Walter Lippmann — Youth, Education, and Socialism

1. 1. Lippmann's early political thinking emerged through engagement with Graham Wallas's arguments about the Great Society and social psychology.
2. 2. Lippmann argued that modern democracy was structured and driven by the social psychology of public opinion, as sketched in his 1914 'Notes on Public Opinion.'
3. 3. Lippmann was an only child from an affluent German Jewish family, confirmed at Temple Emanu-El, but later downplayed his Jewishness.
4. 4. At Harvard, Lippmann helped establish the Harvard Socialist Club and became its first president, but his socialism was more intellectual than experiential.
5. 5. Wallas's 'Human Nature in Politics' attacked James Bryce's constitutional approach, arguing that political science must engage with social psychology.
6. 6. Lippmann's 'A Preface to Politics' popularized Wallas's ideas, arguing that politics should shift from a mechanical to a human center, focusing on public opinion.
7. 7. Wallas's 'The Great Society' (1914) dedicated to Lippmann, argued that modern conditions were vast, complex, and driven by capitalism, requiring psychological analysis.
8. 8. Lippmann's 'Drift and Mastery' (1914) argued that democracy should control the disorganized insecurity of the Great Society through public opinion and scientific method.
9. 9. Lippmann supported industrial democracy within capitalism, advocating for unions as partners in management, not revolution.
10. 10. Lippmann's chapter on feminism in 'Drift and Mastery' defended separate spheres, drawing criticism from feminists like Winnifred Harper Cooley.
11. 11. Lippmann's 1914 'Notes on Public Opinion' argued that democracy requires self-conscious publics forming judgments on evidence, but modern conditions make this difficult.
12. 12. By 1914, Lippmann had moved ideologically from socialism to progressivism, resolving to rewrite his early books and focus on public opinion.