Editorial Note: The period of Shoghi Effendi’s stewardship as Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith was from 1921 to 1957, the year of his death. Prior to his passing in November 1957, Shoghi Effendi appointed twenty-seven Hands of the Cause of God charged with the propogation and protection of the Faith. Through their efforts the election of the first Universal House of Justice was called in April 1963. At that time this supreme administrative institution of the Bahá’í Faith was elected by the fifty-six existing national administrative bodies, in accordance with provisions in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Through a series of global teaching plans, begun in 1953, the Faith had spread to more than 300 countries and significant territories and islands by 1970.