Another thing about Machen's letter to his mother that is being overlooked is that he told his mother that if the student in question stays in the dorms he would leave and find another job. He also said that he was having active conversations with Warfield about the issue.
The reality is that Princeton remained integrated and Machen didn't leave until he was fired 19 years later in 1929... over the modernist controversy. He then went on to found an integrated seminary and then an integrated denomination 9 years after that in 1938.
It's far more remarkable that Machen shirked his tendency towards segregation and went on to found conservative integrated theological institutions in the 1920's-30's. For a man raised in the south during the late 1800's THAT should be the headline.
Warfield clearly rubbed off on him and later in his life he said this about him.
"Nearly everything that I have done has been done with the inspiring hope that Dr. Warfield would think well of it. I feel very blank without him. He was the greatest man I have known.”
"Nearly everything that I have done has been done with the inspiring hope that Dr. Warfield would think well of it. I feel very blank without him. He was the greatest man I have known.”
I think it's more than likely that Warfield actually convinced him on this issue... and that worked itself out in his future endeavors as an academic, an administrator, and a churchmen.
