 | |
 The Nation, cover dated June 18–25, 2018 | |
| Editor | Katrina vanden Heuvel[1] |
|---|---|
| Former editors | |
| Categories | Political progressive[2] |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Publisher | Katrina vanden Heuvel |
| Total circulation (2021) | 96,000[3] |
| First issue | July 6, 1865; 160 years ago (1865-07-06) |
| Company | The Nation Company, L.P. |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | New York City, U.S. |
| Website | thenation |
| ISSN | 0027-8378 |
| OCLC | 1643268 |
The Nation is aprogressive[2][4] American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor toWilliam Lloyd Garrison'sThe Liberator, anabolitionist newspaper that closed in 1865, after ratification of theThirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Thereafter, the magazine proceeded to a broader topic,The Nation. An important collaborator of the new magazine was its Literary EditorWendell Phillips Garrison, son of William. He had at his disposal his father's vast network of contacts.
The Nation is published by its namesake owner, The Nation Company, L.P., at 520 8th Ave New York, NY 10018. It has news bureaus inWashington, D.C.,London, andSouth Africa, with departments coveringarchitecture, art, corporations,defense,environment, films,legal affairs, music,peace anddisarmament, poetry, and theUnited Nations. Circulation peaked at 187,000 in 2006 but dropped to 145,000 in print by 2010, although digital subscriptions had risen to over 15,000. By 2021, the total for both print and digital combined was 96,000.[5]
The Nation was established on July 6, 1865, at 130 Nassau Street ("Newspaper Row") inManhattan. Its founding coincided with the closure of the abolitionist newspaperThe Liberator,[6] also in 1865, after slavery was abolished by theThirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; a group of abolitionists, led by the landscape architectFrederick Law Olmsted, desired to found a new weekly political magazine.Edwin Lawrence Godkin, who had been considering starting such a magazine for some time, agreed and so became the first editor ofThe Nation.[7]Wendell Phillips Garrison, son ofThe Liberator's editor/publisherWilliam Lloyd Garrison, was Literary Editor from 1865 to 1906.
Its founding publisher was Joseph H. Richards; the editor was Godkin, animmigrant from Ireland who had formerly worked as a correspondent of the LondonDaily News andThe New York Times.[8][9] Godkin sought to establish what one sympathetic commentator later characterized as "an organ of opinion characterized in its utterance by breadth and deliberation, an organ which should identify itself with causes, and which should give its support to parties primarily as representative of these causes."[8]: 503
In its "founding prospectus" the magazine wrote that the publication would have "seven main objects" with the first being "discussion of the topics of the day, and, above all, of legal, economical, and constitutional questions, with greater accuracy and moderation than are now to be found in the daily press."[10]The Nation pledged to "not be the organ of any party, sect or body" but rather to "make an earnest effort to bring to discussion of political and social questions a really critical spirit, and to wage war upon the vices of violence, exaggeration and misrepresentation by which so much of the political writing of the day is marred."[10]
In the first year of publication, one of the magazine's regular features wasThe South as It Is,[11] dispatches from atour of the war-torn region by John Richard Dennett, a recentHarvard graduate and a veteran of thePort Royal Experiment. Dennett interviewedConfederate veterans, freed slaves, agents of theFreedmen's Bureau, and ordinary people he met by the side of the road.
Among the causes supported by the publication in its earliest days was civil service reform—moving the basis of government employment from apolitical patronage system to a professionalbureaucracy based uponmeritocracy.[8]: 503 The Nation also was preoccupied with the reestablishment of a sound national currency in the years after theAmerican Civil War, arguing that a stablecurrency was necessary to restore the economic stability of the nation.[8]: 503–504 Closely related to this was the publication's advocacy of the elimination ofprotective tariffs in favor of lower prices of consumer goods associated with afree trade system.[8]: 504
The magazine would stay atNewspaper Row for 90 years.
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In 1881, newspaperman-turned-railroad-baronHenry Villard acquiredThe Nation and converted it into a weekly literary supplement for his daily newspaper theNew York Evening Post. The offices of the magazine were moved to theEvening Post's headquarters at 210 Broadway.TheNew York Evening Post would later morph into atabloid, theNew York Post, a left-leaning afternoon tabloid, under ownerDorothy Schiff from 1939 to 1976. Since then, it has been aconservative tabloid owned byRupert Murdoch, whileThe Nation became known for its left-wing ideology.[12]
In 1900, Henry Villard's son,Oswald Garrison Villard, inherited the magazine and theEvening Post, and sold off the latter in 1918. Thereafter, he remadeThe Nation into acurrent affairs publication and gave it an anti-classical liberal orientation.
As the 1932 U.S. presidential election approached, the Nation saw no real choice between Hoover and Roosevelt, and it urged readers to vote for Socialist Party candidateNorman Thomas. Oswald Villard wrote "So I insist, the man who votes for either Hoover or Roosevelt is the one who is throwing away his vote... He is again postponing the peaceful revolution which Woodrow Wilson said in 1912 was on the horizon." The magazine did, however, endorse Roosevelt in the next three elections.[13]
Oswald Villard welcomed theNew Deal and supported thenationalization of industries—thus reversing the meaning of "liberalism" as the founders ofThe Nation would have understood the term, from a belief in a smaller and more restricted government to a belief in a larger and less restricted government.[14][15] Villard sold the magazine in 1935.Maurice Wertheim, the new owner, sold it in 1937 toFreda Kirchwey, who served as editor from 1933 to 1955.
Almost every editor ofThe Nation from Villard's time to the 1970s was looked at for "subversive" activities and ties.[16] WhenAlbert Jay Nock published a column criticizingSamuel Gompers and trade unions for being complicit in the war machine of theFirst World War,The Nation was briefly suspended from the US mail.[17]
The magazine's financial problems in the early 1940s prompted Kirchwey to sell her individual ownership of the magazine in 1943, creating anonprofit organization, Nation Associates, out of the money generated from a recruiting drive of sponsors. This organization was also responsible for academic affairs, including conducting research and organizing conferences, that had been a part of the early history of the magazine. Nation Associates became responsible for the operation and publication of the magazine on a nonprofit basis, with Kirchwey as both president of Nation Associates and editor ofThe Nation.[18]
Before the attack onPearl Harbor,The Nation repeatedly called on the United States to enter World War II to resistfascism, and after the US entered the war, the publication supported the American war effort. Furthermore, unlike other leftist publications and organizations which followed a close Stalinist line in keeping with theMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact,The Nation supported American intervention in the war beforeOperation Barbarossa.[19] It also supported the use of theatomic bomb onHiroshima.[19]
During the late 1940s and again in the early 1950s, a merger was discussed by Kirchwey (laterCarey McWilliams) andThe New Republic'sMichael Straight. The two magazines were very similar at that time—both were left of center,The Nation further left thanTNR; both had circulations around 100,000, althoughTNR's was slightly higher; and both lost money. It was thought that the two magazines could unite and make the most powerful journal of opinion. The new publication would have been calledThe Nation and New Republic. Kirchwey was the most hesitant, and both attempts to merge failed. The two magazines would later take very different paths:The Nation achieved a higher circulation, andThe New Republic moved more to theright.[20]
In the 1950s,The Nation was attacked as "pro-communist" because of its advocacy ofdétente with theexpansionistSoviet Union ofJoseph Stalin, and its criticism ofMcCarthyism.[9] One of the magazine's writers,Louis Fischer, resigned from the magazine afterwards, claimingThe Nation's foreign coverage was too pro-Soviet.[21] Despite this,Diana Trilling pointed out that Kirchwey did allow anti-Soviet writers, such as herself, to contribute material critical of Russia to the magazine's arts section.[22]
During McCarthyism (the Second Red Scare),The Nation was banned from several school libraries in New York City and Newark,[23] and aBartlesville, Oklahoma, librarian,Ruth Brown, was fired from her job in 1950, after a citizens committee complained she had given shelf space toThe Nation.[23]
In 1955, George C. Kirstein replaced Kirchway as magazine owner.[24]James J. Storrow Jr. bought the magazine from Kirstein in 1965.[25]
During the 1950s,Paul Blanshard, a former associate editor, served asThe Nation's special correspondent inUzbekistan. His most famous writing was a series of articles attacking theCatholic Church in America as a dangerous, powerful, and undemocratic institution.
On the eve of the 1968 U.S. presidential election the magazine argued that the choice between Nixon and Humphrey was such a bad one that voters should stay home.[26]
In June 1979,The Nation's publisherHamilton Fish and then-editorVictor Navasky moved the magazine to 72Fifth Avenue, inManhattan. In June 1998, the periodical had to move to make way forcondominium development. The offices ofThe Nation are now at 33 Irving Place, in Manhattan'sGramercy Park neighborhood.
In 1977, a group organized byHamilton Fish V bought the magazine from the Storrow family.[27] In 1985, he sold it toArthur L. Carter, who had made a fortune as a founding partner ofCarter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill.
In 1991,The Nation sued theDepartment of Defense for restricting free speech by limitingGulf War coverage topress pools. However, the issue was foundmoot inNation Magazine v. United States Department of Defense, because the war ended before the case was heard.
In 1995, Victor Navasky bought the magazine and, in 1996, became publisher. In 1995,Katrina vanden Heuvel succeeded Navasky as editor ofThe Nation, and in 2005, as publisher.
In 2015,The Nation celebrated its 150th anniversary with a documentary film by Academy Award–winning directorBarbara Kopple; a 268-page special issue[28] featuring pieces of art and writing from the archives, and new essays by frequent contributors likeEric Foner,Noam Chomsky,E. L. Doctorow,Toni Morrison,Rebecca Solnit, andVivian Gornick; a book-length history of the magazine byD. D. Guttenplan (whichThe Times Literary Supplement called "an affectionate and celebratory affair"); events across the country; and a relaunched website. In a tribute toThe Nation, published in the anniversary issue, PresidentBarack Obama said:
In an era of instant, 140-character news cycles and reflexive toeing of the party line, it's incredible to think of the 150-year history ofThe Nation. It's more than a magazine—it's a crucible of ideas forged in the time of Emancipation, tempered through depression and war and the civil-rights movement, and honed as sharp and relevant as ever in an age of breathtaking technological and economic change. Through it all,The Nation has exhibited that great American tradition of expanding our moral imaginations, stoking vigorous dissent, and simply taking the time to think through our country's challenges anew. If I agreed with everything written in any given issue of the magazine, it would only mean that you are not doing your jobs. But whether it is your commitment to a fair shot for working Americans, or equality for all Americans, it is heartening to know that an American institution dedicated to provocative, reasoned debate and reflection in pursuit of those ideals can continue to thrive.
On January 14, 2016,The Nation endorsedVermontSenatorBernie Sanders forPresident. In their reasoning, the editors ofThe Nation professed that "Bernie Sanders and his supporters are bending the arc of history toward justice. Theirs is an insurgency, a possibility, and a dream that we proudly endorse."[29]
On June 15, 2019, Heuvel stepped down as editor;D. D. Guttenplan, the editor-at-large, took her place.[30]
On March 2, 2020,The Nation again endorsed VermontSenator Bernie Sanders forPresident. In their reasoning, the editors ofThe Nation professed: "As we find ourselves on a hinge of history—a generation summoned to the task of redeeming our democracy and restoring our republic—no one ever has to wonder what Bernie Sanders stands for."[4]
On February 23, 2022,The Nation namedJacobin founderBhaskar Sunkara its new president.[31] In December 2023, Sunkara announced the magazine would be switching from a biweekly format to a larger monthly publication.[32]
On September 23, 2024,The Nation endorsedKamala Harris for the2024 United States presidential election but with criticism on foreign politics, especially in regard to theGaza war.[33] On October 25, 2024, the magazine published an article, by the magazine's interns, criticizing this endorsement.[34] FollowingDonald Trump's victory in the election,The Nation ran an opinion piece attributing the result to widespread support for "anti-system politics" among American society, drawing parallels between Harris' campaign and that of Hillary Clinton in 2016.[35]
Print ad pages declined by 5% from 2009 to 2010, while digital advertising rose 32.8% from 2009 to 2010.[36] Advertising accounts for 10% of total revenue for the magazine, while circulation totals 60%.[37]The Nation has lost money in all but three or four years of operation and is sustained in part by a group of more than 30,000 donors called Nation Associates, who donate funds to the periodical above and beyond their annual subscription fees. This program accounts for 30% of the total revenue for the magazine. An annual cruise also generates $200,000 for the magazine.[37] Since late 2012, the Nation Associates program has been called Nation Builders.[38]
In 2023, the magazine had approximately 91,000 subscribers, roughly 80% of whom pay for the print magazine. Adding sales from newsstands,The Nation had a total circulation of 96,000 copies per issue in 2021, earning the majority of its revenue from subscriptions and donations, rather than print advertising.[32]
Since its creation,The Nation has published significant works ofAmerican poetry,[39][40] including works byHart Crane,Eli Siegel,Elizabeth Bishop, andAdrienne Rich,[39] as well asW. S. Merwin,Pablo Neruda,Denise Levertov, andDerek Walcott.[40]
In 2018, the magazine published a poem entitled "How-To" by Anders Carlson-Wee which was written in the voice of a homeless man and usedblack vernacular. This led to criticism from writers such asRoxane Gay because Carlson-Wee is white.The Nation's two poetry editors,Stephanie Burt andCarmen Giménez Smith, issued an apology for publishing the poem, the first such action ever taken by the magazine.[39] The apology itself became an object of criticism also. Poet andNation columnistKatha Pollitt called the apology "craven" and likened it to a letter written from "a reeducation camp".[39]Grace Schulman,The Nation's poetry editor from 1971 to 2006, wrote that the apology represented a disturbing departure from the magazine's traditionally broad conception ofartistic freedom.[40]
The magazine runs a number of regular columns:
Regular columns in the past have included:
It was probably the only time any publication was suppressed in America for attacking a labor leader, but the suspension seemed to document Nock's charges.
On foreign policy, however, the positive case is harder to make. Harris's campaign refused to allow even one Palestinian elected official to address the Democratic convention.[...]
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