From Progressive to New Dealer

Book excerpt: A native Pennsylvanian, born in Meadville in 1867 and a graduate of Allegheny College, Frederic Howe dedicated his life early on to the cause of improving society and played a major role in many movements for progressive change from the early 1890s to the Second World War&—the period that Richard Hofstadter famously dubbed the &“age of reform.&” Howe was a fighter against corruption and political bosses in Cleveland; a leader in Progressive politics in New York City; a spokesman for reform through numerous books and articles and as director of the Cooper Union&’s People&’s Institute; an ardent campaigner for &“Fighting Bob&” La Follette, Woodrow Wilson, Al Smith, and Franklin D. Roosevelt; a defender of immigrants and civil liberties as commissioner of immigration for the Port of New York during the First World War; and an advocate for consumers as the first consumers counsel in the New Deal. Kenneth Miller&’s biography takes the reader behind the scenes and shows how &“the great game of politics&” was played in the age of reform.