Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date __________________

The New Deal Biography

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

5 The New Deal

Walter Lippmann 1889–1974

By 1932, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt first ran for president, Walter

Lippmann had already been closely connected to five other presidents. He

had graduated from Harvard University and went to work for The New

Republic, a magazine founded by supporters of the hero of his youth,

Teddy Roosevelt. He also worked for President Wilson both during and

after World War I. President Wilson is said to have based his Fourteen

Points for the postwar settlement on Lippmann’s ideas. Wilson also sent

Lippmann to England gather intelligence and spread false information and

propaganda behind enemy lines as part of an effort to weaken the German

war effort.

It was there that Lippmann realized how easily people could be swayed

by what they read in newspapers and magazines. He set out to try to help

readers make sense of complicated issues.

In the years that followed, he headed the editorial department at the New

York World, a liberal newspaper. When that paper went out of business, he

moved to the New York Herald-Tribune, a conservative one. This was

typical of Lippmann’s ability to examine issues on their own strengths and

weaknesses rather than according to a strict set of political views. His

column, “Today and Tomorrow,” ran for over 30 years, was eventually

syndicated to more than 200 newspapers, and reached millions of readers.

Lippmann was not always correct in his judgments. As Franklin Delano

Roosevelt began his first campaign for the presidency in 1932, Lippmann

described him as follows:

He is a pleasant man, who, without any important qualifications for

the office, would very much like to be President . . . Here is a man who

has made a good governor, who might make a good Cabinet officer,

but who simply does not measure up to the tremendous demands of

the office of President.

WHY HE MADE HISTORY Walter

Lippmann was the country’s first political

columnist. In this job, he helped Americans

make sense of the world around them and

of the politics that affected their lives.

As you read the biography below, ask yourself

what qualities made Walter Lippmann

someone that people felt they could trust and

rely on. © B

ettm

ann

/CO

RB

IS

Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date __________________

The New Deal Biography

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

6 The New Deal

One of Lippmann’s greatest gifts, however, was his ability to abandon a

position once he had been proven wrong. He came to respect Roosevelt’s

abilities, and he recognized and indeed praised many New Deal programs

aimed at ending the Great Depression. He became a staunch supporter of

Roosevelt’s foreign policy as well, in particular backing U.S. efforts to

supply ships, planes, and other war material to England to fight the

Germans before the United States formally entered the war.

Historians call Lippmann the country’s first and perhaps greatest

political columnist. He clarified the news and put the facts in perspective.

And he was not so bound to a single political philosophy that he was

incapable of changing his position.

In the years following World War II, Lippmann continued his role as

adviser to those in power and interpreter to those affected by their

decisions. He continued to dig beneath the surfaces of issues to the

philosophies from which they grew. In his lifetime, he supported six

Republican and seven Democratic candidates for president.

He openly questioned public policy and his relationships with most

presidents eventually became strained. One of his last acts before retiring

was typical of his temperamental nature and willingness to criticize

decision-makers and their decisions. He had been a welcome guest and

“insider” during the administration of Lyndon Johnson––until in the mid-

1960s he came out against the war in Vietnam. He alienated the president

and his supporters, but he became a hero of the anti-war movement.

Walter Lippmann died in New York City in 1974.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

1. Compare How did Walter Lippmann feel about Roosevelt before he was elected to

his first term as president and after he introduced the New Deal?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

2. Draw Conclusions Which of the following words does not describe Walter

Lippmann: intelligent, consistent, well educated, politically savvy.

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

ACTIVITY

Do some research to find collections of Lippmann’s column, “Today and

Tomorrow.” Choose one column with a topic related to the New Deal, and

study that column. Then in a brief class presentation, describe the content

of the column and tell what it suggests about the Roosevelt administration

and about Walter Lippmann.