Protestant Pope.

By the middle of the decade Eugene Carson Blake was sometimes laughingly referred to as the "Protestant Pope." He seemed to be everywhere. In 1956 he was elected stated clerk (executive officer) of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. (Northern), the largest Presbyterian body in the United States. He served in that position until 1966, when he became the general secretary of the World Council of Churches in its Geneva office.

National Council of Churches.

He served as president of the National Council of Churches from 1954 to 1957. Not only was he one of most prominent church bureaucrats of the period, he wielded significant influence among American Protestants. His sermon proposing a consultation on church union among the mainline Protestant churches set a decade-long ecumenical dialogue in motion. He was active in the civil rights movement and was a featured speaker at the...