Freda Kirchwey
Encyclopedia
Freda Kirchwey was an American
journalist, editor, and publisher strongly committed throughout her career to liberal causes. From 1933 to 1955, she was Editor
of The Nation
magazine.
on September 26, 1893, as the Progressive Era
was getting under way, Kirchwey was the daughter of pacifist
Columbia
Law Professor George Kirchwey
. She attended Barnard College
from 1911 to 1915, working locally in journalism after graduation, at the New York Morning Telegraph, Every Week magazine, and the New York Tribune
.
In 1918, she was brought to The Nation
by then editor Oswald Garrison Villard
, largely at the behest of Kirchwey's former professor at Barnard, Henry Raymond Mussey, first working in the International Relations Section. In 1922 she became managing editor and published a collection of articles, dealing primarily with changing sexual relations, in 1925 entitled Our Changing Morality . She succeeded Villard as editor of the magazine in 1933, first as part of a four-person committee, then as the sole editor, becoming the first woman at the top of the masthead
of a national weekly newsmagazine. In 1937, she bought the magazine from Maurice Wertheim
, who had purchased it from Villard in a brief and particularly contentious period of the magazine's history.
As editor, Kirchwey was strongly supportive of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal
and later broke with Villard in her support of Roosevelt's involvement in World War II
. She was strongly supportive of the anti-Franco
faction during the Spanish Civil War
and supported the creation of an independent Jewish state
. Her opposition to fascism
led to a strong belief in the value of strong ties to the Soviet Union
, opposing fascism in general and Nazism
more specifically. On the domestic front, she was a sharp critic of the House Un-American Activities Committee
-- calling Martin Dies, its leader from 1938 to 1944, a "one-man Gestapo from Texas" -- and the growth of McCarthyism
in America. As a result of this evolution in the magazine's politics, both The Nation and its editor were criticized strongly, even at times by members of the American left; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
famously referred to the magazine's "wretched apologies for Soviet despotism."
The magazine's political marginalization, however, also had financial consequences, becoming a significant financial drain by the early 1940s. As a result, Kirchwey sold her individual ownership of the magazine in 1943, creating a nonprofit organization, Nation Associates, formed out of the money generated from a recruiting drive of sponsors. The organization, also responsible for more the academic responsibilities, including conducting research and organizing conferences, that had been a part of its early history, became responsible for the operation and publication of the magazine on a nonprofit basis. Kirchwey, as president of Nation Associates, remained editor of the paper until 1955, when Carey McWilliams
became editor and George Kirstein became publisher.
After 1955, Kirchwey became involved with a collection of civil rights
and pacifist organizations, most notably the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
. She died on January 3, 1976, in St. Petersburg, Florida
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist, editor, and publisher strongly committed throughout her career to liberal causes. From 1933 to 1955, she was Editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
of The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
magazine.
Biography
Born in Lake Placid, New YorkLake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
on September 26, 1893, as the Progressive Era
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
was getting under way, Kirchwey was the daughter of pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
Law Professor George Kirchwey
George Kirchwey
George Washington Kirchwey was an American lawyer, politician, journalist and legal scholar.-Life:He graduated from Yale College in 1879, was admitted to the bar in 1882, and practiced law at Albany, New York for ten years...
. She attended Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
from 1911 to 1915, working locally in journalism after graduation, at the New York Morning Telegraph, Every Week magazine, and the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
.
In 1918, she was brought to The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
by then editor Oswald Garrison Villard
Oswald Garrison Villard
Oswald Garrison Villard was an American journalist. He provided a rare direct link between the anti-imperialism of the late 19th century and the conservative Old Right of the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:...
, largely at the behest of Kirchwey's former professor at Barnard, Henry Raymond Mussey, first working in the International Relations Section. In 1922 she became managing editor and published a collection of articles, dealing primarily with changing sexual relations, in 1925 entitled Our Changing Morality . She succeeded Villard as editor of the magazine in 1933, first as part of a four-person committee, then as the sole editor, becoming the first woman at the top of the masthead
Masthead (publishing)
The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...
of a national weekly newsmagazine. In 1937, she bought the magazine from Maurice Wertheim
Maurice Wertheim
Maurice Wertheim was an American investment banker, chess player, chess patron, environmentalist, and philanthropist. He financed much of the activity in American chess during the 1940s. Wertheim founded Wertheim & Co. in 1927.-Biography:Maurice Wertheim graduated from Harvard University in 1906...
, who had purchased it from Villard in a brief and particularly contentious period of the magazine's history.
As editor, Kirchwey was strongly supportive of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
and later broke with Villard in her support of Roosevelt's involvement in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She was strongly supportive of the anti-Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
faction during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and supported the creation of an independent Jewish state
Jewish state
A homeland for the Jewish people was an idea that rose to the fore in the 19th century in the wake of growing anti-Semitism and Jewish assimilation. Jewish emancipation in Europe paved the way for two ideological solutions to the Jewish Question: cultural assimilation, as envisaged by Moses...
. Her opposition to fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
led to a strong belief in the value of strong ties to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, opposing fascism in general and Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
more specifically. On the domestic front, she was a sharp critic of the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
-- calling Martin Dies, its leader from 1938 to 1944, a "one-man Gestapo from Texas" -- and the growth of McCarthyism
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
in America. As a result of this evolution in the magazine's politics, both The Nation and its editor were criticized strongly, even at times by members of the American left; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr. was an American historian and social critic whose work explored the American liberalism of political leaders including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Schlesinger served as special assistant and "court historian"...
famously referred to the magazine's "wretched apologies for Soviet despotism."
The magazine's political marginalization, however, also had financial consequences, becoming a significant financial drain by the early 1940s. As a result, Kirchwey sold her individual ownership of the magazine in 1943, creating a nonprofit organization, Nation Associates, formed out of the money generated from a recruiting drive of sponsors. The organization, also responsible for more the academic responsibilities, including conducting research and organizing conferences, that had been a part of its early history, became responsible for the operation and publication of the magazine on a nonprofit basis. Kirchwey, as president of Nation Associates, remained editor of the paper until 1955, when Carey McWilliams
Carey McWilliams (journalist)
Carey McWilliams was an American author, editor, and lawyer. He is best known for his writings about social issues in California, including the condition of migrant farm workers and the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II...
became editor and George Kirstein became publisher.
After 1955, Kirchwey became involved with a collection of civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
and pacifist organizations, most notably the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
. She died on January 3, 1976, in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
.
External links
- Letter from Freda Kirchwey to President Truman, May 10, 1948
- Letter from Freda Kirchwey to President Truman, June 19, 1948
- American American Registry: Freda Kirchwey
- Women in American History: Freda Kirchwey
- Spartacus Educational: Kirchwey Biography
- Freda Kirchwey Papers.Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.
By Kirchwey
- The Atomic Era: Can it Bring Peace and Abundance! (New York: McBride, 1950).
- One World or None, The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, August 18, 1945. - Our Changing Morality: A Symposium (New York: A. & C. Boni, 1924).
- When H.G. Wells Split the Atom: A 1914 Preview of 1945, The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, August 18, 1945.
About Kirchwey
- Alpern, SaraSara AlpernSara Alpern Tarlow, known as Sara Alpern , is an associate professor of history at Texas A&M University, known for her specialization in women's studies.-Early life:...
. A Woman of The Nation (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1987). - Alpern, Sara. "In Search of Freda Kirchwey: From Identification to Separation" in Sara Alpern, et al. The Challenge of Feminist Biography: Writing the Lives of Modern American Women (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1992). ISBN 0-252-01926-1 (Hardcover), 0252062922 (Paperback)