ABSTRACT
Two events would draw American intellectuals into the 20th-century political arena—World War I and the Russian Revolution. For an American nation steeped in the nineteenth-century notion of progress, World War I was a profound shock. The Russian Revolution had a profound impact on the American public as well as the intellectual community. When Kerensky's moderate government took charge, most Americans felt relieved. Russia was moving toward democracy and would become a reliable ally against Germany. The Russian Revolution introduced a note of political seriousness into the American intellectual community. Although Karl Marx had predicted a workers' revolution, none had occurred even during the chaos of World War I. The vague dream of a workers' revolution had come true, and the shock of that reality was overwhelming. Volumes have been written on the Russian Revolution's transforming effect on American intellectuals.
