Old Right (United States)
Encyclopedia
The Old Right was a conservative faction in the United States that opposed both New Deal
domestic programs and U.S. entry into World War II. Many members of this faction were associated with the Republicans
of the interwar years led by Robert Taft
, but some were Democrats. They were called the "Old Right" to distinguish them from their New Right successors, such as Barry Goldwater
, who favored an interventionist foreign policy to battle international communism. Many members of the Old Right favored laissez faire classical liberalism
; some were business-oriented conservatives; others were ex-radicals who moved sharply to the right, like John Dos Passos
; still others, like the Southern Agrarians
, were traditionalists
who dreamed of restoring a premodern communal society.
of Franklin D. Roosevelt
. By 1937 they formed a Conservative coalition
that controlled Congress until 1964. They were consistently non-interventionist and opposed entering WWII, a position exemplified by the America First Committee
. Later, most opposed U.S. entry into NATO and intervention in the Korean War
. "In addition to being staunch opponents of war and militarism, the Old Right of the postwar period had a rugged and near-libertarian
honesty in domestic affairs as well."
This anti–New Deal movement was a coalition of multiple groups:
Jeff Riggenbach
argues that some members of the Old Right were actually classical liberals and "were accepted members of the 'Left' before 1933. Yet, without changing any of their fundamental views, all of them, over the next decade, came to be thought of as exemplars of the political 'Right.
Other influential members of the Old Right included:
was one of the most politically active of the agrarians, especially in his criticisms of the TVA
in his native Tennessee
. As Murphy (2001) shows, the Southern Agrarians
articulated old values of Jeffersonian Democracy
:
and paleolibertarians
are often considered the successors and torchbearers of the Old Right view in the late 20th century and current era. Both of these groups often rally behind Old Right slogans such as "America First" while sharing similar views to the Old Right opposition to the New Deal
. Recently, the ideas of the Old Right have seen a resurgence due to the presidential campaign of Ron Paul
.
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...
domestic programs and U.S. entry into World War II. Many members of this faction were associated with the Republicans
History of the United States Republican Party
The United States Republican Party is the second oldest currently existing political party in the United States after its great rival, the Democratic Party. It emerged in 1854 to combat the Kansas Nebraska Act which threatened to extend slavery into the territories, and to promote more vigorous...
of the interwar years led by Robert Taft
Robert Taft
Robert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman...
, but some were Democrats. They were called the "Old Right" to distinguish them from their New Right successors, such as Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, who favored an interventionist foreign policy to battle international communism. Many members of the Old Right favored laissez faire classical liberalism
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....
; some were business-oriented conservatives; others were ex-radicals who moved sharply to the right, like John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
; still others, like the Southern Agrarians
Southern Agrarians
The Southern Agrarians were a group of twelve American writers, poets, essayists, and novelists, all with roots in the Southern United States, who joined together to write a pro-Southern agrarian manifesto, a...
, were traditionalists
Traditionalist Conservatism
Traditionalist conservatism, also known as "traditional conservatism," "traditionalism," "Burkean conservatism", "classical conservatism" and , "Toryism", describes a political philosophy emphasizing the need for the principles of natural law and transcendent moral order, tradition, hierarchy and...
who dreamed of restoring a premodern communal society.
Views
The Old Right emerged in opposition to the New DealNew 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...
of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
. By 1937 they formed a Conservative coalition
Conservative coalition
In the United States, the conservative coalition was an unofficial Congressional coalition bringing together the conservative majority of the Republican Party and the conservative, mostly Southern, wing of the Democratic Party...
that controlled Congress until 1964. They were consistently non-interventionist and opposed entering WWII, a position exemplified by the America First Committee
America First Committee
The America First Committee was the foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 members, it was likely the largest anti-war organization in American history. Started in 1940, it became defunct after the attack on Pearl Harbor in...
. Later, most opposed U.S. entry into NATO and intervention in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. "In addition to being staunch opponents of war and militarism, the Old Right of the postwar period had a rugged and near-libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
honesty in domestic affairs as well."
This anti–New Deal movement was a coalition of multiple groups:
- intellectual individualistsIndividualismIndividualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
and libertariansLibertarianismLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, including H. L. MenckenH. L. MenckenHenry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
, Albert Jay NockAlbert Jay NockAlbert Jay Nock was an influential United States libertarian author, educational theorist, and social critic of the early and middle 20th century.- Life and work :...
, Rose Wilder LaneRose Wilder LaneRose Wilder Lane was an American journalist, travel writer, novelist, and political theorist...
, Garet GarrettGaret GarrettGaret Garrett , born Edward Peter Garrett, was an American journalist and author who was noted for his criticisms of the New Deal and U.S. involvement in the Second World War.-Overview:...
, Raymond MoleyRaymond MoleyRaymond Charles Moley was a leading New Dealer who became its bitter opponent before the end of the Great Depression....
, and Walter LippmannWalter LippmannWalter Lippmann was an American intellectual, writer, reporter, and political commentator famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War...
; - laissez-faire liberals, especially the heirs of the Bourbon DemocratBourbon DemocratBourbon Democrat was a term used in the United States from 1876 to 1904 to refer to a member of the Democratic Party, conservative or classical liberal, especially one who supported President Grover Cleveland in 1884–1888/1892–1896 and Alton B. Parker in 1904. After 1904, the Bourbons faded away...
s like Albert RitchieAlbert RitchieAlbert Cabell Ritchie , a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 49th Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1920 to 1935...
of Maryland and Senator James A. ReedJames A. ReedJames Alexander Reed was an American Democratic Party politician from Missouri.-Biography:Reed was born on a farm in Richland County, Ohio. He moved with his family to Cedar Rapids, Iowa at the age of 3. He went to public schools and attended Coe College...
of Missouri; - pro-business or anti-union Republicans, such as Robert TaftRobert TaftRobert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman...
; - conservative DemocratConservative DemocratIn American politics, a conservative Democrat is a Democratic Party member with conservative political views, or with views relatively conservative with respect to those of the national party...
s from the South, such as Josiah Bailey and Harry F. ByrdHarry F. ByrdHarry Flood Byrd, Sr. of Berryville in Clarke County, Virginia, was an American newspaper publisher, farmer and politician. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia...
; - pro-business Democrats such as Al SmithAl SmithAlfred Emanuel Smith. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American statesman who was elected the 42nd Governor of New York three times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928...
and the founders of the American Liberty LeagueAmerican Liberty LeagueThe American Liberty League was an American political organization formed in 1934 by conservative Democrats to oppose the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was active for just two years... - powerful newspaper and magazine publishers, such as William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
of the Hearst chain and Colonel Robert R. McCormickRobert R. McCormickRobert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick was a member of the McCormick family of Chicago who became owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune newspaper...
of the Chicago TribuneChicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. - reformed radicals who had supported FDR in 1932, such as William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
and Father Charles CoughlinCharles CoughlinFather Charles Edward Coughlin was a controversial Roman Catholic priest at Royal Oak, Michigan's National Shrine of the Little Flower church. He was one of the first political leaders to use radio to reach a mass audience, as more than thirty million tuned to his weekly broadcasts during the...
Jeff Riggenbach
Jeff Riggenbach
Jeff Riggenbach is an American libertarian journalist, author, editor, broadcaster, and educator.Riggenbach's first book, In Praise of Decadence , argued that the baby boomers turned out to be far more libertarian in their personal philosophy than had been expected.His second book, Why American...
argues that some members of the Old Right were actually classical liberals and "were accepted members of the 'Left' before 1933. Yet, without changing any of their fundamental views, all of them, over the next decade, came to be thought of as exemplars of the political 'Right.
Members
Other influential members of the Old Right included:
- politicians: Bennett Champ ClarkBennett Champ ClarkJoel Bennett Clark , better known as Bennett Champ Clark, was a Democratic United States Senator from Missouri from 1933 until 1945, and was later a United States federal judge.-Biography:...
, Hamilton Fish IIIHamilton Fish IIIHamilton Fish III was a soldier and politician from New York State...
, Howard BuffettHoward BuffettHoward Homan Buffett was an Omaha, Nebraska businessman, investor, and four-term Republican United States Representative. Buffett was the father of Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor.-Early life:...
, Kenneth S. WherryKenneth S. WherryKenneth Spicer Wherry was a Republican United States Senator from Nebraska.-Early life:He was born in Liberty, Gage County, Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, in 1914...
, Eugene SilerEugene SilerEugene Siler was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky between 1955 and 1965. He was the only member of the House of Representatives to oppose the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution...
, Robert TaftRobert TaftRobert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman... - businessmen: Robert E. WoodRobert E. WoodRobert Elkington Wood was a U.S. Army Brigadier General and businessman best known for his leadership of Sears, Roebuck and Company.- Early life :...
, John J. RaskobJohn J. RaskobJohn Jakob Raskob, KCSG was a financial executive and businessman for DuPont and General Motors, and the builder of the Empire State Building. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1928 to 1932 and a key supporter of Alfred E. Smith's candidacy for President of the United... - publishers: Frank GannettFrank GannettFrank Ernest Gannett is the founder of Gannett media corporation.-Biography:Gannett was born in South Bristol, New York, United States, graduated from Bolivar High School , Bolivar, NY in 1893, and graduated from Cornell University. At the age of 30, he purchased his first newspaper, the Elmira...
, R.C. Hoiles - journalists: Oswald Garrison VillardOswald Garrison VillardOswald 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:...
, Garet GarrettGaret GarrettGaret Garrett , born Edward Peter Garrett, was an American journalist and author who was noted for his criticisms of the New Deal and U.S. involvement in the Second World War.-Overview:...
, John T. FlynnJohn T. FlynnJohn Thomas Flynn was an American journalist best known for his opposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to American entry into World War II.-Career:...
, and Westbrook PeglerWestbrook PeglerFrancis James Westbrook Pegler was an American journalist and writer. He was a popular columnist in the 1930s and 1940s famed for his opposition to the New Deal and labor unions. Pegler criticized every president from Herbert Hoover to FDR to Harry Truman to John F. Kennedy... - scholars: Murray RothbardMurray RothbardMurray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...
, Harry Elmer BarnesHarry Elmer BarnesHarry Elmer Barnes was a prominent American historian in the 20th century. A "progressive who had some classical liberal impulses," he was associated for virtually his entire career with Columbia University.-Early career:...
and Frank Lawrence OwsleyFrank Lawrence OwsleyFrank Lawrence Owsley was an American historian who taught at Vanderbilt University for most of his career, where he specialized in southern history and was a member of the Southern Agrarians.-Life and career:... - celebrities: Charles LindberghCharles LindberghCharles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
, Lillian GishLillian GishLillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987.... - tax resistance leaders: John M. PrattJohn M. PrattJohn Morgan Pratt was a tax resistance leader, activist in the Old Right, publicist and newspaper man. Along with James E. Bistor, he led the probably the largest tax strike since the Era of the American Revolution.Pratt was born into a background of wealth...
- authors: Robert FrostRobert FrostRobert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, Zora Neale HurstonZora Neale HurstonZora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance...
, Ezra PoundEzra PoundEzra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
, John Dos PassosJohn Dos PassosJohn Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
, Frank ChodorovFrank ChodorovFrank Chodorov was an American member of the Old Right, a group of libertarian thinkers who were non-interventionist in foreign policy and anti–New Deal...
, Isabel PatersonIsabel PatersonIsabel Paterson was a Canadian-American journalist, novelist, political philosopher, and a leading literary critic of her day. Along with Rose Wilder Lane and Ayn Rand, who both acknowledged an intellectual debt to Paterson, she is one of the three founding mothers of American libertarianism...
, Ayn RandAyn RandAyn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
, Louis BromfieldLouis BromfieldLouis Bromfield was an American author and conservationist who gained international recognition winning the Pulitzer Prize and pioneering innovative scientific farming concepts.-Biography:...
, Leonard ReadLeonard ReadLeonard E. Read was an American economist and the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, which was the first modern free market think tank in the United States....
, Francis NeilsonFrancis NeilsonFrancis Neilson , was an accomplished actor, playwright, stage director, political figure avid lecturer, and author of more than 60 books, plays and opera librettos and a leader in the Georgist movement.-Early:Born as Francis Butters, the eldest of nine siblings, in the Claugton Road,...
, Felix MorleyFelix MorleyFelix Muskett Morley was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from the United States.-Biography:Morley was born in Haverford, Pennsylvania, his father being the mathematician Frank Morley. Like his brothers, Christopher and Frank, Felix was educated at Haverford College and enjoyed a Rhodes...
,- the Southern Agrarians, notably Frank Lawrence OwsleyFrank Lawrence OwsleyFrank Lawrence Owsley was an American historian who taught at Vanderbilt University for most of his career, where he specialized in southern history and was a member of the Southern Agrarians.-Life and career:...
, John Crowe RansomJohn Crowe RansomJohn Crowe Ransom was an American poet, essayist, magazine editor, and professor.-Life:...
, Donald DavidsonDonald Davidson (poet)Donald Grady Davidson was a U.S. poet, essayist, social and literary critic, and author...
and William FaulknerWilliam FaulknerWilliam Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
.
- the Southern Agrarians, notably Frank Lawrence Owsley
Southern Agrarians
The Southern Agrarian wing drew on some of the values and anxieties being articulated on the anti-modern right, including the desire to retain the social authority and defend the autonomy of the American states and regions, especially the South. Donald DavidsonDonald Davidson (poet)
Donald Grady Davidson was a U.S. poet, essayist, social and literary critic, and author...
was one of the most politically active of the agrarians, especially in his criticisms of the TVA
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
in his native Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
. As Murphy (2001) shows, the Southern Agrarians
Southern Agrarians
The Southern Agrarians were a group of twelve American writers, poets, essayists, and novelists, all with roots in the Southern United States, who joined together to write a pro-Southern agrarian manifesto, a...
articulated old values of Jeffersonian Democracy
Jeffersonian democracy
Jeffersonian Democracy, so named after its leading advocate Thomas Jefferson, is a term used to describe one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The term was commonly used to refer to the Democratic-Republican Party which Jefferson...
:
Rejected industrial capitalism and the culture it produced. In I'll Take My Stand they called for a return to the small-scale economy of rural America as a means to preserve the cultural amenities of the society they knew. Ransom and Tate believed that only by arresting the progress of industrial capitalism and its imperatives of science and efficiency could a social order capable of fostering and validating humane values and traditional religious faith be preserved. Skeptical and unorthodox themselves, they admired the capacity of orthodox religion to provide surety in life.
Legacy
PaleoconservativesPaleoconservatism
Paleoconservatism is a term for a conservative political philosophy found primarily in the United States stressing tradition, limited government, civil society, anti-colonialism, anti-corporatism and anti-federalism, along with religious, regional, national and Western identity. Chilton...
and paleolibertarians
Paleolibertarianism
Paleolibertarianism is a school of thought within American libertarianism associated with the late economist Murray Rothbard, and the Ludwig von Mises Institute. It is based on a combination of right-libertarianism in politics and cultural conservatism in social thought...
are often considered the successors and torchbearers of the Old Right view in the late 20th century and current era. Both of these groups often rally behind Old Right slogans such as "America First" while sharing similar views to the Old Right opposition to the 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...
. Recently, the ideas of the Old Right have seen a resurgence due to the presidential campaign of Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
.
External links
- "The Life and Death of the Old Right" by Murray RothbardMurray RothbardMurray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...