Lincoln Steffens | |
|---|---|
 Steffens in 1895. Photo byRockwood. | |
| Born | Joseph Lincoln Steffens April 6, 1866 |
| Died | August 9, 1936 (aged 70) |
| Resting place | Cypress Lawn Memorial Park |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupation | Muckrakingjournalist |
| Employers |
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| Known for |
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| Spouse(s) | Josephine Bontecou (m. 1881–1911),Ella Winter (m. 1924) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Laura Steffens Suggett (sister) |
Joseph Lincoln Steffens (April 6, 1866 – August 9, 1936) was an Americaninvestigative journalist and one of the leadingmuckrakers of theProgressive Era in the early 20th century. He launched a series of articles inMcClure's, called "Tweed Days in St. Louis",[1] that would later be published together in a book titledThe Shame of the Cities. He is remembered for investigating corruption inmunicipal government in American cities and for his leftist values.
Steffens was born inSan Francisco,California, the only son and eldest of four children of Elizabeth Louisa (Symes) Steffens and Joseph Steffens. He was raised largely inSacramento, the state capital; the Steffens family mansion, aVictorian house on H Street bought from merchant Albert Gallatin in 1887, would become theCalifornia Governor's Mansion in 1903.[2]
Steffens attendedSt Mathews, where he frequently clashed with the school's founder and director, stern disciplinarian, Alfred Lee Brewer.[3]
Steffens began his journalism career at theNew York Commercial Advertiser in the 1890s,[4] before moving to theNew York Evening Post. From 1902 to 1906, he became an editor ofMcClure's magazine, where he became part of a celebratedmuckraking trio withIda Tarbell andRay Stannard Baker.[5][6] He specialized in investigating government and political corruption, and two collections of his articles were published asThe Shame of the Cities (1904) andThe Struggle for Self-Government (1906). He also wroteThe Traitor State (1905), which criticizedNew Jersey for patronizingincorporation. In 1906, he leftMcClure's, along with Tarbell and Baker, to formThe American Magazine. InThe Shame of the Cities, Steffens sought to bring about political reform in urban America by appealing to the emotions of Americans. He tried to provoke outrage with examples of corrupt governments throughout urban America.
From 1914 to 1915, he covered theMexican Revolution and began to see revolution as preferable to reform. In March 1919, he accompaniedWilliam C. Bullitt, a low-level State Department official, on a three-week visit toSoviet Russia and witnessed the "confusing and difficult" process of society in the process of revolutionary change. He wrote that "Soviet Russia was a revolutionary government with an evolutionary plan", enduring "a temporary condition of evil, which is made tolerable by hope and a plan."[7]
After his return, he promoted his view of theSoviet Revolution and in the course of campaigning for U.S. food aid for Russia made his famous remark about the new Soviet society: "I have seen the future, and it works", a phrase he often repeated with many variations.[8] The title page of his wifeElla Winter'sRed Virtue: Human Relationships in the New Russia (Victor Gollancz, 1933) carries this quote.
His enthusiasm forcommunism soured by the time his memoirs appeared in 1931. The autobiography became a bestseller leading to a short return to prominence for the writer, but Steffens would not be able to capitalize on it as illness cut his lecture tour of America short by 1933. He was a member of theCalifornia Writers Project, aNew Deal program.
Steffens married the twenty-six-year-old socialist writerLeonore (Ella) Sophie Winter in 1924 and moved to Italy, where their son Peter was born in San Remo.
In 1927, they relocated toCarmel-by-the-Sea, California, the most significant art colony on the Pacific Coast, and settled in a cottage close to the intersection of San Antonio Street and Ocean Avenue. During their stay, he authored his autobiography and managed thePacific Weekly. The cottage underwent renovation in 1992.[9][10]
Ella and Lincoln soon became controversial figures in the leftist politics of the region.[11]
WhenJohn O’Shea, one of the local Carmel artists and a friend of the couple, exhibited his study of "Mr. Steffens’ soul", an image which resembled a grotesque daemon, Lincoln took a certain pride in the drawing and enjoyed the publicity it generated.[12][13]
Who's Who does not give his Carmel address. We object! A student of philosophy, he has been editor of a string of newspapers and magazines including The American, Everybody's McClure's, the author of a half dozen books; a lecturer, and a prominent club man.
In 1934, Steffens and Winter helped found theSan Francisco Workers' School (later theCalifornia Labor School); Steffens also served there as an advisor.
Steffens died of a heart condition[15] on August 9, 1936, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.[15]
In 2011,Kevin Baker ofThe New York Times lamented that "Lincoln Steffens isn't much remembered today".[16]
Lincoln Steffens is mentioned in theDanny DeVito movieJack the Bear (1993).
Lincoln Steffens is mentioned in the 1987 novelThe Bonfire of the Vanities byTom Wolfe.[17]
Characters on the American crime drama seriesCity on a Hill, which debuted in 2019, make numerous references to Lincoln Steffens.[18][19]
TheAutobiography of Lincoln Steffens is the favorite book of one of the members of The Group inMary McCarthy's 1963novel of the same title.[20]
Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens is mentioned in theJoseph McElroy novelWomen and Men. And it is mentioned as a favorite byMarilyn Monroe in her Autobiography "My Story" (she reads it during the making ofAll About Eve and is warned byJoseph L. Mankiewicz to not tell anyone due to possible Communist ties).
Lincoln Steffens is a somewhat frustrated witness to the political intrigue of the remapping of Europe following WW1 in the 1940 novelWorld's End byUpton Sinclair.[21] InWorld's End, Sinclair refers to Steffens as amuckraker. The same label has been assigned to Sinclair himself.
On at least one occasion, after being caught drinking while encouraging younger cadets to engage in such "forbidden activities," Steffens was locked into Brewer's guardhouse, where he existed in solitary confinement on limited rations for 22 days.
