Tests and Trials.

For many, the 1930s were a squalid decade, introduced by financial collapse that threatened the foundations of the nation and ended by the threat of involvement in wars in both Europe and Asia. The streets were filled with ragged men, women, and children through most of these years. The American economic and political systems teetered on the verge of collapse, and even when they were righted and the nation moved on, there were many on both the Right and the Left who insisted that the changes that had occurred were a mistake that would lead to disaster. For many, religion fueled their emotions and supported their arguments, as when in 1932 the General Assembly of the Northern Presbyterian Church resolved that "there is nothing more obvious than that the present economic order is now on probation and its continued existence and justification must be found not in the wealth produced or the power gained, but in its...