(Swans - November 17, 2008) For people trying to understand the
bankruptcy of American liberalism, there is probably no better place to
start than The Nation magazine. I first began subscribing to The Nation
in the 1980s when Reagan was in the White House. As a general rule of
thumb, the magazine is more readable when a Reagan or a Bush is
president. During the Clinton presidency, The Nation directed most of
its fire at “threats” to his presidency from the likes of Newt Gingrich
rather than seeing the war on the poor as a joint Democrat-Republican
project.
In 2003, after seeing one too many attack on the radical wing of the
antiwar movement in the pages of The Nation, I decided to write a
rebuttal to what I described as its “tainted liberalism.” My research
revealed that from the very beginning, the magazine was hostile to the
kinds of grassroots radical movements celebrated in Howard Zinn’s
history — especially under the stewardship of the founding publisher and
editor E.L. Godkin. In 1978, an unstinting biography of Godkin written
by William M. Armstrong appeared but The Nation understandably decided
not to review it. After having read Armstrong’s book, I have a much
better handle on where the magazine came from.
Like the demented uncle or aunt kept secluded in a Victorian attic, The
Nation has kept mum about E.L. Godkin. The last time an article about
the founder appeared in its pages was back on July 22, 1950. Written by
Columbia University historian Allan Nevins, “E.L. Godkin: Victorian
Liberal” is a mixture of fact and fancy. It is notable for its
patronizing attitude toward black Americans, a trait strongly identified
with The Nation’s tepid brand of abolitionism in the 1860s.
For Nevins, among the tasks confronting Godkin in 1865 was how to deal
with “four million ignorant, destitute Negroes.” Along with fellow
founding board members including Frederick Law Olmstead (the architect
of Central Park), they gathered money to launch a new magazine with the
“bewildered black man at heart.” While Nevins was critical of Godkin’s
“denunciation” of trade unions seeking an eight-hour day, he was still
considered more “truly liberal” than other followers of John Stuart Mill
and the Manchester school. Specifically he “desired Washington to do
more for the education, economic betterment, and political training of
the Negro.” Reading Nevins, one cannot suppress the feeling that he is
talking about convicts in need of training programs to help prepare them
for life outside of prison.
full: http://www.swans.com/library/art14/lproy50.html
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