Walter Lippmann and the American Century — 3 A Friend of the Masses

1. 1. Lippmann's first real encounter with poverty after the Chelsea fire led him to question the system and embrace socialism.
2. 2. Lippmann was drawn to Fabian socialism because it advocated reform by an intellectual elite rather than mass revolution.
3. 3. Lippmann founded the Harvard Socialist Club in 1908, which became a hub for radical discussion and activism.
4. 4. Lippmann's socialist activism extended beyond campus; he spoke at the first ISS convention and joined its executive committee.
5. 5. Graham Wallas's seminar at Harvard shifted Lippmann's view of politics from rational institutions to irrational human nature.
6. 6. Wallas sowed doubts in Lippmann about socialism, leading him to adopt a meliorist, liberal stance.
7. 7. Lippmann's exclusion from Harvard's elite social clubs due to anti-Semitism shaped his outsider identity and later his abandonment of socialism.
8. 8. Lippmann's speech against the Institute of 1770 helped Yard men win control of class offices, but he never again challenged discrimination openly.
9. 9. Lippmann chose journalism over academia, starting as a cub reporter for the reformist 'Boston Common'.