cover image Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union

Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union

Robert Cottrell. Columbia University Press, $50 (608pp) ISBN 978-0-231-11972-6

ACLU founder and longtime director Roger Nash Baldwin (1884-1981) has dimmed on the radar screen of popular reference, but his legacy has not. Cottrell's straightforward biography of this complex figure focuses on the various forces at work, and sometimes in conflict, in Baldwin's life: his privileged heritage, his egalitarian impulses (awakened by the progressive movement's growing strength and stature, bolstered by Teddy Roosevelt's presidency), his unconventional marriage, his philandering and his single-minded drive to establish the fledgling civil liberties movement. From his blue-blooded upbringing in Massachusetts and his Harvard education, to an unexpected social work career in St. Louis and imprisonment for conscientious objection during WWI, to the founding and running of the ACLU, Baldwin's life makes for a naturally compelling narrative. Baldwin oversaw early incarnations of the ACLU and helped lead them through their evolution into a mainstream progressive stronghold. Cottrell's discussion of the radical influences pulling Baldwin away from the practices of early 20th-century progressivism elucidates the popularization of radical politics that occurred in the first half of the century. Cottrell (Izzy: A Biography of I.F. Stone), an American history professor at California State University, is an empathic but not overly sympathetic chronicler. The first biographer to draw on material that surfaced after Baldwin's death, he adheres to chronology and clear, unembellished prose. Cottrell fills the pages with Baldwin's mentors, allies and foes, including Emma Goldman, Jane Addams, Norman Thomas, A.J. Muste, Douglas MacArthur and J. Edgar Hoover, providing a detailed and comprehensive understanding of 80 years of progressive activity. 37 photos not seen by PW. (Feb.) Forecast: Devotees of civil liberties and progressive causes will be drawn to this, assuring solid, though not startling, sales.