Oswald Garrison Villard and the Politics of Pacifism

Oswald Garrison Villard and the politics of pacifism

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Citation Thernstrom, Stephan A. 1960. Oswald Garrison Villard and the politics of pacifism. Harvard Library Bulletin XIV (1), Winter 1960: 126-152.

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1~-ron.v,if honest hi:;tory continues to be_,vritten, ,vill have one question to ask of our generation,' Archibald ~1-acLeish ,vrotc in the Nation in l\1a:yof r 940. \\ 7hy~ he ,,,ondcrcd~ had Amcricats intellectuals failed to rise to the chalJenge of Fascis111,Yith ~thearms of scholarship and ,vriting? It is a question the histor ians ,vi l1 ask ,vi th j n terest - th c gent1 e, detacl 1ed, not alt ogcrher

lo, 7 jng jntercst ,, ..ith ,vhich historians have a.hvay·squestioned the im- potent spirits of the dead.' 1 Less th an a rn on th nfter 1'11 cLcish's ind ictm en t of 'l"'hc Ir ~csp onsi- b lcs' 1nct the eyes of A1nerican Jiberal jnteUectuals, the Nation quietly· announced the resignation of one of its ,veekly columnjsrs, an angry crusading old n1an ,vhose energy and influence n1udc hin1 a central .figure in the n1oral<.:risjs that shook An1crican Iibcralisn1 at the end of the Great Depression. Editor of the "J\Tatio11in the nventies and early thirties, Os,l..-aldGarrjson \ 7illard ( 1872-r949) ,vas the prophet of a great revolt against militarism in An1erica. For a tin1c, his pacifist vie,vs seemed to coincide ,yjth those of a ,,,hole generation of articulate Americans, and \ 1iUard bcca1ne a 111ajo1·spokesn1an of--avride c1imatc of op~nion. Soon, ho,vcver, the Fascist cha11engeto ""\Vcstcrn civilization .sl1a.tt crcd th c 11.nti-v.rar coalition, 1caving \ 7 ii]a rd iso1a ted t a 1ien a tcd

from his life-Jong friends 1 in1potcnt~ He ,vas part of the great Ari1cri~ can pacifist tradition, .strctchi11gfrom ,,,.illia.n1 Penn through ,:;a.lilliarn Lioy-dGarrison and Jane Addan1s, finding expressiontoday jn Norn1an Thon1as and A. J. J\1ustc. 1-Iis]ifc of agitation is a case history .. in the politics of pacifisni, and his failure offers tragic con1ment on the failure of a tradition. 2

1 1 11 Archibald l\·1acLdsn! TJ1~ Trrcsponsibles 1 A1atio11 1 CL ( 18 A-fay 1940 ), 618. 2 The fund .unc-ntsl .~ourcc of this Study Ji~s b c:cn th c rj ch collection of th~ papers of Oswald Garrj!;;OU ,!jllard presented by his f.a.tnily to the H~rvard Colkgc Library in H)jO, the year foUowing his death. AH quotations from \'ilbrd's unpublished correspondence arc dra\1itn from this coHcction. l ~m indebted to Professor Arthur i\1~Schksjngcr, Jr, -and Dr l\1arvin Rine-alafor their c:;1reful critidsn1s of an earlier draft.

J 2 6

I ..PORTRAIT OF A PACIFIST: THE EARJ~Y YEARS

1 Os\val d Gar rj son Vi 11ard,' I-Icy\\!o o d Ilrou n o nee obser v c d c) 7 Tiical- 1y, 'js the product of an interesting experiment .. His grandfather ,vas -an abolitionist and his father a railroad 1nagnate. As far -usthe re- searchc~ of science have gone~ the rule seenls to be that ,vhcn yon cross 8 abolition blood ,vith railroad stock )7 0U get a liheral.J \ 1illai::-d,vas a rnan of tnany causes. A founder of the National As- sociation for the Advanccn1cnt of Colored Pcople1 a tireless publicist for frec trad ct -a sorrleti n1cshr il Ii:]n t observer of th c Europe an seen c1 an earnest advocate of social ,vclfarc legislation at ho1ne, his credentials as a liberal rcforn1er ,vcre uniinpeachable." But, above all, Os,vald Garrison ,Tillard ,vas a pacifist. 'Each one of us has his pa.ran1ount issue/ he noted. (1\1ineis this question of ,-var and peace and the saving of civilization.' 5 To l1i1n,vio]cncc in any for1n ,vas incompatible ,vjtJ1 the vcr}Tidea of civilization .. '~'ar ,vas the su- pren1e and ultimate evi], to be avoided at all costs. Beneath all of Vil- lard's concrete arguments about the consequences of ,var and the strategic position of the United States \Vasal,vays this ethical core. It ,vas a faith the terrib]c realities of the t,vcnricrh century never destroyed. Although he did n·ot call hirnse]f a pacifist until ~theSpanish-,i.-\~ncrican '''ar~ VHlard had been exposed to anti-militarist vie,vs fro1n early childhood. Fanny Garrison , 1il1ard, his n1other, ,vas a pioneer of rhe peace n1ovcn1cnt in An1crica, and his father, Henry \TjUard, 1njght be descrihcd as a pacifist fcllo\v-travclcr. A still more in1port2nt influence ,vas grandfather 1~'i1liatn Lloyd Garrisont ,vho preached both aboli- tionisn1 and abstention from violcnce. 6 Vjllard~s correspondence re-

!: l\'ation~CXLI\T ( 1 i A prjl 193, 7) 1 437. ' Vil brd 1s vi ta] con trj huLions. to the negro rights mo vc.nl c n t re traced in F]j nt KcUogg 1s '\ 7i!l~rd and the NAACP, 1 Nation, CLXXXVIII (14 Fcbrua'ry 1959), 13 7-r40 . .'..1'lation, CJ{LHI ( 1 o October 193 6) ! 420. 1' The t,vo d octrin c~ n1ay seetn d iffi cu] t to reconcil c~ and it c.1nnot be said that Ga rrhon c vcr succe edcd in doing so. His attitude tO\Vard the Ci \Til"\ Var he hd pc d to b ri r1g on j s still in dou htL While \ 7il lard ahva ys d enicd it, it see n1s evident that Garrison supported die ,v" r by def au] t, "f hat is1'he so1ncthncsignored it, sorncti1ncs de plorcd iti but thought the a Loli donist ca use v:o rt h figl lt ing for L ViHa rd h1rnsclf e\Tadc d the agon iz.ing I} u csti on the Civil \ \' ar posed £or t 110 pacifist def ender of neg ro rjghts, His Jol;n Brown: A Biography Fifty Years After (Ne'-'' York~ 191 o) treated BrCnTcdly condemned Rrov.·nts rc-col]rscto violenc.:o. The book contains no hint of VHlard's ans·wer to the

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), r28 fl arvard Lih rary Bulletin veals that he frequently thought of hirnsclf as a 1attcr-dny Garrison, heroically doing battle against the .l\.1ilitar}rPo,ver rather than the Sla vc Po, ver. J-Jjs est irnare of Garrison) s stature is vivid]y rev ca led in the reference he ·once n1adc to (the one road to spiritual ...sanity 1vhich js opc1~ the rond of peace and non~resistancc oudincd clcar]y by Jesus., Garrison, Tolstoi~ Gandhi, and ... others .., 7 The feverjsh years of the Spanish ,~ 1-ar,in \Vhich Vjllard first did sotne serious thinking about An1crjc~n foreign po1ic)r,.,vcrc decisive for hin1. He ,vas then ,vorking for the New York Eveui11gPost., o\vncd by his father., as ,v-asthe N{(tio11. E. L. Godkin edited both, and it ,vas Godkin~s free-trade, anti-,var libcralisn1that bccan1e the foundation of \ 1illard's po1itical philosophy. Young ViUard's idol., Carl Schurz, opposed the Yvnr ,vith Spa.in;Godkin opposed the ,var; Vi]lard opposed the ,var passionately. I-le later forgot hin1se]f so n1uch as to express the distinct! )7 non-pacifistic judg1ncnt that 'President A·IcKiniey·ought to have been shot ,vith hjs entire Cabinet for putting us into an unneces- sary· ,var ,vith Spain4' Four decades Jarcr he \Vas to sec the sa111eold brutal expansionist spirit in the arguments of the pro-interventionists. \\ 1hat ,va.sthe real difference benvecn Senator Beveridge's 'n1arch of the Flag' and the '1nissionary· capitalis1n,of I-Ienry Lucc~s vjsion of 'the A1ncrica11Century'? But despite Spain and Panan1a, Santo Domingo and Nicaragua, the

7 1 ) Cars prior to \\'orld Y\ 2r I ,vcrc full of promise. 1"'hcyoung manag- jng editor of the Evening Post.,firn1 jn his faith in the essential good- ness of hnman nature., had a vision of a ,vorld free from poyerty and \var~ Peace \Vas in the air. Nearly· 1 i500 international conferences-on subjects relating to the prevention of ,v·ar \Vere held bcti.vccn r 889 and 1914/~

ob,Tious question- \YaS :5hvcry a greater cvjl th~n the ,\·ar thnt lholid1cd it? -rior-

1,vas\Tj 11ard e n~rto offer 8 Il f + 'T ,rilbrd to Dr Ralph V+ G1lhcrt, ii l\·1ay 1939. \:Vhilc \rilla.rd oft~n JC1voked Chrjsrian jmages, his religjous vic, 1.1s,vcre unorthodox. I-le nc\·cr joined a churchj never _mentioned organized n.iligion i11 his bull~y ~utobiogr::iphy, FigfJting r ertrs: A1c'Juoirs of a Liberal Editor (Nc\v Yorki 1939}. The tcrn1 ~christfa.n hl11uanisrn' sugge~rs the nature uf hjs rdjgjous convicdons a~ \~·cH ;1s any. He permitted Charles Francis Potter to use his nan1c in connection \l:ith some of the acdyitics of th-e First Hum~ nist So cicty of N C\V York. Sec V fl Ia rd to Potter, 2 o I\1a re h 1936. !! ,rj Harel to J.. ~,vis l(. Underhill, 2 o A prj l 192 5. T hj s period is trei ted extensively

in frighting Y cnr.r. The book fa rjch ,vith matedal 1 though rcgri:!ttably skhnp)' on cv ent~ of the t\ven ties and th irrj ~s.

"'t-\l lan A. K uu isisto 1 ~Th~ lnflucn cc of th c Nation :l l Council for the Pre \:reodon

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Oswtlld Villard and tbe Politics of Pncifim1 I 19 These ,vcrc Os\vald Garrison \Tillard's politically formative years, and they shaped his \Vorld vje,v in cruciaUy important ,va.ys. The politicai figures he 1nost ad1nired all his life - Richard Cobden, Vi/illiam J.Joyd Garrison,, Grover Cleveland; Carl Schurz - ,verc all clas- sic nineteenth-century· lihcrals.. \Tillard's 'favorite quotation' f rotn Cob- dent ,vhich he used again and again, ,vas the dictum that 'free trade and peace arc synony1nous/ 10 The nineteenth-century flavor of \ 1il~ lard,s thought found striking expression in a con1mcnt he n1adc in 1939. Interventionists had argued~ in reply to Villar

Nineteen-f ou rte en shattered the easy optimism of the nin ctccnth- century· ,voi"ld ,vith one ha1nn1erblo\V. \Tillard \Vas appalled at 'the unholy slaughter' of the European cataclys1n~ y·et his hright dreams of the pre-\var years ,vcre not ,vholly· dispellc.d.Indeed, he announced; the ,var provided a 'glorious opportunity ... for that mora1 lcadcr...- ship of the \V-orld\vhich ..... has ahvays been A1nerica"s. > 12 Fanny Garrison ''illard ga\Tc her son a model i1nage·of ·the 'moral leadership" he hungered for ,vhen she led severa] thousand ,vo1ncn clad in black do,vn Fifth Avenue in an anti\v_.arpa.rade. One of his most cherished 111cn1orics.,this provided the standard against ,vhich he 1ncas- ured '\~7oodro,v '-''ilsonr 1:\'hcn ,~7ilson asked Congress for a declaration of ,var on 2 April 19·17, Villard recalled: It ca1nc nearer to unmanning me than anything jn my life. For I l{newt as I kne\v that I lived, that this ended the rcpub1ic as ,vc had kno,vn it; that henceforth ,vc An1ericans ·,verc to be part and parce1 of ,vorld politics, rj valrics, j ealou sies i and mllita rism; th at ha tc, pre ju dicc, and passion ,vere no,v enthroned in the United Statcs.18 · A ,veek later., \Tillard -announced his position on the i.vur in a letter to of '''ar on United States Foreign PoJicy!-, 935-1939/ Ph. D. thcsj5, l:I~rv;;i.rdi95 5, p. 10. H \i iHard to Char] es C. Piekcrt, 1 7 July 1940. 11 Villard, Our .Atifitary C/Jaos (Ne,v York, 1939) 1 p. 47.

]~,rillatdi GenJ1m1j' E'lnhntt.led: An An1ericanlnterpretatjon (New York, 1915) 1 p. 165. , :i~ Figbti11g Years! p. 314~

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), 130 H flrvttrd Lib r{TTY B 11l letiu Wi]sonts secret~ry.. ~Believeme,' he said grjn1lyr 'I -am ready for any con ccn tra ti on can1p, or conscription can1p, or prison, but ..I am 11ot at ,v11rand no one can put nic~into ,var,___:...not the President of the United States \Vith ~n his po,ver. 1\1y·loyalty to An1crican traditions and ideals rend~rs that jmpossiblc.t 1" · A nation at ,var is never a con1fortablc place for n1cn ,vho are not at ,var. And a United States at ,var ,vith GeJ111any,vas doubl)r un- pleasant for pacifists of German origin like Vil]ard. 1l The. trau1na of these bitter yc~rs fixed Villiardts anti-,var convictions so deeply that nothing - not even Hitler could shake them.. Ti1nc after time in his correspondence and published ,vritings he returned to ,,rorld \\ 1ar I.. It \Vasthe .detern1ining experience of his }jfetirne, the faHfrom Eden into a. ,vorld of po\vcr and terror. The Liberty Loan speaker \vho de- manded dollnrs to kill Germans until none ,vcre left bec~usc 'the Ger-. mans .... are the snakes of the hu1nanr~ce and n1ust he starnped out,' the director of the Ne,v York Philharmonic ,vho carnpaigned against the playing of all n1usic by Gern1an composers, the irate neighbors ,vho t~ought it outrageous-that the \ 1illards kept their dachshund Fritz during such trying times: these in1ages of·the Great \1/ ar , v ere burned in to \Ti 11ar d's consciousness for ever ..1 r; . It ,vas then that he conceived one of his lifelong passions- a con- su1ningJ self-righteous! ~ln1ost pathological hatred of ,~7oodro,v "\1/ilson, the n1an ,vho had sacrificed Ani'crican dcn1ocracy at the shrjne of Big Busincs~and the n1ilitarists. ''il1ard contemplated a biography of v\li]son, he once told Allan Nevjns in all seriousness,.that he hoped to entitle 'The ,,, or]d,s Greatest Criminal.' 17 · If An1crican entry into the ,var ,vas a disaster, \ 1i11ardfound the peace even ,vorsc. 1"his ,vas 'the crime of Versailles/ ~the Great Be- trayal..' \ 1illard trav~lcd to France to cover the conference., and as soon as the treaty ,vas published the Nation leaped to denounce it as a

monstrous sin against humanity.. A scorching protest 1 attributed to Vil- la.rd but a.ctunlly \vrittcn by v\1i1Haml\.1acDonald, ,vas printed in the issue for r7 J\1ay 1919 under the title of ~The fvladnessat Versailles~;

u \fiJlard to Joseph Tumu]ty, 13 AprH 1917; Fig];ting Y .ears,p. 3i5t· sho\\.'Sso1uc differences in ,\·ording~ . is Heruy \TilJard came to Arnerica from Gcrnl::1.ny ~-ftcr the aborli\'e rc,To]ution of 1848~ and ucca.111cft natur:.t11zc,lcitizen. Os-u·ald '\-\·asborn in Germany- whi]e the famHy ....v~s ,·ncat1oning there in 1872. ·

i,, A 11of these incidents are descrjbed in Figbting Years1 pp. 3 i 7-330. j~ VHlard to Nevins, :4 J:anuarv 1929,

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), 0 swaJ d Vi Ilard an~ t be I>o l i tics of I' ac i fir1 n \TiHard later ,vrote .of it that (no more po,vcrful or prophetic editorial ever appeared in Tbc Nation or) I somctjmcs think, in any· other jour- nal.' ~s

II. 'l\1EES1'£R ''EELSON) AND THE 'l\IERCHANTS OF DEATHl

The relative tnerits and den1erits of the\' cr.saillcs Treaty arc still in hot djsputc, but in one sens~. that Nation editorial ,vas prophetic in- . deed~ Rightly or ,vrongly t a ,vholc generation of A1ncrican intellectuals can1c to accept \'il1ard,s v~rdict on \\'ilson and the \var. N~nned editor of the N atiou in 19 J 8, \Tillard qqickly n1adc himself a dominant spokesn1an for the hitter])' disiHusioncd Jiberals of the t\venties and early thirties. 10 The anti-111i1itaristspirit found Jiterar)r exprcs~ion in books like E. E~Cun1111ings' Tbe E11or111ousRoau1, Dos Passost Three Soldiers, I-Ietn- n1ing,vay".sA FareweJJto Ar111s.The compressed savage brilliun~e of Dos Passos' sketc I1 of ''l\1 ecstcr Ve elson' in I 9 1 9 ca pturcs t 11e1 na.r ro, v of the ne,v liberal attitude: \~lith the: help of Ahnigbty God, Rigbt, Trutb, Justice~Freedmn~ De- 1uocracy't tbf! Selfdete,_,1ni11ationof Nations, }·lo i11deunlities110 nn11e:xatio11i, and Cuban sugnr and Caucasian n1angoncscand North~vcstern ,vheat arid Dixie cotton, the British hlockadc, General Pcrshingi the taxicabs of Paris and the scvcnty6ve gun \Ve ,von the ,var~20 Such vie\vs ,vcre buttressed by a barr-a.geof historical ,vritings produced by the 'revisionists' during the post,var period. John i\1aynard Keynes had exposed the terrjble 'Economic Consequences of the Peace' -asearly as November 1919, and no,v Charles Beard, ,_\'-alter. .i\1iilis,E. L. Borchardi and others argued persuasively that An1erican intervention had been a disastrous error~~1

Jt Fighting Years, p. 458. :i.? Robert E.. Osgood's ldeah nud Self-Interest in Auzericat.s-1-~oreJgnRelations (Chicago, 195 3 ) provides a villuab] e sketch of the i cHcllc c:t ua J i ·which Vjl-

lard operated. A disciple of H~ns Morg:antha.u 1 O.~good is ,vhoHy unsympathettc to

p-acifis1n, ~n d th is s01neti n1es makes hi 111do 1css than j u sticc to \1"i1 latil, Osgo o cl con M eludes that Villard's ~uncon1pro111ising idei:lfom1, his doctrinafre perf ectionisnl and utopfa.nisn1 1 played 1~ forge role in post\\Tar disillusiomncnt f.!nd jn the paralysis of nti.tjonal nction during the turbulent events preceding World \Var IP (j~. 2.90), ~] ohn Dos Pa~~os, 1919 (Ne\\·' York, 1932 ),. p. :z46. ::;:: See Selig A dlcr]s vfl1u~blesun 1 cy, •The,,, ar-Gl1ilt Qoesdori and Amer jean Dis- i!lusionnu:mt, c918-1928/ ]01lr11alof Afodern H istoryt XXI11 ( 195r ), 1-28.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), 1 3 2 Harvard Library Bulletin The revolt against militarisn1 ,vas expcrie~1ccd,vith special excite- n1cnt by college youths of the pcriod4 Jurries ,vcchslcr suggests the flavor of those days of peace pe6tions and -anti-ROTC strikes in telling of his student )Tearsat Co1umbia~One morning in 193 3, his A1ncrican history prof cssor camc to the point in his 1e ct ure ,v here he ,,.,.-asro dis- cuss An1crican entry · into ,vorld ,;var I. "\i\1hcn he said) ' "and then the United States entered the \Var,') the class hissed ,vith beautiful spontaneity4 It ,vas a remarkahle and inspiring dc1nonstrationt' ti1ought ,~lechsler. The lecturer then con11ncntcd: { ~'If )rou)re hissing no,v,

\Vait tiJl I tell you ,vhy ,ve entered the ,var. j' ' 22 In this invigorating cli111atc, Os\v:a.ld Garrison \iilJard's Nation 1nuckraked the military and crusaded for total disarn1ament. Virtual- 1)7 every discussion of A111crican foreign policy that appeared in the magazine bristled ,vith references to 'the Great Betraynll of 1917., 'the crime of Versailles,' the futility- of -any American 1ni1itarypar- tic ipatio n in European affa.i rs. Fu 11 pro111in en cc ,vas gi vcn to any· in- f orma ti on that n1ight suggest that base cconon1ic considerations had m otivatcd the Arncrican declaration of ,Yar. The conception of international po]itics advanced by the Nntion during the years of Villard's editorship ,vas one that left its readers highly skeptical about the lvisdorn of cooperating ,vith Englund and

France on matters of foreign poJiC)7 • These ,vere not tbe democracies,

but the 'aristocratic., capitalisr1 irnpcJ::jalist' den1ocracics., as mi1itaristic and pu,ver-mad as any other countries. 23 "\\'ar \Vas only the clash of

rival in1pcrialisn1s1 and A1ncrica~s task ,vas to stay out of such clashes. '''hen asked ,vhat country had been n1ost responsible for ,,, orld ,,rar I, \Tillard once replied furiousl)~: Th cy ,vc re a11 gu il cy as hell, Gcrina nsi Austrians,, Russians~ French and Engljsh. They had been planning for it and they got ,vhat ,vas con1ing to then1j and ,ve ,vere the biggest asses ever to go in as ,ve did under the insti- gation of an absolutely lying Britjsh propaganda and pull their chestnuts out of the fire for nothing. 2f This is not to say that \TilJard"'sNntio11 ,vas a purely isolationist or- g.an. Three strcan1s that ran together to 1nakc up the Tivcr of anti,var scnrin1cnt in rhe early thirties can he distinguished. On1y· one of these ,vas strictly isolationist in character~ The pure isolationist be]ie,red

2::1James '''echsle.r, Tb~ Age of Sus-picio11(Ne,v York~ 1954)t p. 48. .:i~ l\r,1tion, CXL \ 711 (2 July r938)1 18. 21 V'illard to EllJcrt Ii. Rakcr-tJO J ~nuary 19t6T

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Oswald Villard and tbe Politicsof Pac:ifls,11 133 that A1ncrica. had no ca.use for imeddling in European affairs' as she had in \\rorld "\\'ar l. ~c opposed attempts to involve An1erica in sch e n1es for inter national organization and co operation, and gen cralI y· fa.vorcd policies of 'cconon1ic nacionalisn1'- European pay1ncnt of ,var debts, high tariff barriers, and so foith. Charles nnd l\1ary Beard, Gera1d Nye, Burton Wheeler, and the La Follettes fall into this category-4 A second stream 1nay be labeled 'disiHusioned internationalism' or 1pscudo-pacifis1n/ -Liberals of this type bccatne so disillusioned ,vith '''ilsonianis111 for a tin1c that they tended to talk about Ellropcan af .... fa.irs in sceming1yfoolationist terms. Horrified at the carnage of the First '''orld 17\'ar.,-appalled at the political coll-apse of Europe that follo,ved iti they rejected nH 111ilitary111ethods until the rise of Fascism thrust home the full price of pacifism. They ren1ainedgenerally sym- pathetic tO\Yards the l... eague of N ation~i and sup ported various interna tio na l conferenccs and free trade policies, for their ultin1atc as~ sun1ptions about Amcrica~s relation to the ,vorld ,vcre not so very dif- ferent from those of "\\1oodro,v Vlilson .. 1'1ost liLcral intellectuals re- nounced thcjr revolt against mi]itarisrn by the late thirties~ and those that did - l\.1Iax J..~erncr.,Freda Kirch,vcy,. 11/alter i\1illis, and Le,vis l\1umfor

id eali stic~ cooperative spirit of pa ci fis111. Y ct, in th c uItim atc er isisI the pacifist values peace above all else, and the threat of ,var inevitably drives American pacifism to,vards outright iso1ation1s1n. These three groups could live together harn1oniously under one big anti,v:ar tent until the cri~is years of tl1e n1i

.!.::'; Figbting Ye11rsfp~ 71~ Ch~.rlcs :and .l\.·1i;:ryllcard, \\rho thc,n:sch~cs exercised enormous influence over the n1ind!=iof An1edcan jntclkctuals of the pcrjod, happily- s~unnladzed the in1pact of tbc Nye inquiry ii1 these ,vords: ~ny disclosing the secret 1ncthods and the economic

hac kg round~ - the interests I actt vi ti es1 and p re.ssures - of the ,vi I~on regi 1ne., the 'j:\T}'C comm ittcc injected realistic lnow ledge into the c onsidcra tion of d yn-an1 ic fore-es

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), 1 34 Harvard Library Bulletiu ings ,vere conducted by a·n isolationistJand publicized both by pacifists Iikc Vi 1lard and d isiJ1 u sione d interna ti on a.listsIi k e Lerner. But even \vhi]e Senate isolationists ,vcrc making revelations that epiton1izcd the revo]t against n1iUrar1sm,Hitler and l\1usso]ini ,vere dri11ing the troops that soon \Vere to shatter the peace of Europe - 2nd the anti\v~r coalition in An1erica. The logic of events ,vrcnchcd apa rt the th rec s trean1s of liberal ant 1,var sen thnen t. I sDlatiot 1ists held firm to their old vic,vs and resisted Rooseveltts progra1n of aid to the besjcged dernocracies. JV.lostArnerican liberals~ pseudo-pacifist since \T ersaillcs~ discovered that their deepest conyjctions about \Var and p~acc coincided ,vith 1-h·oscof the President, and they follo\vcd his leadership. Pacifists ,vere torn bct\vccn their ideal of universal brother- hood and their fear of A1nerican involvcn1ent in another cataclysm, but cvcntuaHy they ,verc forced into the jsolationjst ca1np~

IIJ. THE IRON HEEL Os\vald Garrison '\7illard con1pleted a study of the '''ein1ar Repub- lic in November of 1932, f 011r n1onths bcf ore the ~azi Revolution. Germany ,vas no,v in grave danger, he reported in Tbe Gern1a.11 Pboe1ii.r:.Dcn1ocracy there ,vas in 'nvilight,' though only -

sha pj ng f orcign p n] id cs. . • . the popo la r id ea of W as the pure id caJjst ,vho vvcn t to ,var for the sole purpose of ~.1vi dc1nocracy ,v~s shattered b cyan d repair. C.Oul

M \Tillard 1 Tbc Gern1.111PfJaeni:r: Tbc Story of tbf? Ger111a11 Republic {Ne\v York, 1 i93 3) 1 pp. j:'i'1 111, 12.0. \rill a rd first advanced the conce11tionof 't\V() Gcn1lanics in Geruumy E1nbtt:tled ( 19 I 5). The Gorn1~np~nplc \l'(ffC huinanc, progrcssivci crcati,Tc~ 1.,ut th c 'cnr jched cb sscs'.Ihad 11n itcd bel ii nd the J{ a iscr and the Junkers to tr j ck Germany into a bioocJy ,,.T.a.rthe nrnsses did not Vr'ant. Even in 194oi ,ve shaH s:ee, Villard \Vas.certain that only Hider and n handful of underling~ r'-!~IJyfa\'orcd Ger- min

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Oswald Villard and tbe Politics·of Pacifis1n r 3 5 Hitler's ·iron heel soon ground the life out of the Gern1an Republic and began to n1enace Gcrn1any, s neigh hors. But Vi ]lard's interpretation of National Socialisn1 as u response to the jnjustices of \t crsailles rcjnforccd his pacifis1n)and n1ade hin1 doubl) 7 hostile to policies that could lead to An1cricnn 111i]itary.support of England and Franee. \ 1illard's vie,v that Hitler ,vas the creation of the Allies and his total rejection of n1ilitaf)7 means of containing National Socia]isnl should not., ho,vcver,. be confllsed ,vith an attitude of con1placent blindness to the Fascist n1cnace. Pacifisn1 is not necessarily· passivi~n1.,and fc,,r Americans ,verc as profoundly a\varc of the evils of Hitlerisn1 2s ,vas

\ 7illard. As earl)T as September 193 31 he had this chiUing perception: 'That [Hitler] is 1nercly sparring for ti1i1ebefore he· goes to \var is, I thiiik, absolute1y certain. The question is ,vhcthcr there shall be preventive n1casuresno,v, or the ,vorld shall calmly a,vait the inevitable.~ ~8 The United States, he urged, should have ,vithdra,vn its an1bassador in protest ,vhen 1-Iitlcr overthrc,v the ,vcimar llcpub]ic. Every aggressjvc move by·Gern1any., Japan 1 and Italy brought force- ful conden111ation from \ 1i1Iard.. The 'preventive measures> he en- visaged included a ,vidc variety of techniques for holding an aggressor in check~ diplonu1tic pressures and protests., propaganda ain1cda.t sepa- rating the .Gennan people f rorn their govcrn1ncnt, even economic sanctions. Sanctions, of course, \Vere rjskJr ·n1casurcs, but ''illard cannot be devised boldly... jnsisted that "'if son1cmeasure short of ,vnr . . . ,ve arc at_the n1crc)r of the creators of ,var .. The position of the dictators ,vas highly unstable, \!i11ard thought~ and they could_be forced to capitulate if fir1n action ,vere taken..- · ~he Leaguers fatal failure to prevent oil ship1nentsto Italy after the Ethiopian invasion~ and the consequent brcakdo,vn of its .sanction program dre,v bitter denunciation fro1n Villard. England and France had been 'hypocritical/ 'co,vardly/ ~stupid.".so Hitler's reoccupation of the llhineland provoked \ 1iHard to issue a ringing appeal for tunity,

:2E-\ 7illard to Jalcnry J. HasKell~ T5 Scptc1nher H)3-3- J\lation, CXLI ( 25 Septcrr1Lcr J 93.5-),343. It should be pointed out that Vi Bard's advoclcy of sanctions usually involved nction by the League of J\s:-ations,=tnd the United Sta test of course, \Vas not a 1ncn)bcr. While \7"jllard did favor American econon1ic boycotts ~gainst aggressors in cxtrcn1c circumstanc~s, he \Vas quite un- ,viHing to take risks that ,,·ould~ in his judg•ncnt, impair Anwrican Dcutrility. He favored an ~11-out uoycott of Italy~ for c:xarnp1e,but not a prognun of posith·~ aid to Etl1iopia (N atiou, CXLI., I 5 Scptcn1hcr 1935, 343); see also Fr;lnk H. Simonds' rebuttal, N ntion, CXLI ( 9 Octuber J 935), 408-409. ti~ N tttion, CXLlll ( 18 July z936), 74.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Harvard Library Bulletin vigor and forcefulness, on the part of the AHics, and he even caHcd for 'a united front' again~t Gennany·4 31 .As late as October r93 7~\TiJlard rc1n=1inedaggressivel) 7 internation- alistic in his n1oralisn1.1i\ 1hilc peace groups took Rooscvc]t's Quaran- tine Speech as clear evidence of his ,var1nongcrjng, \ 1illard applauded it as a superb exan1plcof Garrjsonian moral protest. He devoted a

colurnn of praise to the speech1 2n

Italy struck at Ethiopia in .h1a.y·193 5, and America's response ,vas tl1e First Neutra]iLy Act - a piece of legislation that revealed the over- ,vhc11ning anri\var .scntin1cnt of the country~ but that also prodnc~d i01 po rta nt divisions j n liberal o pint on. \Tilla rd \Vas an enthusiastic supporter of the .neutrality 1neasure~· He confessed that 'sentitncntally 1 he ,vould like to sec the President em- po,vered to send arms to Ethiopia, but it ,vou1d he 'far s'Jfer' to n1-alce n e u tra lity 1nand atory. Econ o n1ic sanctions against Italy by th c Lcagu e and an A111ericanboycott ,vere desirab]e, Villard thought, but an ironclad refusal to ship supplies to any bc]ligercnt ,vas the crucial nc ccssi t)r. a-1:

~t Pi."ation,CXLII ( 1 April 1936) 1 416. :::~\ 1illard to Juhn l-Iaynes Iiohncs, 6 October 1937+ ~:i \ 7ill:ird stepped down fron1 the Niltion editorship in Janu8.ry 1933j continuing on :ls the author of a ..veeldy cDlnmn, 'Is~mrs :;111dl\1en.' The periodical ,v:.:1sr-un jojntly

hr \riJlard, Freda Kirch\vcy 1 Hey,vood Broun, lVl:ix Lerner~ and some. others for a

tin1e 1 but j\1iss Kirch\i,.·cy soon ca1ne into full conuol as edkor and publisher. The editorial po1icy of Freda J{irclnvey's l·l r,tiou enables the historian to trace the shifting attitudes of disillusioned internationalists, \vhilc •vjlJard's ·wccl.:lyc:o]umn o.ffers a good i ndj cariou of rhe v.ie,vs of An1cri t:a n pacifists at any g j .,_.cmn i 01n-cnt• .[IL \THIa rd to the Foreign l10Jicy Assocfationt 2I October J 935.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Oswald Villard and tbe Politics of PacifiS1n r 3 7 The question of \vhcthcr or not the President should be given dis- crcti onar y po, vers that , vou] d enab 1 c hi rn to dis er in1inate b et\V cen ag- g ressors and victims in the app1ication of the Neutrality Act bccan1e the focn.s of dehatc. It ,vas on this is~ne that the Nation shifted its stance and supported Roosevelt. The magazine had given fllll pllblicity to the Nye Comn1ittec activities of that year, and it sti11held that econon1ic pressure from the business class had ~riven An1crica into \Var in 191 7.. But no,v the ,vor}d ,v2s so highly interdependent that the United States could never stay out of n Europ(:an ,var, the Nation belie,red. Therefore \YC should 'accept our responsibility in creating and maintaining a ,vorld systcn1 of collective security./ and tnandatory neutralit}T legisl2.tion,vas incon1pa.tible ,vith the principle of collective security~ Such a systcn1t the }-l atio-n ,Yas quick to insist, ·\"1{as to be en~ fore cd so1 c 1y by 'econ on1i c and financial san cti ons against aggressors.' .".~ "f-he use of An1eric2n 111i1itary·po\ver ,vas not contempla.ted:t and the 1',Tatio11,vas to remain opposed to rear1namcnt for another three years. Y ct it \Vas already clear that its 'pacifis1n',vas dubious~ ]?or the Nation, as for many American liberals, opposition to military action ,vas a pragrnatic decision ra tl 1er than an u 1ti n1a re moral c 01nmitme n t~ The true depth of the differences bct\vccn Villard and the Nation remained hidden for .some years. The President exercised no strong leadership jn foreign policy; hence tl1ere ,vere fe,v conc.:rctelegislative proposals around ,vhich differences could cryst~llizc. The 1936 and . 1937 neutrality ..can1paigns 2gain pointed to\vards the abyss th-at divided \TiHard fro1n the Nation, but the fact that the Fascist threat ,vas not yet defined primarily in n1ilitary terrns clouded the issue. At the 5an1c time, a careful reading of the Natiou reveals a subtle but n1arkcdshift in the mood of its discussions of foreign affairs~ Edi- torials ,vith titles like {Pro~Fascist N cu tra1ity' and 'N eutr~lity i\-1akes ''-'ar, begin to creep in by 193 7. The argument that a \vholcsalc rejection of tnilitary methods encourages aggressors to s,vallo,v llP their neighbors ,vithout fear of retaliation is frequently advanced. Reinhold Niebuhr, ,vhose nco-Calvinist liberalism \Vas the antithesis of \ 1illard's innocent idealisrn, begins to contrihutc his devastating critiques of pa ci.fi.sn1. The Spanish Civil \\ 1ar did rnuch to dcn1olishthe '!vicrchants of Death, interpretation of international politics. \J;,1hile Villard and the

Nationt CXLI (i8 Augu.~t1935), 229.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Harvard Library Bulletin ·

30 Nation could agree on a policy for An1erica 1 the· Nation's sy1nbols and imagesof ,Yar undenvent drastic revision no,v that Good ,vas .so clcarlJr opposed to Evil on the battlefield. George Or1vell ha.s called attention to the breath-taking e2se ,v1th \vhich Eng]ish radical period- icals abandoned their debunking theory of ,var for -ai\var is glorious~ line after the outbreak ~f the Spanish,yar, and the Nation experienced a so1ne\1i.-'hatsirni1ar tr.an.sfonnation. ~7 The syn1pathy· for the Soviet Union dcn1onstratcd by the Nation's staff contJibutcd importantly to the periodical's n1ove to,v·ards miii~ tant popuiar front intcrnationa1ism. ,~/hile never a true believer in 'the Russian experiment/ \TiHard had once felt that the U. S. S. ll. ,va.~making gradual progress to\vards f rec jnstitutions. ~~fhe entire

transformation of the social life of the 140~000 1000 Russlans,vas ,vhat fascinated' hitni he confessed~ He traveled through Russia in 1929t and ,,,.as an influential supporter of rcnc\ved con1n1ercial and diplo- ma.tic intercourse bct\vccn the U. S. and the U. S.. S .. ll. ""\~1il1iatn C. Bu1litt once told ViJ]ard that An1crican extension of diplon1atic recognition to the Soviet Union ,vas "as 1nuch due to your cfforts to pro1notc sanit) 7 in this country as to the efforts of any other hu1nan being.' But'" by the n1id-thirties.,\Tillard repeatedly equated Hitler and Stalin, and he thus ,vas unab]e to vic1v the clas~ brnveen Germany and Russia as anything 1norc cJcvatcd _thana po,ver struggle ·bet\veen t\vo b1oody dictators. &s The "Plation's editorials, in .~harp contrast, proclai111edthat '19 37 Is Not 1914' for one crucial reason. An1crica had foolishly j11tcrvened in a ,var het\veen itnperialist po,ve1·s in 1917., but the current struggle bet \Veen Fascism and "democracyJ \ vas of -anen tj rely d iffere n t ch arac..:ter

ao Both were shar11l y crj tica] of the Amer j c~ n c,n bargo. Vi] Iard recond led his opposition to n cutml ity in the Sp:1nish conflict ·with his genera] :a.d\Toca.er of neu trn1 ity 1egfal-:nionuy denying that lhi.s \\'as truly an international conflict. To put Franco on a bel1• gcrcn t status cq u al to that of the R c puh l ic nn go, 0 er nn1ent "'ou] d IJe to djs_ tort the fund:inicntals of internrttion0.l l=t"i.\',he be1ieved. Even pure h:ubtioni~ts like Sen<1tor Borah i o d Ch~r }es Ilea rd o pposcd A 1neric an neu tra 1i ty in this cisc, Sec Foster Jay T$.yloi-.,T·bc V'llitad Stnte! and tbe Sp(lnfrb Cirvil JVar (l\.,.cw· "\"ork, 1956),. pp. I 14-12 5, 13g---140(n. 33). ~, OnvdPs ch-ssic ess~y 1Luoldng Back on the Spanish War' js in his Collection of Rss(lys ( Garden City, N. \1'.~ 1954 )~ For evidence of the N~tion.,s ne\\· cnd1::.nt-· 1nc.nt ,v-ith military action, see the Jyric rcvit,v of John Somrncrficld's Volunteer iu Sp{l.inin CXL \r ( z7 No\Tember l937 }1 593· 1 .. Fighting Y £1rrs1 p. 353. lVillb.n1 C. Bl1Hitt to ,-illard~ 2-3 NovemLcr 193 3, \ H- lard to Jnhn Haynes liol11ics, 6 October 1937.. Vor a very- ear1y pctccption of the dangers of Soviet turnlit:arianismt see ''iUard to I-Iutchins Hapgood) i 9 f\tiy 19r9. ·

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Oswald Villard and tbe l)olitics of Pacifis-,n 139 because DO\V'the greatest social experiment ofour ti1ne~,vas in mortal danger. Therefore t~e 'deadly parallel' iso]ationistsand pacifists found so terrifying ,vas not -a true parallcl. 00 Even the old assun1ption about Vlorld "\Var I itself ,vas becoming unacceptable to the Nation. Louis Fischer, considered (significantly·) the 1nagazineJsspecialist in Russian affairst announced that 'jt js one of the greatest fallacies of American political thinking to suppose that \Ve ,vent into the ,var in 191 7 chicfl)r· because J..P. ~\.Iorgan had invested in the AHics and ,vantcd to save his investtnents.' \~le actually had in- tervened~ it see inc d, b cca use 'the intercs ts of th is conn try , verc pro- 40 AUy 4 ,vc could never have allo\vcd Gcrn111ny to ,vin the ,var., T, vo decades of disill usi o nn1ent and revolt ,verc over. This ,vhole movement of liberal opinion, ,vith jrs consequent polar-

ization of pa cifi~t and· psc ud o-pa cj fist group s1 \ vas eptomi z.ed in an in- cid cn t that took pince in 193 7. ln telling of a s1na.llparty ,vith certain of -hisold friends \'illard ,vrote~ cDid I tell you that I ,vas in a group of people like f\1orris Ernst, Arthur Garfield Hays.,!vlax Lerner and Harold Laski last Spring in ,vhich Ben Huebsrh and I ,verc the only ones ,vho dissented from the proposition that the United States must go to ,var if necessary to defend the dcn1ocracics of Europe against Hitler and l\-1ussolini (not against Stalin}? Ten years ago everybody there ,vould have heen opposed to any more ,var.' 41

IV. T 1-1E Dn ..EM h-1AS OF PACIFISM

]n Januar) 7 193 7., Norman Thomas penned a tortured e.t;saycalled 'The Pacifisfs Dilemma' for the Nation~ The harsh fact, he 2d1nittcd, ,vas that there ,vere t\"\'O tota.1evils in the ,vorld ,var and Fascism~ 2nd it nu,v began to seen1 tha.t 'resolute and effective opposition to l~ascisn1means \Var.' 12 · \ 7illard \vas sonlc\vhat s1o,vcr in a,vakening to the cruel dilemma that conf ranted hin1t and in a certain sense he never did. But the dark cven ts of the 1ate thirti cs did at 1east force h itn to rev ea.l son1e 2ssuni p- tions he hnd previously kept hidden,. -and to modify or abandon others. The relentless logic of po\ver pressed in on the Americ.:anpal:ifisr ,vith

Article by I. F. Stone, 1·lation! CXLV' (6 November 1937)1495-497.

0 ' N(ltioni CXLIV (27 l\1:arch 1937)1 348. n \Tilhrd to John Haynes Hohncs, 6 Octob~r 1937~ 1~ t,lationj CXLI\T ( 16 J3nuary 1937 ), 6li+

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), \

Harvard Li hr «ry Bulletin ever increasing force dudng these yearst ,videning the fissure jn the An1erican Iibcral 1110 vctncnt. It "\VO ul d not be 1vho 11 )r just to a.ccu sc VilJ rd of shccr ir res ponsi b iiit) 7 in his foreign policy recommendations of the car1yand n1idd]ethirties. ,Vhile his faith ,vas na.i've, and his appreciation of political difficulties aln1ost nonexistent., \ 1illard' s tirades again st the di eta tors had been accon1panied by· specific proposals for diplon1atic action. A more determined stand by the .democraciesmight ,veJI have severel) 7 ham- pered Hitler and J\111ss0Iiniin the early years. But by· the end of 1937, as Chamber Jain and Daladicr grasped alI too clearly, it ,,,-asobvious that a nation that pushed a ,vcak hand too far had to be prepared to have its bluff called~ ,,n[ard ,vou1d not yet concede this~hut some subconscious sense of the poverty of pacifisn1 111ayhave crept into one column he ,vrote then. ~The castigation of offenders by the most 11nmodcrate Janguugc and by non-intercourse/ he affirn1ed,\Vas an adequate solution to the problen1of F ascistn. Co"uld it have been the pa.the.tic feebleness of such a device for dealing \Vith I--Ifr]crthat inspired his cvange]ical conclusion: ~on,vhat side do you ,vish to fight, friends? 1'-'ith those ,vho ,vorship might and barbarism,. or those ,vho stand ,vith the-angels and have an abiding faith in hu111an nature and a better ,vorld?' "'a \Tillard had been a merciless critic of the cautious appease1ncnt policies of England and France. But such appeasement.,of course, ,vas the 1ogicaloutco1ne of "\1illard's o,vn princip]cs, once it ,vas granted that your opponent ,vou ld march if his dcn1an d s \vere 11ot satisfied. Enrl y in 1938, in a rare n1oment of sclf-cxan1ination,Vil]ard adn1ittcd to an Eng1ish friend_that the pacifist position reduced itself to the fact that \vc arc ganlhling on Hider's being un,villing or unable to fight.' 4·1 The disrnc1nbcrn1cntof Czechoslovakia a fe,v days Jater ,v2s a thun- derbolt. 'No event except our ent.1')7 into the "\¥ orld ,,, ar' had given hin1 a greater shock, Vinard ,vrote. 4 ti "\~lhilche still could not be1icve that "Hitler ,,rou]

13 'f..7t1tio111 CXJ ...\! ( 6 Noverr1her [937 ), 505 . ..Ii \ 1ilhnl to Sa K. R-atdi{fe, t 3 August I 938.

45 NatiO'J11 CXL,r11 ( i4 Sc.ptcmber 1938 ), i99.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Oswald Villard and the Politics of Pacifis111 141 blocked several years ago by a united front, threatening not ,var but cc onon1ic pressure, non-in tcrco ur.sc.ll 46 After J\1unicht even a Villard found it difficult to believe that ccon..- omic and diplo1na tic measures alone could protect Europe from the Fascist o ns]aught. Alb ert Gu crard raised the in escapa b Ie question in a pointed letter to Villard, printed in the Nation for 18 Februat}r 1939~"If you adopt agairL~tan aggressor nation certain i'n1easures short of ,var"''; if these measures prove so eff cctive that the aggressor n2tion wi11actually-- be hu1npcrcdby thctn; if the aggressor nation sends you an ultin1atum to ,vithdra\v those n1casuresor fight; ,vhat ,vill yon do?' Villard squirmed in an attempt to avoid both horns of the dilemma., saying that he ,vould neither ,vithdra\v the measures nor fight. But the core of his position ,vas exposed only· in the final paragraph of his reply. This (uncalled-for question" ,vas just not relevant to the problem of America, Vi11ard\vrote indignantly., because ~neither Gcrn1any·., nor Japan nor 1tal y, the so-called aggrcssor nations, could 1nakc ,var upon us ivhatever \Ve did to thc1n." 41 For n n11n1bcrof years Villard had resisted the pressure~ driving him to,var ds outright isolationism. But n o\v, as this resort to American in-

su lari ty dcmonstrates1 its his concern for the f~te of n1ank ind be ca.me increasingly· subordinate to his fear of American involvement in· a European ,var. AB early as 193 7 he had gone so far as to represent the American people as saying: "A plague o" both )7 0llr houses, \VC arc going our o,v n ,va y.' 4:-9 Passages of th is character app ear \Vi th f re- q u ency jn his columns and correspondence by 1939. Perhaps the n1oststriking evidence of Villard,s retreat from Europe is the iH-timed statement he made just a month before the Blitzkreig smashed into Po]and4 'The people.,"\ 1illard dech1red in an open letter to President R oosevcl t, 'a.re ~a.yi ng that they ,v ish you ,vou 1d turn y~our eyes a,vayfrom Europe, cease annol1ncing that ,var is just at hand over there, cease joining Engl and and Franc c in their great po,ver-po]itics game of seeking to maintain peace b)r overa,ving and bluffing the dictators.' ()O

tl!I Natfon., CXLVII ( 15 October 1938)~ 38L Hence Munich v/aS not a fa.ilurc of p3 ci fi sm., but ::i.f ~ih1 re to ppl y pacifism. n Nation, CXT.:VIII ( 18 rcbruar;r 1939) .. 205. ~11No re g 1so the pp lien tion of the adj ccti ve 'so-called' to the term ',aggressor nations .1 lt i~ deeply revealing of what \Vas h~ppcning to \Tillard. 'f.l ntion, CXLl\r (:2 J ~nuary I 937 }, 19. M Nation, CXLIX (5 August 1939), 149.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Harvard Library Bulletin Part of the pacifises ditemma ,vas thus resolved for Villard. If An1crican n1ilitary action ,vere essential to save Europe, he ,vould abandon Europe. The So,1"iet-Gern1annonaggression pact meant that worJd ,var ,vas incvitablet \ 1illard ,vrote fron1 London late jn August, 1939. Its lesson for An1erica? More thnn ev-er ,ve must keep out of the ,vho1erevolting European n1css, out of this conscicncc1csspo-,vcr~poljtics gan1cl and free ourselves from the delusion that ,vc have got to back England and Fn1nce in order to save democracy for the ,vorld .... ,~le have J)roblcn1senough on our o,vn hnnds ,vi thou t taldn g on th osc of others. si

E1:1rope'stroubles ,vcrc not A1nedca1s, and it ,vas 'America First. 1

V. AMERlCA I?rnsT T,vo years elapsed before Anterica ,vas dravtn into the ,vhirlpool of ,var, and clur ing these yt ars Os\ vald Garrison \ 1il1a rd f on g ht his last great fight against militarism. He ,vas an old 1na.n no,v - nearly seventy~ and his health ,vas poor. I-le sa\v ~1is beloved Nation -and many· of his oldest friends in the ca1np of the cnemyt ,vhilc n1uch of his ne,v support came fron1 illiberal groups he had spc.nt n1ost ·of his life attacking. But he struggled stnb bornly on, convinced that An1crican ·participation in the S ccond 1~lorld \1/ ar ,vo uld n1ean the death of evC1)7 higher value for ,vhich he had lived~ · Vi]lard,s ·P.la.tioucolumn ,vas suspended ·in Juneof 1940,r-;2 but he contin1:-1cdto publish a prodigious amount of anthvar material.· He contributed a ,veekl y colurnn to a sixtcen-ne\vspaper syndicate that included the Detroit Free Press, the Treuton Tin,es, the A1ia·n1i Herald, and the Akrou Beaco11-Joururll.I-Iis articles appeared regu- larly jn the l'rogressi·ve and the t,bristinn Century,,sporadically in the . .

~l Natia11t CXLTX ( i September 1939 ), 247~

Jj~ In A1~y his five-year cor-itract ,vith the Nation had e]apscd. 'Issm~sand l\.,1en' ,vas so candnuously and so sharply at odd., with the trnigazinc?sjnterventionist policies that the situation ,v8 s b ecornjng inlpossiblc. A1iss Kirch,vcy ,vas profoundly distressed, an J rep ~aredly askcd Vi Ha1·

rcs;igned. Leners of special re]e,~ance .are Kirchwey to Vill:u:-d1 4 J inn~ry 1 30 Aprilj 7 May I 17 l\.1ay~l9 June 19401 and vm~rd to Kirch~ 1 ey, 8 1\1,y, l 3 JUllO (Jetter of resignation)+ io June 1940.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Ost"JJaldVillard and tbe Politics of Pacifis111 143 1-..lew Leader., the Atl«ntic A.Jo11tbly,Fellowsbip, the Reader's DigestJ Hu1ua11Events~ the A111cricauAferc11ry, and the Saturday Re11·ie·wof Literature. . A list of Vi1lard's affiliations\Vith political action groups during these 3rears \Vould be a list of the principal -anti\var and pacifist organizations of the period~_including the National Peace Confcrcncct the Fcllo,v- ship of Reconciliation, thc.I{ecp Out of '\\'ar Congress, the ,,romen,s Tnten1:tttonal J.Jeague for Peace -a11dFreedorn~ ~nd Anierica First. Until poor health restricted his activities, \Tillard spoke to dozens of peace groups around the country.. A typical itc1n fro1n his correspondence files of the 1939-41 period is a note front one Fisher C ..Bailr, President of the Peace League of Nevada! thanking \ 1il1ar

Four bro ad lines of argu1nen t ,vcre -advanced h)r \ 1ill ard during the course of ti1 e bittcrly·~f ought A1ncrica First campaign.M. Examination of these ,viii shed light both on \ 7iHard,so,vn perception of the proble1n of peace in a ,vorld at ,var, and on the character of the anti,var n1ovc- mcnt as a ,vhole. · First ,vas the jncess-antclai1n that A1ncrica could never be .success- fully invaded by a forcig1~po\,lcr. It is difficult today to grasp the depth and intensity ,vith ,vhi-ch literate An1cricans held the conviction that 5 they lived in ~the United States Impregnable.' [j ~I"his,vas a debating point on , v hicl 1 Vi Hard ha111n1ered ,vi th a, veson1 e dedi cation, perhaps because it ,vas an argun1ent that could appeal equally to the general pnblic and to the pacifist fringe. One of his 111oreimpressive colu1nns

Baily to , 1ilhrdt 2.8April 1941.

1H, By th-e 'America. First campaign' I tncan thf!: l1ro~d struggle ag;1;nst American intervention carried on ucnvccn the outbreak or\\~orld ,~, ar ll and 7 D~ccmber 1941, not mcrel y the acti vi tie~ of the organization ca 11c d t An l cric a I~~i1·st. :t

· Ui The phrase is a cha ptor title f ron1 \Ti11 ard 's Our A!ill tary C/Jao s1 ,vhi ch is throughout~ 5eathing attack on A1nedcan dcfc.osepolicies+ The forc,vord to this book

was

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), · Harvard Library Bulletin related a conversation hcnvccn Villard 2nd a British 1naj or gener:11. \ 1i1lard asked the officer ~\,>hctherhe had ever heard of a European military or naval officer ,vho thought that an attack upon the United States in any· form \Yasfeasible.' 'Preposterous/ replied the general, 'absolutely preposterous ,and impossible4 Ko one drean1s of such a. thing.)oi \Tilla.rd's kno,vlcdge about An1crican defense needs- such as it ,vas - c amc f rorn intcrv ie,vs like these plus the extensive correspondence he carried. on ,vith Hanson Ba}d\vin,George Fielding E1iot, and lvlajor Generals Johnson Hagood and '''Hliam Rivers.. For all his moraiisrn, there had ahvays b~en a curious strain of Yankee rea]ism in Villardi and it is perhaps this that explains the appetite ,vith \vhich he plunged into rather technical discussions of the 111i1itar)Tand strategic posit1on of the United States. Our A1ilitnryCbaos bristles ,vith figures, and the sarne is true of n1any of Villard's articles of this period. The old relianee on th c castigation of offenders by the most i nunoderate languagct could do little for Europe no\\",so perhaps the ,vholc problcnJ cou]d be hidden behind a ,vall built of the reassuring (factst of American in1pregnability. A second favorite argun1 en t of \Ti 11ard, s presented a n1 ore delicate prob Jem in p crs u asion. Vi Ilard h cld passiona tel ) 7 to th c pacifist ten et that militariS111n1cant totalitarianism, inevitably and V.'ithout qualifica- tion. No cal cu 1ations of "1ess er evilJ , vere ad n1i ssjb le in his rigid 1n ora1 system. Thus he could make the arnazing clain1 th~t Eng]and's 1939 conscrjption bill '\vas a tre1nendons victory for Hider and Fascism,' for it might lead the Brfrish people 'to take other steps Jeadrng to the limitation of their freedom.' ~1 To fight I·Jitlcr, a country had to be '1 1 o % n1orc n1i1itaristicthan he,' and to be n1ore 1ni1itaristicthan Hit- Ier , vas to d estro Jr d cn1ocracy. r;s The expla 11 ation of Roo scve 1t and Charnberluin that rcannanlent ,v.as for defensive purposes \ 1il1ard dis- 1nisscd scorn f u11 y· , vi th the gri n1 con1n1en t th at Hitler and lvlusso Hn i said j ~st the same thing! rm

"\ 7 et po,vcrful jsolationist groups ,vith ,vhom Villard ,vantcd to co- operate ,,ferc not convinced that armaments ,vere totally evil. Indeed, the conception of 'Fortress A1ncrica' ,vas central to the anti ...Ji1tcrvcn-

r.i, Nation/ CL ( I 3 Janm1.ry 19T10 )147r 15' Our Miliwry CfMos. pp+1:2.D-1 i ~- \7"iJ lard to S1 H oJden, 1 3 June 1940. 50 Our A1ilitnry Cbaosi pp. iz-23.

tionist movctnent,r 1r-.so central that Villard felt con1pcllcd to 1ninin1izc the no-defenses-at-all argument in his public statements of this period. ,,, hile a f e\V expressions of his radi caI pa ci fi.smcrept into Ou-r A1i 1it ary Cbnos, n1ost of the hook could have been ,vritten b)7 a hard-headed iso1a ti onist v.rho sup ported a sn1all and effici en t d cf ense cstnb lishn1 cnt for the United St11tcs. ViUard found his connection ,vith America First, anything but pacifist in its military policy, partic11larl3Tdifficult to reconcile ,vith his total .rejection of m iiitaris m. Eventually he resigned f ro1n the An1ericaFirst Nat ional Executive Committee out of disagrecmcnt ,vith the organization's preparedness plank. But his correspondence in- terestingly reveals thnt he ,vas really· quite '\villing to con1promisc his cx- tren1e beliefs on this point because of his '"completeagreen1ent' ,vith Ainerica Firses 'every other stand.. , It \vas only ,vhen he received a number of protest ]etters from pacifists ,vho thought he had 'sold out' that Villard severed his forn1al tie \Vith An1cricu First.fit Such calculat- ing flexibility is ra tl 1er uncx pectcd in a 111an of , 1ill ar d's p rcdile cti on for moral absolutes~and it suggests the dcspcr0tc fury \vith ,vhich he clung to his vision of an An1erica free from ,var. A third conviction of Villard ,vas of special significance.None of the horrors of 193 3-4i really destroyed his belief that the Ger1nan people truly· \Vanted peace, and that Hitler ,vould never be able to co111plctc his conquest of Europe~ \ 1i]lard ,vas given a rare opportunity to spend three and a half ,veeks in Germany shortly after the outbreak uf the ,var. He ,vrote Ambassador Bullitt in Paris that he \vas 'tren1endously· impressed by the terrific po,ver of the Nazi organisation,t _and he doubted that a 1nilitary defeat of German}7 .,vas possiblc.02 But -at the satne time he cl2in1cdthat 'Germany ,vants peace. Of that there can be no doubt ,vha.tever. Everybody ,vants it except perhaps a fe,v persons in the im·mediatc entourage of I-Iitlcr.' He found 'unmistakable evidence~ that -an appeal for peace by the Pope or President Roosevelt ,vould be favorably received, and son1c 'compromise sett lcn1cnt' could surely be nrranged.~3 \Tillard"s old conception of 'the t,vo Gcr1nanicst reappears in this

ro See Chapter 6, c~-i.ilttary Defense/ of \Vayne S. Cole's con1pctcnt study of Au1crica Flrrt: Tbe Bau le againstlnter'Ventfon J 940-1941 ( T\·fa.dison, \Vis., 1953-). (Jl Vi11~rd to Ne]son Fusoni s October J 940. V'illard to Lincoln Colcord, 10 J anu- ary 1941, ' 2 \ 1il1ardto \\lilliam C. Bullitt, 9 November 1939.

t-'] ]',lat Jou,CXLlX ( 25 Novcniher 1939 )., 581-58:z..

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), •-=

Har'VardL .. ibrary Ru/Jeti11 op.tin1istic ass cssn1cnt of Hit lcr' s relation to the G ern1 an masses. Some- h o,v - it ,vas never clear precisely ho,v- the. Junker-Nazi G·crn1any had tricked the Good Germany into .subjugation, but thjs circun1stanct L:ouI

sisted pathctic211)7 , could not 'murder enough people to ,vin' dominance of the lvor1d. This ,vas a vic,v diflicult to support ,vith 'facts,' but a leap of faith ,vas still possible. 'If I atn ,vrong about this then· certainl)7 civjiizacion and Christianity are lost and the teachings of Jesus have been nothing but a stupid shan1.t o!! For "\7il1nrd~anything ,vould have been prefer3blc to ndn1itting the hank ru p tcy of the pacifist in te rprc ta tj on of Christian ethics. This gro,vjng desperation helps account for the absurdity of his propos-a.1s for stopping the ,var and the irresponsibility of his judgments of An1er- i<;anpo]icy. In the sun11ner of 1941 ''illard ,vas still calling for im- 1nediate disarrna1ncnt and an jnrcrnational organization in ,vhich all nations ,vould have an equal vote. 'I may· be ull ,vrong,' he conceded, but I believe there is a much better chance of getting Hitler lined up for reconstruction than nppenn:,. God lmo\l'S I do not trust him at all, but

ai \Jillard to Cordell Hull, undated ( evidently "'rittcn ear1y in 1940 ) ..

(."j ,,.ilbrd to Charles Burlingham, 7 October I 941,

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), OsruJnldVillard and tbe Politicsof Pncifis111 147 neither do I trust Sra.lin,or the Japanese, or F.D .. \Vhoseblundering and comp1c_tcyic]ding to 1nilitnrism and putting us into such a nccd]css fright a.uout the possibility of invasion, ,vhich does not exist, is -asliable to ,vreck us as con1pletely as if he ,vere of the dictator stripc ..

This ref crcn cc to Prcsid cnt Roosevelt intro due es the fourth recur ... ring thcn1c of \ 1illard~sA1nerica First ca1npaign. Given \Tillard's as- su1nptions about the strategic position of the United States~ the inevitable consequences of 1nilitary· preparednesst and the in1n1incnt nu- ton1atic collapse of Fascisn1, it follo\ved that America could be dra,vn

into ,var onl}Tby a ,vi11fnlconspiraC) 7 • This, \Tiltardbecame convincedt \,~as\Vhat Fr::1nklinllooscvelt ,vas engaged in. The violence of Villardts hatred for '''oodro,v 1)\7ilson has already been noted. As President Rooscvcl t exercised incrcasingl y· strong di- rection over f orci gn affairs in th c ] ate thirties t Vii lard b cgan to distrust him ,vi th the same self-righ tcous ·passion.t, His estimate of th c Prcsi dent,s integrity ,vas that Roosevelt 1nade 'JVlachiaveHi1ook "like thirt)T cents, and Bis1nilrck ju st n co1n1non faker. t 68 A Boston pa per sought Villar

1940~ I--Iisreply, if clumsii) 7 contrivcd 1 is suggestive. He sharply opposed F. D. R. because of:

the th j rd tc r n1)the extra va gan ce, ,vaste and misma na gem ent in ,,, ashington., his utter financial cnrelessness, his crazy nrman1entsproposals, ,vhich. are not making for true defense and arc most of the1n uncalled for because of our gcogra ph ica l siru a tion cco rd ing to the testin1on y of important military and naval officia1stand his, in my judg1ncn½deliberate effort to put us into ~var.6\J

The ,vcaf)7 frequency· ,vith. \vhich Villard denounced F~ D. R.'s ,:extra vaga n ce,' ',va.ste,' and 'in cffic i ency J during these years r~ises vital 9uestion. These 2re terms from the vocabulary of conscrvatisn1. ~Jud \Til]ard adopted them purely for polemic purposes., or hud his

SI! \Ti]brd to Llo}'d K. Garri:;;on,7 Juoc 194-r. f.'t \TiHard, strangely for a dc

IJ.!I \ 1illsrd to Oscar Ameringer 1 11 June l 940.

1)3 ,,. j l!a rd to the B rJSt01l E~reni'ng Trans c.ript i ] 8 Jui y I 940a

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Harvard Library B1tlletin libcralisn1 truly· ~gonesour'? ,rillard's bitter letter of resignation to the Plation charged that support of ltoosevelt' s foreign policy ,voul d hcl p 'tl cstro y the N clv De a], subjugate 1ab or, and enthrone re action., pre- ciseJ y as did our Jast adventure into ,var in 1917.' 10 'i\'ns it Freda Kirch ,v ey or \Til] ard hj n1 self ,v ho actµ a 11}T , v as 1nov h1g to, vard rcac- ti on? This is not a probletn that allo,vs of f a.cile gencr~]izatiotL \.Tillard ,vas son1c\vhat to the lcf t of the ~e,v Deal in· its cnrl y years, of ten in- dulging himself in ritualistic caJls for a '1norc progressive' third party. But the nakedness of the court-pa eking sche111c deeply d istresscd hi111. Taking issue ,vith )(ire h,vey and Lerner, Villard argued that the plan ,vould open the ,vay for the t HJegaln coming of a dictator to Am erica,' and further the country·'s drift ro, var d n1i1 i tar 11 Roosevelt's .inere a.singI y f o rec f n l conduct of f orci gn affairs deepen c d Villard~s fears of the concentration of po,ver in executive h:1nds~The last exponent of n strong presidency had tricked us into one needle~s ,var, according to \Tillard, and this \Vas a danger to be avoided at a11 costs. Since Theodore Roosevelt, the Rcpubl~canParty· has been the part)• of the \Veak executive .. Thus the logic of isolationisrn drove \TiI-

lard, Flynn~ Nye, \\ 1heclcr, La l101lettc 1 Jr, and others t(nvard con-

s crvative Rep11 b Ji Can ism r

1 \\- 1ith respect to ccono111ic poliC)7 \ 1illard s earlier criticism of the

Ne,v Deal had been that it did too little too late. Ev.- 1940, ho,:vever, his custo1n ,vas to denounce Rooscvclfs '111aniafor spending biliions of other people's money/ ~2 and he later charged that 'the stupendous national debt.,1111baianccd budget, and vast public expenditures jnevit-

a b ly n1ca11Fascism in one. form or another i ccrta.i nl y complete re gi- mcntation of the national economic life.' 12. But too much should not be 1nade of statements like these. It is certain that ''illard' s total opposition to th c P residen es foreign policy separated him from the 1nainstream of ,..i\1nericanliberalism, and that this separation produced some ~ostiliry to don1cstic reform. It is clear that certain old libcra1s and progressives- Nye, '\'heeler~ Flynn~ ,vcrc transfonncd into reactionaries by this process, and that VHlard never disassocjated hi1nsclf fron1 then1. Yet it is also true that Nor- -:-aVillard to Freda Kirch\vey, 1,June [940. -n \riJl~rtl to \~/illiam T~Evjue, 6 .,A..ugust 193, 7, TI: i For th-1t re=1son s lo nc I ,•,couldvote 8ga inst h irn." ,, il1a rd to Cha rlcs Il ur 1i ng ha n11 i. July [940. l"-ll ,r i Ila rd to th c f,,,'tew Lead er! 3 i\1sr-chI 944.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Os·wald Villard nnd the Politics of P acifisn1 1 49 man Thomas ,vas exposed to si1nilar pressures and became involved in equally be,vildering aJliancesduring this periodt yet Thomas remained a dcn1ocratic socialist. The case of Tl101nassuggests some of the com- plexity of this problecn of 'strange peacefello\vs.' 7~ \Tillard and Thomas used n1uch of the Chicago Tribunets :unmunicion in 1940~ but their vie, vs 011 po Iiticnl f nndan1en tals b )7 no n1cans coinci

Europe ,vas doon1ed. Vil]ard had had dark fears for her future for a decade. But Europe's destruction need not n1can An1cricuts,.if the An1crican people had 1earned their l e.sson in on c n eccl1 css \ v or1d ,var. This time \TiHardthought the people \Vere ,vith hin1t,,~ith hin1in such

ovcnvhclming numbers that no politician dare flaunt their ,vill 4 After a. lifetin1 c of protest, ,v ri ting for an au di encc of alienate

~.:The phrase is Snm uel Lubell 's1 in The F utu.re of A,neri can Poli tic!., 1 nd ed. (G~rden Cityt N. Y., 1956), p~150. '~ The Lu t:Uow reso] u tionf proposed by Indian~ Con grcssm an Loujs Lu dlo,v in

19 37 t c []led for a Con5titu d onal atnc nd ment making Congressional de c1aration of ,var invalid ,vithout a confirniing popular referendu1n+ It ,vas defeated by a narrow margin in the H ousc on 1 o January I 9 3 8! but continued to be sub) e-ctof discussion d urjng the America First campaign. ~s \'iHard to Charles Burlinghan1,7 October 1941.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Harvard Library Bulletin

politic al analy·sis~ Villard J s stress on th c ro 1e of American business j n pressing us to,vards ,~lorld \i\7ar I had served this function a.drnirably·. This portion of the thesis ,vas rather difficult to maintain in r940., since man)" of the country 1s business leaders ,vcre keeping Villard con1pany jn America First. ~1do not think/ he gn1dgingly told one friend, 'the in tern ad on al bankers arc gui 1ty this time4 I ,vas ,vi th one last night a.nd he is absolutely opposed to the \Var.' 77 ViI]ard fi null)7 got around this troubling problem by substituting the jntellectuals for the international bankers. Hints of this developn1cnt appear in his repeated hostile references to ,vhat he tcr1ned 'the Harvard

Club group.'" Henry Stimson1 Villard iratel)T observed on one occa- sion, had urged that 'An1erica must be 1nade ,var-minded at once~ and that the tin1ehad come to stop the criticisn1 of public officials.' Stimson, Grenville -ClarkJ and other leading interventionists ,vcre distinguished Harvard g{u1nni; so,,\Tillard boldly concluded, 'Harvard al\vays to the front ,vhen it comes to ,var-making and dragooning the youth of Amer- ica..' 1s l~js break ,vith the Natiou. had hurt \Tillard dccply, 79 and it S}rrnbol- ized his broader alienation fro1n the groups that had once been his prin1a.ry source of prestige and admiration. He no,v gave serjous thought to the possibiii ty· of starting n nc,v iso1 ati on ist , veck 1y, to be

staffed hy John T. F1ynn, John Cha1nberlain,Norman Thomas 1 De- • verc Allenj and Quincy I-Io,vc. Its nimJstgnificantl}r 1 ,vas to 'drive for the discontented anti-,vnr groups in the Northeast and the Norch,vest,

and not 4 • • the sophisticated inte1lcctual gro11p to ,vhich Nntion and New Republic no,v appeal.)80 The 'sophisticatc d intcllcctua]

.., \Tj ll[l rd to i\1rs ~1yr t]c Force, 1 1 August 194J '1-5 \.7i]brd to Porter Slrgent, 30 July 1940+ \i\l"hile \'jllard, A.B. 18'93, A.i\1. 1896 ( also Assistant jn l1istory to A lbcrt Ilushncll 1-Iart 1894--96), looked back on hj~ days ~t H TVfl rd \Vi th snmc fond ncss.,he bcca me quite embinered ·with the 1-I n•ard of

later years, One of his characteristic compbints 1 made in the letter cited hcre9_ wes tl1~t 1n1hlicatjons concerning Harvard =:ilumn•consistently ignored his activities, n~ver :including his ,,·orks in lists of books by H2r\-Tard men, and so on. \T"ilfard ~otnparcd himself with another great liberal editor,. Herbert Cro1r, A.B .. 189ot \Vho al~cgcdly rec elv ed the same trea tmenc rn He once s~id, 1 I do ,vjsh th-a.t I had never sold The Nation, and I never \ltOu1d have had I known that Freda ,vould foUo,,· the poHcies th3t she has. I ,, ..ould nnher ha,Te kil1ed it.~ , 7illard to Ernestine Evans, 3 February I 942. s, The proposal for a new magazine i:s outlined by Vilfo.rd to Lincoln Colcord, 2 8 February r 94 1 • For -a typical examp 1e of the use of th.e co] lege professor image, see \ 7 i] Ia rd to 1\1rs Hor ace Ea ton, 1 4 0 ctober 194 1 • \ 7i] Ia rd 1s magazine in co nee ption sounds :stdkjng]y like one founded in 1955 - ,~liHiam F. Buckley, Jr.,s "f•lational Re-

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), Oswald Villard aud tbe Politics of PacifiS?n I 5 1 group' had by no,v Jargely ~bandoned its pseudo~pacifi.sm. As a re- .suit, the college professor had replaced the 1nunitions n1aker in \'il- lardian dcn1onology. America drifted closer and closer to ,var, yet "80 per cent of the plain people of AtncricaJ ,vcre ,vith hin1, ViHardestimateo. 81 The men lvho controlled the mass media n1ust be subtl) 7 choking off the deep currents of anthvar sentin1ent before the)T could-find expression. In ii despairing manuscript entitled 'The J~ast,, 1ar of the Rcpublic1 (\vritten for the Cbristian Ce11tury a.nd rejected in IVlay J 94, )" Vjllard treated the failure of the An1crica First struggle from the perspective of a hypothetical historian of the future .. \Vith 'operators of the radio chains in dire fear of the autocratic and despotic Federal Co1n1nunica .... tions Co1nn1ission/ ,vith the press and the movies in the hands of interventionists., ~the people had no means of making their ,vishcs felt.' Letters to Congre.ssn1en, mass n1eetin gs, d ctn o nst rations~ alf th csc seerned futile, and 'n general feeling of hopelessness and bitter resignation' ovcrcan1e :allbut a fc,v valiant crusadcrs ..82 Bitter resignation cvcntuaU) 7 ovcnvhcln1cd Villard hin1sclf. In July 1941, one of the nc\v.spapcrsthat had carried his colun1n dropped it on the grounds that he ,vas 'out of step ,vith America/ and he sadly ad1nitted that "I have not a .sing]electure cngagc1ncnt scheduled for the first time since I ,vent into professional lecturing ..' ss \ 7il1ardtstcstitnony· before the Senate Comn1ittcc on Foreign Relations jn November ,vns ignored b)7 press and radio.,and this grieved him. All his optimis1nabout the pacifisn1 of the 'plain people' of the United States could hide the agonizing truth no longer.. "It is plain,' he ,vrotc one 111011th before Pearl Harbor, 'that I am very much of a has-been/ ~4

E"PILOGUR

Os\vald Garrison ,TjlJard's crusade ,vns over on 7 Dccen1ber 1941, though he lived on until 1949. The America he loved had bcco1ne a pacifist'"snightn1arc, -and it remains so~ Ho,v does-his life appear in the pcrspecti ve of today?

itic?'lll, ·rhe adjecth·c c~n no,,r be ·whoHy ren1oved fron1 tlie old category 1libcr:9.l j sofa tio nism., 61 \ 7illard to George W. Seymour, '1-l 1\1ay194 r. 113This ~t"ticle:is filed in the C/Jriitfo-nCe1u1~ry folder ~•nong the ''illard papers. 113,r i ! la rd to 1\1:rsE] iz~beth Klingberg, 1o July 1941. l!-I ,, Hb.rd to l\-irs Eliz~he.th l{ ling berg, 6 November r 94 r.

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), I 5 2 Harvard LihrMy Bulletin

In Vil lard the public figure. there ,vas 111uch th at \ vas cxasperacin g I His irlealisn1,vas nai've, his moraltt:) 7 se]f-rightcous and somcti1ncs hy--- p o critical. 1-Iis passion for abso1 n te.c;nl ade him often in tolerant,, cven though tolerance ,vas avo\vcdl)r one of his n1ost cherished principles. His grnsp of po]jtics and history ,vas never profound and rarely pene- trating~ Villard ,vas a political journalist, rather shnple, shril], .shallo,v. Bchin d the pub lie figure al,v.ays st-a.n ds a n1-an of flc sh. Yet \Tillard th c n1an ren1 ains 1argcl y hid den to us, curiously veilc d in 2 fog of

abstra.c t 111oral is1ns. If h c fa Hs to 1cap fl1ll-b 1 ood cd f rorn th csc pages 1 th-atfailure n1aysuggest a vital truth about his nature. His ,vas a person- ality thin and dry. Ren1ark ab1 y Jittle of it shines through his corr e- spon

STEPHAN A. THERNSTROM

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960), List of Contributors

HENSCHEL TIAr.:ER, Professor of English, Harvard University

RAYNAsH., Profcssor 1 Dcpartn1cnt of Art and Archaeologyt Dartmouth College

W. l\1loEL,vYN j\fERCHANTt Senior Lecturer in Englisht University College1 Cardiff, Wales

GEORGH H. W n .I .TA\ -rs, \V jnn Prof cssor of Eccl csi-astica l History~ I-Ian'a rd Univendty

ANDR E\V HILEN I Professor of English, U niye rsi t}'" of ~' ashing ton

WARD, Associate Editor of 11 hc Letters of En1ily Dickiuso11,r958

Loros SNO\V', Associate Professor of EngHsh, I{euka College

STEPHAN A~ T»F.RNSTRO;\I 1 Frederick Sheldon Travelling Fello"'", Iiarvard Uni- vers1ty•

Fortl1coming Articles

Second Horb]it Lcc~re on the History of Science J Al\l l.S B. co~ ANT

Greek Architectural Inscriptions as Do cun1e nts ROBERT L. SCRANTON Racan's I} Artenice~ an Addition to the EngHsh wnon J F.AN PARR JSH AND ,.y I LT.TA J\1 A. JACKSON

The 'Bjbliotheca Reussfonnad Be1lun1Tric:cnnc' at I-Iarvard FR TT7. R v,nr.1CH Graveloes Illustrations for La Nouvelle Heiot'se

A Sign er and Iiis S1gn~t o res1 or The Library of Thon1as Lynch, Jr JOSEPIi E, F 1£LDS

Lamb T'akcs a Holiday CARL R, , VO ODllTNG Seven Ruskin Drawjngs in the Fogg Art 1\1useum PAUL H. \VALTON

Charley Longfello,v Goes to '\\ 1ar (conchtdcd) AKDR E\ 'V l i l LEN

George 1\1ncD on1J l d ROBERT LEE ,voL'fi'F

153

Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XIV, Number 1 (Winter 1960),