Marin K. Doudna. Concerned about the Planet: The Reporter Magazine and American Liberalism, 1949-1968. Pp. xi, 197. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978. $14.95

• Date: 01 January 1979
• Published date: 01 January 1979
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627944100134
• Author: P.A.M. Taylor
• Subject Matter: Articles

214

MARTIN

K.

DOUDNA.

Concerned

about

the

Planet:

The

Reporter

Magazine

and

American

Liberalism,

1949-1968.

Pp.

xi,

197.

Westport,

CT:

Greenwood

Press,

1978.

$14.95.

The

Reporter

announced

itself

as

&dquo;a

magazine

of

facts

and

ideas,

not

of

news

and

opinions.&dquo;

It

was

founded,

and

throughout

its

brief

existence

was

di-

rected,

by

Max

Ascoli,

voluntary

exile

from

Mussolini’s

Italy;

and

this

book

shows,

with

considerable

quotation,

his

concern

for

freedom

as

a

moral

value,

his

distrust

of

large-scale

organization,

his

opposition

to

Fascism

and

Com-

munism

alike.

Doudna

describes

how

Ascoli

separated

himself

from

groups

whose

views

on

foreign policy

he

thought

unsound,

what

staff

and

con-

tributors

he

assembled,

and

how

many

people

of

importance

subscribed.

Even

more

information

on

the

human

relations

involved

would

have

been

welcome;

how

did

an

editor

of

powerful

intellect

and

intense

convictions

handle

men

and

women

of

exceptional

ability,

most

of

them

in

the

middle

of

successful

careers?

One

would

have

welcomed,

too,

more

detail

on

the

magazine’s

finances;

all

we

are

told

is

that

Ascoli

and

his

rich

wife

were

willing

to

make

up

the

regular

losses.

The

Reporter’s

editorial

policy

is

shown

to

have

been:

hostile

to

the

China

Lobby

and

Senator

McCarthy;

favorable

to

civil

rights

though

sensi-

tive

to

the

human

problems

involved

for

southern

whites;

cool

in

appraising

suc-

cessive

presidents;

and

skeptical

toward

the

United

Nations.

Ascoli

supported

Truman’s

foreign

policy,

but

as

early

as

1950

urged

the

recognition

of

Red

China.

He

was

critical

of

John

Foster

Dulles

and

admired

Konrad

Adenauer

and

Charles

de

Gaulle.

He

dreaded

a

revival

of

American

isolationism;

and,

although

he

saw

the

difficulties,

he

supported

the

intervention

in

Vietnam.

&dquo;Our

normal

relations

with

the

Com-

munists,&dquo;

he

wrote

in

November

1962,

&dquo;should

never

be

of

war

and

can never

be

of

peace.&dquo;

Such

attitudes

fully

justify

Doudna

in

pointing

to

the

contradictions

and

dilem-

mas

of

American

liberalism.

How

far

does

the

promotion

of

a

righteous

cause

justify

intervention

in

the

affairs

of

others?

What

kinds

of force

may

be

em-

ployed ?

How

much

government

control

is

permissible

in

the

interests

of

social

justice?

What

kinds

of

ally

should

a

liberal

be

willing

to

accept?

This

is

not,

however,

the

only

context

in

which

the

magazine

can

be

placed.

Doudna

himself

notes

that,

despite

Ascoli’s

own

emphasis

on

international

relations,

most

of

the

Reporter’s

many

awards

were

gained

for

articles

on

American

issues;

and

since,

like

Doudna,

I

was

a

subscriber

during

the

1950s,

I

can

recall

what

my

own

attitude

was

in

those

days.

To

put

it

simply,

I

seldom

read

the

editorials-though

I

was

aware

of

and

respected

their

general

tone-

and

it

never

occurred

to

me

to

discover

just

who

Ascoli

was.

Rather,

I

read

articles

individually,

precisely

as

a

source

of

&dquo;facts

and

ideas&dquo;;

and

I

still

have

some

of

them,

especially

those

bearing

upon

Congress,

regulatory

agen-

cies,

and

interest

groups.

To

record

this

is

to

change

the

emphasis

from

editor

to

contributors,

though

of

course

it

was

Ascoli

and

his

editorial

associates

who

gave

them

their

chance.

So

I

can

readily

agree

with

Doudna’s

analysis.

But

I

lived

through

that

period

too-remembering

how

I

joined

Ameri-

can

academic

colleagues

in

nocturnal

mourning

as

Adlai

Stevenson

conceded

the

1952

election,

I

can

almost

feel

myself

an

honorary

American

liberal-

and

it

is

the

great

American

tradition

of

investigative

journalism

that

I

prefer

to

stress.

P.

A.

M.

TAYLOR

University

of

Hull

England

JOHN

N.

INGHAM.

The

Iron

Barons:

A

Social

Analysis

of an American

Urban

Elite

1874-1965.

Pp.

xix,

242.

West-

port,

CT:

Greenwood

Press,

1978.

$19.95.

This

is

a

scholarly

examination

of

the

social

background

of

some

nineteenth

century

American

iron

and

steel

manu-