Walter Lippmann and the American Century — 21 The Disinterested Man

1. 1. By the end of the 1920s, Lippmann worried about the excesses of democracy and argued that limiting majority power was the most important task for those who care for liberty.
2. 2. Lippmann admired H. L. Mencken for destroying the democratic tradition of the American pioneers through ridicule, while he disdained Sinclair Lewis as a 'revolted provincial' whose novels were mere prejudices.
3. 3. In 'A Preface to Morals,' Lippmann argued that the 'acids of modernity' had corroded religious faith and that modern man must become 'disinterested'—detached and self-reliant—to find moral footing.
4. 4. Lippmann's 'disinterested man' would face pain with fortitude, be without fear or compulsion, and move easily through life, affirming that 'it is what it is.'
5. 5. Lippmann's own failed marriage to Faye informed his philosophy: he viewed marriage as a necessary affliction and urged couples to transcend naive desire for a mature, disinterested partnership.
6. 6. Lippmann sent his daughter Jane to Oxford to wean her from their close attachment, fearing it would falsify her life if she remained too dependent on him.
7. 7. After the 1929 stock market crash, Lippmann advised scholars to build a 'wall against chaos' and give allegiance to the 'invisible empire of reason,' standing apart from the immediate world.