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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

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
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), 171202CrossRefGoogle 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), 387402.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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9 NR, 1 (7 11 1914), 3Google Scholar; Allen, Lafon, “The Great Primary Humbug,” NR, 7 (20 05 1916), 6567.Google Scholar

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26 Dewey, , “American Education and Culture,” NR, 7 (1 07 1916), 215–17Google Scholar; Dewey, , “Experiment in Education,” NR, 10 (3 02 1917), 1516Google Scholar; Bourne, , “Continuation Schools,” NR, 7 (10 06 1916), 143–45Google Scholar; Bourne, , “Education as Living,” NR, 8 (5 08 1916), 1012.Google Scholar

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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

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

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

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

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68 Weyl, Walter, “Planless Demobilization,” NR, 17 (30 11 1918), 125–27Google Scholar; “Harness Off,” NR, 18 (15 03 1919), 204205.Google Scholar

69 “The State of the Union,” NR, 23 (19 06 1920), 3032Google 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), 201202Google Scholar; Lippmann, Walter, “Unrest,” NR, 20 (12 11 1919), 315–22.Google Scholar

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

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78 Croly, , “Disordered Christianity,” p. 138.Google Scholar