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The Dream of Scientific Liberalism: The New Republic and American Progressive Thought, 1914–1920

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

James A. Nuechterlein
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Extract

Over the years, historians have engaged in various disputes concerning the origins, nature, and results of the progressive movement that dominated the political imagination of Americans during the first two decades of the twentieth century. No one set of categories has dominated those disputes, but much of the controversy has focused on a fundamental tension in progressive thought: the conflict between a liberalism centered in humanitarian and moral passion and one based in an ethos of scientific analysis.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , April 1980 , pp. 167 - 190
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1980

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References

1 Since this is not an essay in historiography, no effort is made here to cite the extensive and diverse literature on the subject, except where directly applicable.

2 Although for reasons of convenience and coherence the essay focuses on the New Republic, it assumes that the views found there represent accurately the ideas of a substantial number of progressive thinkers. Students of the period are all familiar with the journal's influence, part of which was reflected in the writers it attracted: a list of the New Republic's contributors for the period forms a virtual roster of the Anglo-American political-intellectual establishment.

No small part of the journal's influence came from its excellence. George F. Kennan, the scholar and diplomat, has summarized well the editors' achievement: “In point of sheer literary excellence alone, these men had no superiors among their American contemporaries. In addition, they were able to muster among them a catholicity of interest, a depth of perception, a seriousness of concept, a tolerance, and a good taste that placed their collective effort in the foremost ranks of English-language journalism of all time” (“Walter Lippmann, the New Republic, and the Russian Revolution,” in Walter Lippmann and His Times, eds. Childs, and Reston, [New York, 1959]).Google Scholar

3 For other views of the relationship between progressivism and the New Republic see Bourke, Paul F., “The Status of Politics 1909–1919: The New Republic, Randolph Bourne and Van Wyck Brooks,” Journal of American Studies, 8 (08 1974), 171–202CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Forcey, Charles, The Crossroads of Liberalism: Croly, Weyl, Lippmann, and the Progressive Era, 1900–1925 (New York, 1961)Google Scholar; and Noble, David W., “The New Republic and the Idea of Progess, 1914–1920,” Mississippi Valley Historical Review, 38 (12 1951), 387–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 “A Government Plea for Health Insurance,” New Republic, 7 (29 05 1916), 55.Google Scholar Unless otherwise noted (references to the New Republic are hereafter cited as NR. Where no title is given, the reference is to an untitled editorial.

5 “What Is Opinion?” NR, 4 (18 09 1915), 172.Google Scholar In order to avoid excessive citation, references that are not to a specific quotation will be kept to a minimum and will be representative rather then exhaustive in nature. In all cases, however, care has been taken to convey the New Republic's dominant attitudes as accurately as possible and to avoid the use of idiosyncratic or unrepresentative comments.

6 “The Retirement of Mr. Bryan,” NR, 2 (13 03 1915), 140.Google Scholar

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8 Editors' foreword to Kittredge, Mabel Hyde, “Taking Care of Belgium,” NR, 3 (31 07 1915)Google Scholar, special supplement.

9 NR, 1 (7 11 1914), 3Google Scholar; Allen, Lafon, “The Great Primary Humbug,” NR, 7 (20 05 1916), 65–67.Google Scholar

10 Cohen, Morris R., “Shall the Judges Make the Laws?” NR, 3 (15 05 1915), 31–33Google Scholar; ibid. (5 June 1915), 105; “The Supreme Court's Power,” NR, 10 (31 03 1917), 250–52.Google Scholar

11 “The Bill of Rights Again,” NR, 1 (17 04 1915), 273.Google Scholar

12 NR, 1 (7 11 1914), 5Google Scholar; “The Spoken Message,” ibid. (5 December 1914), 11–12; “Executive Leadership,” NR, 4 (14 August 1915), 31–32Google Scholar; “Majority Rule,” ibid. (21 August 1915), 58–60; “And Congress,” NR, 10 (10 03 1917), 150–51Google Scholar; “The Future of the Presidency,” NR, 12 (29 09 1917), 234–36.Google Scholar

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15 “Elihu Root,” NR, 2 (27 02 1915), 90–91.Google Scholar

16 NR, 1 (5 12 1914), 4Google Scholar; ibid. (9 January 1915), 7–8; “The Steel Trust Case,” NR, 3 (12 06 1915), 137–38.Google Scholar

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18 “The Radical,” NR, 1 (26 12 1914), 6–7Google Scholar; Weyl, Walter, “Equality,”Google Scholaribid. 1(23 January 1915), 13–14; NR, 2 (13 02 1915), 30Google Scholar; NR, 7 (15 07 1916), 264.Google Scholar

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22 “The Republicans and the State Constitution,” NR, 1 (28 11 1914), 7–8Google Scholar; “Training for Public Service,” NR, 7 (8 07 1916), 240–41.Google Scholar

23 Lippmann, , “The Puzzle of Hughes,” NR, 8 (30 09 1916), 213.Google Scholar

24 “Democratic Control of Scientific Management,” NR, 9 (23 12 1916), 204–205.Google Scholar

25 “Organized Labor on Education,” NR, 7 (6 05 1916), 8–9.Google Scholar

26 Dewey, , “American Education and Culture,” NR, 7 (1 07 1916), 215–17Google Scholar; Dewey, , “Experiment in Education,” NR, 10 (3 02 1917), 15–16Google Scholar; Bourne, , “Continuation Schools,” NR, 7 (10 06 1916), 143–45Google Scholar; Bourne, , “Education as Living,” NR, 8 (5 08 1916), 10–12.Google Scholar

27 “Catholicism Contra Mundum,” NR, 8 (2 09 1916), 104–106.Google Scholar

28 “Father Blakely States the Issue,” NR, 7 (29 07 1916), 320.Google Scholar

29 “Catholicism Contra Mundum.”

30 “Father Blakely States the Issue.”

31 McAfee, , “Can Christianity Tolerate the Church?” NR, 17 (18 01 1919), 331–32.Google Scholar

32 “Preparedness—A Trojan Horse,” NR, 5 (6 11 1915), 6.Google Scholar

33 Lippmann, , “Integrated America,” NR, 6 (19 02 1916), 62–67.Google Scholar

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35 For good summary statements of the New Republic's pre-1917 attitude toward the war, see NR, 6 (26 02 1916), 100–104Google Scholar, and NR, 7 (3 06 1916), 99.Google Scholar

36 NR, 10 (10 03 1917), 148.Google Scholar

37 “Beneath the Outcry,” NR, 9 (30 12 1916), 232.Google Scholar

38 “A Victory of Justice vs. A Victory of Power,” NR, 16 (5 10 1918), 271–73.Google Scholar

39 “Hypotheses vs. Certainties in International Politics,” NR, 17 (11 01 1919), 298.Google Scholar

40 “Why the President Did It,” NR, 17 (2 11 1918), 3–4Google Scholar; Croly, Herbert, “Victory Without Peace,”Google Scholaribid. (11 January 1919), 301–303.

41 “A Victory of Justice vs. A Victory of Power,” p. 272.Google Scholar

42 “The Meaning of Reconstruction,” NR, 17 (14 12 1918), 182.Google Scholar

43 Croly, Herbert, “The Future of the State,” NR, 12 (15 09 1917), 179–83Google Scholar; Croly, , “oCounsel of Humility,” NR, 13 (15 12 1917), 173–76Google Scholar; “After the War—Reaction or Reconstruction,” ibid. (19 January 1918), 331–33; “Bureaucracy in the Making,” NR, 16 (24 08 1918), 94–96.Google Scholar

44 “Labor and the New Social Order,” NR, 14 (16 02 1918)Google Scholar, special supplement.

45 “The Nationalism of the British Labor Party,” NR, 16 (17 08 1918), 63–65.Google Scholar

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52 The journal did, however, occasionally publish articles by those totally uncritical of the Bolshevik regime. See, for example, Ransome, Arthur, “An Open Letter to America,” NR, 15 (27 07 1918), 371–77.Google Scholar

53 “For and Against the Bolsheviki,” NR, 14 (6 04 1918), 280–82.Google Scholar

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56 Ibid.; Don Levine, Isaac, “The Russian Crisis,” NR, 13 (15 12 1917), 181–83.Google Scholar

57 “Our Case Against the Soviet Republic,” NR, 19 (2 07 1919), 263–66Google Scholar; “No Where to No End,” NR, 19 (16 07 1919), 343–44.Google Scholar

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It might be noted that the New Republic never made clear just how the Allies could help and sustain the Russian people without also helping and sustaining a Bolshevik regime which was, after all, openly and actively sworn to the violent destruction of all existing Western governments.

63 “The Pivot of History,” NR, 17 (16 11 1918), 59.Google Scholar

64 NR, 18 (29 03 1919), 257–58.Google Scholar

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66 NR, 17 (30 11 1918), 114.Google Scholar

67 “Peace at Any Price,” NR, 19 (24 05 1919), 100–102Google Scholar; “Will the Republicans Save the League?” NR, 20 (24 09 1919), 215–17.Google Scholar

68 Weyl, Walter, “Planless Demobilization,” NR, 17 (30 11 1918), 125–27Google Scholar; “Harness Off,” NR, 18 (15 03 1919), 204–205.Google Scholar

69 “The State of the Union,” NR, 23 (19 06 1920), 30–32Google Scholar; Croly, Herbert, “The Eclipse of Progressivism,” NR, 24 (27 10 1920), 210–16.Google Scholar

70 Niebuhr, , “The Twilight of Liberalism” (letter to editor), NR, 19 (14 06 1919), 218.Google Scholar

71 Lasch, Christopher made this point some time ago in The American Liberals and the Russian Revolution (New York, 1962).Google Scholar

72 Weyl, Walter, “Prophet and Politician,” NR, 19 (7 06 1919), 173–78Google Scholar; Dewey, John, “The Discrediting of Idealism,” NR, 20 (8 10 1919), 285–87.Google Scholar

73 “The Republican Victory,” NR, 24 (10 11 1920), 252–54.Google Scholar

74 “Terrorism,” NR, 19 (14 06 1919), 201–202Google Scholar; Lippmann, Walter, “Unrest,” NR, 20 (12 11 1919), 315–22.Google Scholar

75 “The Expert and American Society,” NR, 15 (4 05 1918), 5–8Google Scholar; Croly, Herbert, “A School of Social Research,”Google Scholaribid. (8 June 1918), 167–71.

76 Croly, , “Disordered Christianity,” NR, 21 (31 12 1919), 138.Google Scholar

77 Ibid., 136–39; Croly, , “A School of Social Research,” p. 171Google Scholar; Croly, , “The Obstacle to Peace,” p. 407Google Scholar; Croly, , “Regeneration,” NR, 23 (9 06 1920), 40–47.Google Scholar

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