50 years since Sun Myung Moon told America to wake up in his “America and God’s Will” speech at the Washington Monument rally
From the large rally at the Washington Monument on 18th September 1976 with a sprawling crowd of 300,000 attendees. Photo: FFWPUFifty years have passed since an extraordinary event took place on the grounds of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., on 18th September 1976. An immense crowd, estimated at 300,000 people, gathered under the late-summer sky to hear a message that was both a stern warning and a profound declaration of hope for the United States. At the center of this historic event stood Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012), the founder of the Unification Church. He delivered a powerful and unforgettable speech titled “America and God’s Will”. Today marks the 50th anniversary of this monumental rally – a moment that remains a defining chapter in the history of modern religious movements and American public discourse.
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The rally at the Washington Monument served as the grand finale of a trilogy of major public speaking events that Father Moon held in the United States during the mid-1970s. This strategic public campaign began at Madison Square Garden on 18th September 1974 and continued with a massive, highly publicized event at Yankee Stadium in June 1976.
Originally, the Washington, D.C. gathering was intended to take place several years later, allowing the movement more time to expand and consolidate its resources. However, riding the immense wave of momentum and spiritual energy generated by the success of the first two rallies, Father Moon made the bold decision to accelerate the timeline. Consequently, the rally in the nation’s capital was organized just over three months after the Yankee Stadium event.
The choice of 18th September carried an immense, deeply personal, and providential significance for Father Moon. Exactly thirty years earlier, on 18th September 1946, North Korean communist authorities took the already imprisoned Sun Myung Moon out of his cell and began to brutally torture him in the prison in Pyongyang because he had attempted to secretly send a message to a Christian leader who was in another cell.
The torture was so severe that Sun Myung Moon hovered between life and death for several days. He survived only in what was described as a miraculous manner. On 21st November, his disciples found his battered body cast out in the snow outside the prison walls, more dead than alive. For Father Moon, standing before hundreds of thousands of people in the capital of the free world – on that exact date, three decades after his near-fatal torture – was an ultimate victory of faith over oppression and a testament to God‘s protection.
From the crowd at the Washington Monument rally on 18th September 1976. Photo: FFWPUIn front of the sprawling crowd of 300,000 attendees, Father Moon delivered his core message. He emphasized that the United States had not achieved its wealth, power, and freedom by mere historical accident. Instead, he declared that God had consciously chosen and blessed America to serve as a model nation with the mission of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
This blessing, however, carried an immense global responsibility. Father Moon maintained that the Unification Church and the United States must work together to realize God’s purpose in the work of salvation. He warned the nation against turning inward or becoming complacent in its material wealth. America’s divine mission was not merely to save its own nation, but to take on the task of saving the entire world and creating “one world under God”.
The first of 11 full-page newspaper advertisements published in The Washington Post and The Washington Star between 5th and 18th September 1976. The campaign was conceived by renowned advertising executive Stephen Baker. Photo: FFWPUIn one of the evening’s most memorable metaphors, Father Moon described his sudden and impactful arrival in the West not as a foreign intrusion, but as an act of absolute necessity. He characterized himself as a firefighter rushing to a house engulfed in flames, or a doctor hurrying to treat a critically ill patient – someone who had come from the outside to help America. He declared that the teachings of the Unification Church, which are absolutely God-centered, contained the power to awaken America and create a model of an ideal nation. The situation was marked by immense urgency, which he underscored with the dramatic words:
“America must wake up today! Tomorrow may be too late!”
Father Moon viewed the United States as the nation representing the entire world in the era of the Second Coming. In 1976, it had been exactly 200 years since the founding of the United States. This Bicentennial coincided with the conclusion of Christianity’s 2,000-year history, making 1976 a prophetically and historically unique year.
Because of the great success of the three major rallies in the mid-1970s, Father Moon declared that God’s work had now been accelerated by several years. He considered the necessary conditions for a global victory to have been established. Even though this took place in the midst of the Cold War – a time defined by deep ideological division – he was already looking far beyond the political barriers of the era. He boldly declared that one day, in the future, he would organize a major rally for God in Moscow itself.
Fifty years later, the Washington Monument Rally is remembered as a peak moment of the public ministry of the Unification movement (Unificationism) in the West. It stands as a striking testament to the scale of religious mobilization in 1970s America. As we reflect on this 50th anniversary, the core themes of that historic September day – spiritual renewal, global responsibility, and the call for a nation to look beyond its own borders to serve humanity – continue to resonate as a powerful reminder of the long lines of history.
See also The Kingdom Within
See also The Inner Kingdom and the Outer Kingdom
See also Beyond Escapism: Making the Kingdom Real
Text: Knut Holdhus, editor
Featured image above: Sun Myung Moon speaking at the Washington Monument rally on 18th September 1976. Screenshot from video by FFWPU, improved resolution by Grok xAI, 17thSeptember 2026.
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