Walter Weyl

Walter Weyl
A photograph of a white man in profile; his hair is cut short, and his has a goatee; he is wearing a collared shirt and a necktie
Walter Weyl, from a 1912 publication
Born(1873-03-11)March 11, 1873
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
DiedNovember 9, 1919 (1919-11-10) (aged 46)
Woodstock, New York, US
EducationWharton School at University of Pennsylvania
Occupation(s)economist, journalist
Years active1901–1919
OrganizationThe New Republic
Notable workThe New Democracy (1912)
MovementProgressive movement
SpouseBertha Poole Weyl
ChildrenNathaniel Weyl
RelativesJulius Stern

Walter Edward Weyl (March 11, 1873 – November 9, 1919) was a writer and speaker, an intellectual leader of the Progressive movement in the United States.[1] As a strong nationalist, his goal was to remedy the relatively weak American national institutions with a strong state. Weyl wrote widely on issues of economics, labor, public policy, and international affairs in numerous books, articles, and editorials; he was a coeditor of the highly influential The New Republic magazine, 1914–1916. His most influential book, The New Democracy (1912) was a classic statement of democratic meliorism, revealing his path to a future of progress and modernization based on middle class values, aspirations and brain work. It articulated the general mood:

"America to-day is in a somber, soul-questioning mood. We are in a period of clamor, of bewilderment, of an almost tremulous unrest. We are hastily revising all our social conceptions.... We are profoundly disenchanted with the fruits of a century of independence."[2][3]
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference rutgers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Walter Edward Weyl (1912). The new democracy: an essay on certain political and economic tendencies in the United States. Macmillan. p. 1.
  3. ^ Merrill D. Peterson (1960). The Jefferson Image in the American Mind. University of Virginia Press. pp. 330–31. ISBN 9780813918518.