Modern Republican: Arthur Larson And the Eisenhower Years

385 Pages·2006·3.94 MB·English

by  David L. Stebenne

Biography
Modern

Stebenne
$35.00
and achievements did not always mesh. Larson’s
The biography of the chief architect of
ultimately unsuccessful efforts to prevent the “There was a time when the nation had a self-
M
rise of the New Right are especially enlightening, moderate conservatism, the forerunner proclaimed Republican moderate in the White
for they help to clarify why the party of Dwight House. His name was Dwight D. Eisenhower,
o Republican
Eisenhower in the 1950s gradually became the of “compassionate conservatism,” and the most articulate spokesman for the
d
party of the more conservative Ronald Reagan president’s views was Arthur Larson. David
an all-but-forgotten legacy of
by the 1980s. Modern Republican will enlighten e Stebenne has made an important contribution
readers who want to understand more fully postwar Republicanism r in his biography of this little-remembered but
the historical context of today’s divisive n historically important figure.”
political arena.
—Fred I. Greenstein, Chairman, Program in

“This book is an original, important, and interesting contribution R Leadership Studies, Woodrow Wilson School
to the literature on President Eisenhower and on American of Public and International Affairs, Princeton
e
history in the years before and after World War II. It will make University
p
a difference in the way historians and political scientists think
u Arthur Larson was the chief architect of
about a critical period of national history. Too few books have
b moderate conservatism—one of the most
that sort of impact. . . . It is one of the very few books out of the
influential and least studied political forces
l
flood of historical scholarship [that] actually force changes in i in U.S. history. During the Eisenhower
the textbook understanding of history.” c administration, Larson held three major posts:
a Under Secretary of Labor, Director of the
—Michael A. McGerr, author of A Fierce Discontent: The Rise
United States Information Agency and chief
n
and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870–1920 presidential speechwriter. In each of these
roles, Larson’s most important achievement
Photo by R. F. Millington
was to explain clearly and cogently what the
David L. Stebenne earned a B.A. from Yale and administration stood for on matters foreign and
a J.D. and Ph.D. in history from Columbia. He is domestic. Larson’s views were put forth most
author of Arthur J. Goldberg: New Deal Liberal forcefully in A Republican Looks at His Party,
and has written articles about various aspects Arthur published in 1956. Larson and his book
of modern U.S. history. He has taught at Yale INDIANA provided the Eisenhower administration
and Ohio State University, where he is currently LArson with “the vision thing.”
University Press ISBN-13: 978-0-253-34807-4
an associate professor of history and adjunct ISBN-10: 0-253-34807-2
professor of law. Bloomington & Indianapolis INDIANA and the His limitations and disappointments also help
explain Eisenhower-era conservatism. They
http://iupress.indiana.edu
EisEnhowEr illuminate the extent to which there was a
1-800-842-6796
gap between what the “Modern Republicans”
Jacket photo courtesy of Anna Larson and Lex Larson.
YEArs believed and what they said and were able
to accomplish, and why those beliefs, values,
David L. Stebenne
Modern Republican

Modern Republican
arthur larson and the
eisenhower years
David L. Stebenne
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bloomington and Indianapolis
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street
Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA
http://iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone orders 800-842-6796
Fax orders 812-855-7931
Orders by e-mail [email protected]
© 2006 by David L. Stebenne
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, elec-
tronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The
Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the
only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American Na-
tional Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stebenne, David.
Modern Republican : Arthur Larson and the Eisenhower years / David L. Stebenne.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-34807-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-253-34807-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Larson, Arthur. 2. Lawyers—United
States—Biography. 3. Political consultants—United States—Biography. 4. United
States. Dept. of Labor—Of¤cials and employees—Biography. 5. United States.
Information Agency—Of¤cials and employees—Biography. I. Larson, Arthur.
II. Title.
KF373.L36S74 2006
973.921092—dc22
[B]
2006015063
1 2 3 4 5 11 10 09 08 07 06
To the memory of my maternal grandfather,
George C. Perkins (1897–1997)

contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
1. Native Son of the Upper Midwest 1
2. Oxford’s Imprint 27
3. A Few False Starts 54
4. Legal Scholar 84
5. To the Eisenhower Administration 99
6. Of Theory and Practice 118
7. A Republican Looks at His Party 151
8. Caught in the Crosscurrents 176
9. The President’s “Ghost” 200
10. Dueling with the New Right 221
11. Victories and Defeats 255
Epilogue 281
Notes 285
Index 353
vii

preface
A
mericans have heard a lot about “compassionate conservatism” re-
cently, but what that label really means in terms of basic philosophy and
speci¤c public policies is still pretty unclear. What we know for sure is that it
differs signi¤cantly from Reagan-era conservatism, which sought to shrink the
size and cost of government (especially by cutting domestic programs) and re-
duce its role in society. “Government is the problem, not the solution” was the
libertarian-like mantra of 1980s-style conservatism. Since 2001, however, the
opposite pattern has developed in response to changing conditions, both for-
eign and domestic. The size and cost of government have grown a great deal
since then, and not just with respect to military spending. The administration
of George W. Bush is responsible for the biggest single expansion of the welfare
state (the prescription-drug-bene¤t program) since the mid-1960s. The “com-
passionate conservatives” have also pushed successfully for the highest levels of
federal spending ever for AIDS research and treatment. At the same time, gov-
ernment intrusion into everyday life has grown, most notably with the passage
of the Patriot Act. When one stops to consider that all of these initiatives
emerged from a Congress controlled by Republicans, the difference between
the current political situation and the Reagan era becomes even clearer.
Although the speci¤c policies associated with “compassionate conserva-
tism” have begun to become more concrete, what they add up to remains
vague. Today’s version of “compassionate conservatism” is very much a work
in progress, in terms of both de¤ning basic principles and explaining how they
apply to contemporary conditions. One of the most important purposes of this
book is to help with that process of de¤ning and explaining by providing some
useful historical perspective. Like so many other political philosophies, “com-
passionate conservatism” is not something entirely new but rather represents
ix