Arthur J. Goldberg: New Deal Liberal

570 Pages·1996·42.75 MB·English

by  David Stebenne

ARTHUR J. GOLDBERG
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ARTHUR J. GOLDBERG
New Deal Liberal
DAVID L. STEBENNE
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1996
Oxford University Press
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Copyright © 1996 by David L. Stebenne
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stebenne, David
Arthur J. Goldberg : New Deal liberal / David L. Stebenne.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-507105-0
1. Goldberg, Arthur J. 2. Cabinet officers—United States — Biography.
3. Ambassadors —United States —Biography. 4. Judges —United States —Biography.
5. Liberalism —United States —History—20th century. I. Title.
E840.8G57S74 1996
973.92'092-dc20
[B] 95-48250
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To my parents, William and Regina Stebenne
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Preface
In view of the varying expectations about content that readers of biography
have today, a brief explanation and caveat seem in order. This book has been
conceived as both more and less than a conventional biography. It is more in
the sense that it tells the story of the rise and decline of a certain social
bargain, one that for all its problems remains central to the political economy
of this society and all the other highly industrialized market systems. This
book is also less than a conventional biography in that its primary focus is on
Arthur Goldberg's connections to that larger theme rather than his life story
as such. And although this biography does tell his story from beginning to
end, the emphasis throughout is on what he did in his public life, rather than
who he was in his private one. All biographers are, of course, confronted with
issues of selection, of deciding what should be put in and what can be left out.
My objective here has been to capture those aspects of Goldberg's life and
career of greatest historical significance.
Most people today who produce this sort of book accumulate lots of debts
to others along the way, and that has certainly been true for me. I owe the
most to those who taught me history in college and graduate school. I first
became interested in Arthur Goldberg when I was an undergraduate, in a
seminar taught by John Blum on modern American political history. Like
many students before and after, I have benefited from his exemplary teaching
and especially from his gift for stimulating serious inquiry into the history of
modern America. Also helpful was an early conversation with David Mont-
gomery, which he has no doubt forgotten, but which I never did. My teachers
in the graduate and law schools at Columbia University helped even more,
especially Eric McKitrick, who kept a watchful and encouraging eye on me
throughout my time there, and Eric Foner, who directed the dissertation on
which this book is based. I owe a special debt to Alan Brinkley, who rashly
agreed to read and edit what turned out to be a very long manuscript, and also
helped in other ways too numerous to mention here.
viii Preface
Then there are the debts owed to colleagues and friends. Thanks go to
Karla Goldman, for initial inspiration and important assists along the way; to
my graduate school colleagues Tyler Anbinder and Patrick Williams, who
listened patiently and provided much useful advice; to Ellen Hamilton, with
whom the issues discussed in Chapters 1 through 5 were debated at length; to
Diana Shenk of Pennsylvania State University, for her invaluable assistance in
using the papers of the Steelworkers Union; to Dan Schiller, who read an
early draft and made many insightful comments; to Nick Spiliotes and Steve
Fabry, for providing lots of encouragement and a careful reading of the final
draft; to the members of the Manhattan Dinner Seminar, whose debates
about political economy clarified my thinking in some important respects; to
my literary agent Gerry McCauley, and Sheldon Meyer, Andrew Albanese,
Carole Schwager, and others at Oxford University Press, all of whom made
possible the transition from manuscript to book; to Dave Mason and Aaron
Retish, who helped with the index and proofreading, respectively; to Frances
Simonson Guilbert, who believed in this project and its author from the very
beginning; and to the Listers: Chuck, Jennifer, Penny, and especially Sara, for
their own very special and much appreciated form of encouragement. There
are, of course, others who helped, too many, in fact, to list here. I am sure they
know who they are, and can imagine how grateful I am for their contribu-
tions, big and small.
Projects like this also depend on financial support, and I have been fortu-
nate in that regard as well. Graduate school fellowships provided through
Columbia University's history department and suport from the Whiting
Foundation together made this book possible. I am also indebted to the
following organizations for financing parts of my research: the American
Historical Association, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the John F.
Kennedy Library Foundation, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, and
the Harry S. Truman Library Institute. Last but not least, I am grateful for
professional leave during the fall of 1993 from my teaching duties at Ohio
State University, a respite that enabled me to finish the last major part of the
writing.
Columbus, Ohio D. L. S.
December 1995
Contents
1. Beginnings, 3
2. The Crucible of Wartime, 20
3. The Postwar "New Deal", 45
4. Containment, Domestic and Foreign, 78
5. Consensus, Real and Imagined, 120
6. The Postwar Order Under Stress, Round One, 154
7. The Postwar Order Under Stress, Round Two, 188
8. Stalemate, 233
9. Limited Victory, 279
10. Rupture, 316
11. A Time of Troubles, 352
12. Return to Private Life, 380
Notes, 385
Index, 525