Crusading Liberal: Paul H. Douglas of Illinois. By Roger Biles. (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2002. viii, 259 pp. $36.00, isbn 0-87580-304-0.)

Abstract

Paul H. Douglas was one of the most notable crusaders for liberal causes in the last half of the twentieth century. In this work, Roger Biles traces the development of Douglas's liberal philosophy and meticulously details Douglas's lifelong efforts on behalf of “society's powerless” (p. 212). Biles pinpoints Douglas's upbringing in rural Maine as a significant factor in shaping his empathy for society's underdogs by exposing him to rural poverty and the miserable working conditions of lumberjacks and railroad workers. Further, as a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Republican state, Douglas felt the sting of being a minority. As Time magazine noted, the injustice of always being put at the end of the annual Memorial Day parade made Douglas “a rebel, a reformer, and a crusader in behalf of the boys at the end of the line” (p. 5). Biles also notes that Douglas's philosophy about society's obligations to the less fortunate stemmed from the doctrine of goodwill espoused by the Society of Friends, which he joined in 1920.