John Nevin Sayre

The Reverend John Nevin Sayre
Born	(1884-02-04)February 4, 1884 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, US
Died	September 13, 1977(1977-09-13) (aged 93) South Nyack, New York, US
Alma mater	Princeton University Union Theological Seminary
Spouses	Helen Augusta Bangs ​ ​ (m. 1910; died 1912)​ Kathleen Whitaker ​ (m. 1922)​
Relatives	Francis Bowes Sayre Sr. (brother)
Religion	Christianity (Anglican)
Church	Episcopal Church (United States)
Ordained	1911 (deacon) 1912 (priest)

John Nevin Sayre (February 4, 1884 – September 13, 1977) was an American Episcopal priest, peace activist, and author. He was an active member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and helped found the Episcopal Pacifist Fellowship (now the Episcopal Peace Fellowship). The US State Department official Francis Bowes Sayre Sr. was his brother.^[1]

Reputation

Sayre promoted peace and supported conscientious objectors throughout the world through magazines he edited (The World Tomorrow and Fellowship), books that he wrote, and various peace organizations he belonged to or founded.

Academics

Sayre taught nonviolent techniques at the Brookwood Labor College.^[2]

Hiss Case

Whittaker Chambers's wife Esther Shemitz and her friend Grace Lumpkin worked for Sayre on the staff of The World Tomorrow magazine during the 1920s.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Later, Sayre's brother Francis Bowes Sayre Sr. had Alger Hiss reporting to him at the State Department, then declined to testify on Hiss's behalf.

References

1. "John Nevin Sayre, 93; Peace-Movement Leader". New York Times. 16 September 1977. p. 27. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
2. Applebaum, Patricia Faith (2009). Kingdom to Commune: Protestant Pacifist Culture Between World War I and the Vietnam Era. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. p. 148.
3. Lumpkin, Grace (1995) [1932]. To Make My Bread. University of Illinois Press. pp. introduction. ISBN 0-252-06501-8.
4. Chambers, Whittaker (1952). Witness. Random House. pp. 265–266. ISBN 0-89526-571-0.
5. Weinstein, Allen (1978). Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case. Knopf. pp. 91, 96. ISBN 0-394-49546-2.
6. Lee, Janet (1999). Comrades and Partners: The Shared Lives of Grace Hutchins and Anna Rochester. Rowman and Littlefield. pp. 153. ISBN 0-8476-9620-0.
7. Meier, Andrew (2008). The Lost Spy. W. W. Norton. pp. 373. ISBN 978-0-393-06097-3.

External links

• Episcopal Church - John Nevin Sayre Award (1979)
• Swarthmore College - John Nevin Sayre: Records, 1885–1982; (bulk, 1922–1967)
• Thomas Merton Center - Thomas Merton's Correspondence with: Sayre, John Nevin, 1885-1982
• Pennsylvania Center for the Book - John Nevin Sayre
• New York Times - Marriage Announcement (November 17, 1913)
• FOR - 85 Years of the FOR
• FOR - Noble Endeavor: Memoir of FOR in the 20th Century
• FOR - Living in an Extraordinary Time
• FOR - Is War Good for Nonviolence?
• Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF)
• An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church