Conversations with Coleman Walter Russell Mead on Christian Zionism, the ‘Israel Lobby’ Myth, and the Psychology of Antisemitism
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May 4, 2026 
Walter Russell Mead, American foreign policy scholar and author, traces American support for Israel to 17th-century Calvinist theology and early Christian Zionism. He challenges the Israel Lobby thesis as historically incoherent. He explores how antisemitism arises from state weakness, nationalism, and economic scapegoating, and defends measured U.S. global engagement over isolationism.
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Colonial Protestant Roots Of American Philosemitism
- American sympathy for Jews traces to 17th–18th century Reformed Protestant theology that saw God's promises to Jews as irrevocable.
- Puritan and Calvinist beliefs turned Jewish survival into proof of Biblical truth and invited early American pro‑Zionist sentiment.
Blackstone Memorial Shows Early Christian Zionist Leadership
- The Blackstone Memorial was a late‑19th century petition urging President Harrison to press for a Jewish state, driven largely by prominent Christians and businessmen.
- Few American Jews signed it; leading industrialists and religious figures led early U.S. pro‑Zionist efforts.
U.S. Immigration Law Helped Create Israel
- U.S. immigration restriction in the 1920s redirected Eastern European Jewish migration away from America and toward Palestine, helping create the population base for Israel.
- Without U.S. restrictive laws, far fewer Jews would have ended up in Palestine by 1948.