Guide to the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America General Secretary Records

Samuel McCrea Cavert was general secretary from the creation of the NCC in 1950 until January 1954. He was succeeded by Roy G. Ross who was general secretary from 1954 to 1963. R.H. Edwin Espy was general secretary from 1963 to 1973.

According to the By-Laws of the National Council of Churches Roy G. Ross presided over an elaborately organized staff of two hundred executive and five hundred clerical workers, usually served as spokesman of the Council, and kept in close touch with the President, who served from one General Assembly to the next. During Ross's administration the interval between General Assemblies, and hence the term of the President, was increased from two to three years. Ross served as General Secretary under presidents William C. Martin (1952-1954), Eugene Carson Blake (1954-1957), Edwin T. Dahlberg (1957-1960) and J. Irwin Miller (1960 to 1963). Miller, an Ohio industrialist, was the first lay president of the Council.

Roy George Ross came to the National Council of Churches from the post of Executive Secretary of the International Council of Religious Education, which he held for 15 years, and where he played a major role in the complex process of organizing the NCC. He began his career in the Council in 1950 as Associate General Secretary under Samuel McCrea Cavert, and succeeded him in 1954. In both the ICRE and the NCC he had overall administrative responsibility for the production of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. During Ross's tenure at the NCC the Interchurch Center was opened in New York as the permanent home of the Council and also the headquarters of many other Christian bodies. During his administration the Council experienced its greatest period of expansion, but also suffered severe attacks from right-wing critics, climaxing in the Air Force Manual controversy in 1960.

The 1970 By Laws of the National Council of Churches states:

The responsibility of the general secretary, as executive officer of the Council, shall be to provide leadership in the formulation, conduct, and interpretation of the Council program, policy and administration.
…the general secretary shall, except when time requirements prevent, present matters to the General Board through its appropriate standing or special committee for review and recommendation to the full Board...Notwithstanding such procedure, the general secretary may bring directly to the full Board any matter or recommendation which in his judgment warrants direct presentation. (IV 2 a)

Twelve more specific responsibilities are appended.

E.H. Edwin Espy came to the NCC as the final stage of a career entirely devoted to administrative work in the world wide ecumenical movement. A Baptist layman, he joined the staff of the Division of Christian Life and Work of the NCC in 1955, became Associate General Secretary under Roy G. Ross in 1957, and succeeded Ross as General Secretary in 1963. In that position he presided over the two major restructurings of the Council, in 1966 and 1972.

Espy presided over the Council throughout the stormiest period in its history to date. Although the red-baiting of the earlier period subsided, the Council achieved its highest level of involvement in the racial issue and in responding to the Vietnam War. Other major issues of the period were the Supreme Court's decision in the school prayer case (which divided the constituency of the Council), the Council’s commitment to racial justice in South Africa, and the cause of the farm workers. Distinctive also during this period was the new, deep and broad relation with the Roman Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council. In 1968-1969 the Council led its member churches in its "Crisis in the Nation" program and during the period experienced the single most dramatic moment of its history to that date with the Black Manifesto and the occupation of the Council's premises in the summer of 1969.

The Council shared in the general institutional crisis of the churches during this period, with a budget in 1973 less than that of 1963. In "An NCC Balance Sheet" prepared at the end of his tenure as General Secretary, Espy observes:

It is a puzzling paradox that the NCC appears to have better standing in certain specialized circles than it does with the general public and in the secular community than it does among church people, including the membership of NCC member communions whom it is designed primarily to serve.

The General Cabinet was "used to obtain the thinking of the executive staff on matters of general interest." Its primary functions were:

1. To provide a means for obtaining participation by members of the executive staff in the consideration and discussion of policies, procedures, problems, and related matters of general interest to the various parts of the Council. 
2. To assist in the communication and interpretation of policies and procedures and of actions taken or contemplated which are of general interest to the various parts of the Council.
3. To assist in obtaining effective coordination of the work of various programs and activities of the Council.
4. To provide a means by which key members of the executive staff may gain a broader knowledge and understanding of the programs and activities of the various parts of the Council.

The General Cabinet met monthly under the direction of the general secretary. Membership of the General Cabinet consisted of over forty members of the executive staff drawn from the various units of the NCC. In 1965 the General Cabinet became the Elected Staff Assembly. The General Secretariat was made up of those staff members who were responsible for the overall administration of the NCC and who worked under the immediate supervision of the general secretary. This included individuals such as the associate general secretary, the assistant general secretary for program, the assistant general secretary for field operations, and the director of finance. The General Secretariat met monthly on the same day as the General Cabinet. It served as a forum for communication among staff members and as an advisory council to the general secretary.

The General Secretary's Staff Conference was "used to bring to bear the thinking of the major administrative officers of the Council on policies, procedures, and problems of general interest; to obtain the advice of these officers with respect to recommendations for changes in general policy and procedures, and for the solution of problems; and to communicate and interpret to these officers decisions made concerning such matters and the basis therefore." The membership of the Staff Conference included the associate general secretary, the assistant general secretaries, and the executive heads of the various program units of the NCC. The Staff conference originally met for one hour each week, but later meetings only occurred periodically. In 1965 the Staff Conference was reorganized so that its function became one primarily of communication about the concerns and thrusts of the Council.