ABSTRACT
The socioreligious movement called "Mankind United" was the creation of Arthur L. Bell, an American businessman. From the middle to the late 1930s California, deep in the depression, was overrun with Salvationist schemes. Into this highly competitive but permissive market, Bell introduced Mankind United. When speculation about America's entry into World War II flourished in 1939, and again when war came to the United States in 1941, Bell condemned it as another of the Money Changers' plots to worsen humankind's situation. The best defense being offense, in the face of declining membership and government prosecution, Bell adopted a bold but logical organizational strategy to save and consolidate his movement. Late in 1945, the attorney general of California began to receive complaints from members who wanted their worldly possessions returned. The state initiated bankruptcy proceedings, but Bell, in order to retain some control, countered by throwing Christ's Church into voluntary bankruptcy.
