The New Republic: Encyclopedia II - The New Republic - History

The New Republic - History

The New Republic was founded by Herbert Croly and Walter Lippmann through the financial backing of heiress Dorothy Payne Whitney and her husband, Willard Straight, who maintained majority ownership. The magazine's first issue was published on November 7, 1914. The magazine's politics were liberal and progressive, and as such concerned with coping with the great changes brought about by America's late-19th century industrialization. Among the most important of these was the emergence of the U.S. as a Great Power on the international scene, and in 1917 TNR urged America's entry into World War I on the side of the Allies.

One consequence of World War I was the Russian Revolution of 1917, and during the inter-war years the magazine was generally positive in its assessment of the Soviet Union and its communist government. This changed with the start of the Cold War, though, as TNR moved towards positions more typical of mainstream American liberalism. During the 1950s it was critical of both Soviet foreign policy and domestic anti-communism, particularly McCarthyism. During the 1960s the magazine opposed the Vietnam War, but was also often critical of the New Left.

In 1975, the magazine was bought by Harvard University lecturer Martin Peretz, who transformed TNR into its current incarnation. Peretz was a veteran of the New Left who had broken with that movement over its support of various Third World liberationist movements, particularly the Palestine Liberation Organization. Under Peretz TNR has advocated both strong U.S. support for Israel and a muscular U.S. foreign policy. During the 1980s the magazine generally supported President Reagan's anti-Communist foreign policy, including provision of aid to the Contras. It has also supported both Gulf Wars and, reflecting its belief in the moral efficacy of American power, intervention in "humanitarian" crises, such as those in Bosnia and Kosovo during the Yugoslav wars.

In addition to being editor-in-chief and co-owner of The New Republic, Peretz is a contributor to the Jewish World Review.

In 1998, TNR faced a journalistic fraud scandal when features writer Stephen Glass was revealed in a Forbes Magazine investigation to have fabricated a story called "Hack Heaven." A TNR investigation found that most of Glass' stories had used or had been based on fabricated information. The story of the Glass' fall and TNR editor Chuck Lane's handling of the scandal was dramatized in a 2003 film, titled Shattered Glass.

The magazine has seen a steady decline in circulation since 2000. According to the publisher's reports, subscriptions dropped from 85,904 in 2002 to 61,124 in 2003, a decrease of 29% in one year.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki