War II
Spurred on by lively conversations with brother-in-law Robert W. Daly, Homer Bishop Holliman, born the year of the infamous 1919 Versailles Treaty, a Birmingham-Southern College student, typed the following tongue-in-cheek letter to himself. While meant to be humorous, nineteen year old Bishop, captured the ambiguous feelings of many Americans in the autumn of 1939 as Europe once again plunged itself into an abbess.
Notice in the letter, he refers to the divisive issues of the embargo and neutrality which divided the U.S. Congress. Only with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor at the end of 1941 did American public opinion coalesce, and Congress overwhelmingly vote war.
Above Bishop Holliman, right, with his Methodist pastor friend, The Rev. Paul Nelson Propst in 1940 at a Lake Junaluska, North Carolina religious retreat. Note the formal wear. Bishop would give Paul's middle name to his son, Glenn Nelson Holliman, in 1946.
Bishop had been raised in the Irondale, Alabama Methodist Church. Thanks to his sister Loudelle's husband, The Rev. Charles Tigert Ferrell, he would work several years as youth coordinator for the North Alabama Conference of the Methodist Church. This position allowed him to help pay his tuition at Birmingham-Southern College, a Methodist school, from 1937 to 1941.
Below, Bishop's 1939 letter to himself captures his religious and isolationist beliefs as World War II began in Europe. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and reluctantly France and Great Britain declared war on expansionist Germany.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, thanks to the automobile and paved roads, Bishop and millions of Americans were able to travel and see the United States as previous generations had not been able to do. Below, inn this 1939 photo Charles Pugh (far left) of Irondale and close friend of Bishop's stand with The Rev. Stewart Butten (far right), having just returned from a Methodist retreat in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Notice the street at 2300 3rd Avenue, North, Irondale, Alabama is unpaved. Third Avenue would be paved, ironically, during World War II. The Ulyss Holliman home is in the background. The automobile has a running board. And what natty dressers just returning from a trip, still in white shirts, ties and oh, those white shoes! A month or so later, Bishop would write the above letter to himself.
Next posting, the World War and the Changing Mood at Home....
Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .
Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you.
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