 First edition | |
| Author | Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Samuel Hanks Bryant |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
Publication date | 1948 |
| Publication place | United States |
The Vital Center: The Politics of Freedom is a 1949 book byHarvard historianArthur Schlesinger, Jr. It defendsliberal democracy and astate-regulatedmarket economy against thetotalitarianism ofcommunism andfascism.
Schlesinger's argument runs as follows: modern man has been detached from his moorings bycapitalism andtechnology. Searching for a new solidarity, he finds this in communism, but it has been really a totalitarian military dictatorship run by the Communist Party sinceLenin "exposed Marxist socialism to the play of ... influences which divested it of its libertarian elements."[1] Instead of this totalitarian road, a strong and interventionistliberalism is needed,New Deal-style, in the tradition of American leadership in the liberal world order and of the national reforms ofFranklin andTheodore Roosevelt. This would be practical and anti-utopian, and would "restore the balance between individual and community".[2]
Schlesinger writes:
The deeper issue is the freedom of the teacher to teach his subject according to his most responsible understanding of it, and not according to the ukase of a board of trustees, a legislature, a political party, or a foreign country.[3]
He also stated that "unmolested inquiry is essential". He cites Harvard University presidentJames Bryant Conant: "A free society must dedicate itself to the protection of the unpopular view."[3]
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