Liberalism’S Decline During And After The Great War, 1914–1924

Abstract

This chapter begins with a discussion on the second decade of the twentieth century which opened with tremendous hope and enthusiasm for liberal Americans. It investigates how progressivism appeared to be dead, as the United States turned sharply to the right and the always tenuous alliance between liberals of somewhat different orientations fractured under the weight of war and inconsistent policy goals. The chapter also describes how Mary Field Parton experienced a very stressful few years beginning in 1912 and how she had fully repudiated her earlier Republican Party preferences in 1912 and had become a devoted Democrat. The chapter then shifts to consider the United States' entry into the war, noting that many Americans saw it as rooted in imperialist desires, conceptions of racial and religious superiority, and the president's own Progressive agenda. The decision to enter the war divided liberals and drove a dagger into the heart of the Progressive movement. The chapter shows how the tensions Mary felt over her role in her sister Sara's life expressed the ironies and inconsistencies of a progressive, even revolutionary, young woman raised in a devoutly Christian home in the United States during the Victorian era, who came of age in an era of great social upheaval and cultural transition.