Swiss11 and Dutch national leaders instigated their own campaigns for moral re-armament. The Dutch call was signed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, the Chief of the Naval Staff, the President of the Supreme Court and a number of former Ministers and Governors of the Dutch East Indies.12 Queen Wilhelmina described this Call to her foreign Minister as 'a campaign against defeatism'.13 The Queen issued a Personal Word to the Nation three weeks later emphasising that 'our civilisation, even though undergirded by the reinforcement of our military strength', could not avoid destruction without 'the conviction which has been expressed in this call for moral and spiritual re-armament'.14* When King Leopold of the Belgians made a state visit to Holland, he spoke of 'the rapprochement and co-operation of our two nations' developing and gaining solidarity and strength 'in the service of this ideal'.15

(* Whether the Queen realised that this whole campaign had originated in Buchman's speech in East Ham is not clear.)

Public support for Moral Re-Armament in Britain was growing. Seventeen national trades union leaders, including the current and three former Chairmen of the Trades Union Congress, wrote that it 'represented the dynamic spirit of the best of the early Labour leaders and it must be recreated'.16 Groups of civic leaders and journalists, and thirty-seven top sportsmen, followed. Fourteen prominent Scots17 and the leaders of cities like Liverpool18 joined in. On Armistice Day the Earl of Athlone and six others* wrote of the readiness of Britain throughout her history 'to meet recurrent crises with the courage each demanded'. 'But the spiritual crisis remains,' they continued. 'Nation and Empire must stand or fall by our response to that call. The choice is moral re-armament or national decay.'19 The call was taken up by the Governor-General of Australia, Lord Gowrie,20 and by national leaders and the press in many parts of the Commonwealth. On 10 October Buchman wrote to King George of Greece, 'Moral Re-Armament is becoming a rallying point for the democracies to give an answer to the taunt of the dictators that democracies have no plan.'21

(* Admiral of the Fleet Sir Osman Brock, Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, the author Ian Hay, Lord Howard of Penrith, Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice and Lord Rennell of Rodd.)

The idea of Moral Re-Armament had, in fact, caught the imagination of many leaders, who saw in it the expression of an essential requirement for the preservation of peace. The urgency of the situation impelled many people, known and unknown to Buchman, into action. He had nothing to do with the letters themselves, and Patijn among others thanked him for his readiness to stay in the background.

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