The cardinal convinced President Manuel L. Quezon to renounce Freemasonry for Catholicism in 1934, served as papal legate to the thirty-third International Eucharistic Congress in Manila on January 1, 1937, and participated in the conclave of 1939, which selected Pope Pius XII. On behalf of American Catholics during World War II, he once stated, "Like our fellow American citizens we will do our utmost to protect our country by winning the war, and ... to that end we place at the disposal of our government everything in our possession". Dougherty later served as papal legate again to the National Eucharistic Congress in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 8, 1941. During his thirty-three-year tenure as Archbishop, he oversaw the establishment of 106 parishes, 75 churches, 146 schools, seven nursing homes, seven orphanages, and Philadelphia's Cardinal's Residence, since sold by the archdiocese; he became known as "The Great Builder" for these efforts.