The National Civic Federation and the making of a new liberalism, 1900-1915 / Christopher J. Cyphers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cyphers, Christopher J., 1965-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National Civic Federation--History.

National Civic Federation.

Liberalism--United States--History.

Liberalism.

United States--Economic policy--To 1933.

United States.

United States--Social policy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (211 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, c2002.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Founded in 1900, the National Civic Federation (NCF), a broad-based, nongovernmental social and policy reform organization, emerged throughout the Progressive Era as one of the nation's most powerful policy research and lobbying groups. Amidst the strong demand by rank-and-file Americans for economic and social reform, the NCF proposed that the government begin to assume a more prominent role in managing the nation's economy and providing for the needs of the country's weakest and most vulnerable citizens. The organization constructed broad-based coalitions of business leaders, labor leaders, social scientists, and politicians with diverse backgrounds to fashion model legislation and promote public policy aimed at meeting the demands created by modern capitalism. Cyphers' work challenges the longstanding assumption that organizations like the NCF existed simply to build a relationship between big business and the government for the sole benefit of big business. He argues that the NCF sought the preservation of the fundamental tenets of American liberalism and the redefinition of this liberalism for a modern polity whose life was shaped by industrial and commercial capitalism. It saw the individual states, rather than the federal government, as the ideal mechanism to promote uniform economic and social reform. Cyphers also charts the origins of civic cooperation and the creation of voluntary associations as alternatives to the statist remedies to modern economic and social problems that were championed by America's early 20th-century socialist movement.

Contents:

Cover

THE NATIONAL CIVIC FEDERATION AND THE MAKING OF A NEW LIBERALISM, 1900-1915

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

NOTES

CHAPTER 1 INSIDE THE NATIONAL CIVIC FEDERATION

THE CHICAGO CIVIC FEDERATION

FROM REGIONAL TO NATIONAL ORGANIZATION

BEYOND THE LABOR QUESTION

CHAPTER 2 DEFINING A NEW LIBERALISM (BY WHAT IT WAS NOT)

NEW LIBERALISM'S DETRACTORS

DEFINING THE SOCIALIST THREAT

SURVEYING AMERICAN PROGRESS

CAPITALISM AS LIBERALISM'S PROTECTOR

CHAPTER 3 GENDER AND THE MAKING OF A NEW LIBERALISM

DIVERGENT VIEWS OF AMERICAN WOMANHOOD

ANTI-SUFFRAGE AND ANTI-SOCIALISM

PROMOTING WELFARE CAPITALISM

BEYOND WELFARE WORK

A NEW, SELF-DEFINED ROLE

CHAPTER 4 FOREIGN IMMIGRATION AND THE NEW LIBERALISM

PREPARING TO DEBATE THE IMMIGRATION QUESTION

PRO- AND ANTI-IMMIGRATION POSITIONS

NCF'S IMMIGRATION CONFERENCE

PROTECTING IMMIGRANTS' WELFARE

ASIAN IMMIGRANTS

CHAPTER 5 THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PUBLIC UTILITY REGULATION

TAKING UP THE UTILITY QUESTION

PREPARING TO STUDY THE UTILITY QUESTION

FAILURE OF PUBLIC OWNERSHIP IN THE UNITED STATES

PUSH FOR REGULATORY UNIFORMITY

MODEL BILL FOR UNIFORM UTILITY REGULATION

CHAPTER 6 TESTING THE LIMITS OF FEDERALISM

THE NEED FOR LEGISLATIVE UNIFORMITY

COMBATTING THE MOVE TOWARD STATISM

PROMOTING THE VIRTUES OF UNIFORMITY

NCF STATE COUNCILS

CONCLUSION

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS

PERIODICALS AND JOURNALS

BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL CIVIC FEDERATION

UNPUBLISHED DISSERTATIONS

SECONDARY SOURCES

INDEX

About the Author.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [179]-192) and index.

ISBN:

9798400689444

9780313010767

0313010765

OCLC:

70723633