The Age of Reform

Louis Hartz explored the contrasts between American and European history, and concluded that American political thought and behavior had been uniquely practical while they were simultaneously being dominated by a fixed commitment to a liberal theory of individualism and capitalism. Daniel Boorstin agreed that American political history was unique in its preoccupation with practical problems and in its willingness to compromise. One particular aspect of the climate of opinion during the late 1940s and early 1950s was especially important as background to Richard Hofstadter's discussion of Populism, which is reprinted below from The Age of Reform. In his reinterpretation of Populism, Hofstadter was moving on especially controversial ground because Populism had always been lauded by progressive historians as a major source of modern American reform. Hofstadter was so concerned about “McCarthyism” that, despite his basic sympathy for the American reform tradition, he looked back at it to see if it contained any characteristics of “McCarthyism.”