Liberalism Under Fire: New York in the 1950s

April 6, 2001

You are cordially invited to attend the “Liberalism Under Fire: New York
in the 1950s” conference, sponsored by the Herbert H. Lehman Suite and
Papers, Columbia University.  The conference takes place Friday, April 6
and begins at 9:00am at the Kellogg Center, 15th floor, International
Affairs Building, 420 W. 118th St., New York, NY 10027.

Admission is $15. Students with CU ID admitted free.

Professor Joshua Freeman of Queens College, and author of Working-Class
New York: Life and Labor Since World War II, will keynote.

The conference grows out of a desire to revisit one of Senator Lehman’s
central concerns: the condition of liberalism in the 1950s.

In a 1958 speech at Columbia University, Senator Lehman declared that
“so far as liberals and liberalism are concerned, the very present
period is largely overshadowed by a pall of sterility, conformity,
compromise and confusion. It is a dark period for liberalism and for
America.”

The conference will assess Lehman’s claim. Was the period as dark as
Lehman believed?  What precisely was the crisis of liberalism in the
1950's?

Participants will consider these questions and others, interrogating
1950s liberalism from a variety of angles, including party politics,
culture both “high” and “low,” and the social issues that emerged in
1950s New York.

Liberalism Under Fire: New York in the 1950s

Tentative Program Schedule

April 6, 2001

Registration
8:30-9:00

Welcome
9:00- 9:05
Philip Napoli

Opening Remarks
9:05-9:10
Alan Brinkley

Background
9:10- 9:30
James Henretta, University of Maryland
“The Changing Dimensions of Liberalism in New York, 1900 – 1940"

Politics
9:30-9:50
Erik Van Den Berg, Leiden University, The Netherlands
“Heir to the Liberal Legacy: Triumph and Tragedy of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Jr., 1949 – 1954"

9:50-10:10
 David Greenberg, Columbia University
“New York Liberals Any Origins of Nixon-hating: Democracy in Cultural
Elitism  in the 1950s”

10:10-10:30
Robert D. Parmet, York College, CUNY “Dubinsky in Distress: Ending an
Era”

10:30-10:50
 Jonathan Soffer, Polytechnic University
“The Politics of Process, and the Creation of the New York City Reform
Democratic Movement”

10:50-11:05
Comment

Coffee until 11:20

Keynote
11:30-11:50
Joshua Freeman
Queens College

11:50-12:00
Comment
The Audience

lunch
12:00-1:30

Culture
1:30-1:50
 Nicole T. Rustin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
“‘The Mystery of Black: Nat Hentoff and the Liberal Discourse of Jazz
Politics and Race in the 1950s”

1:50-2:10
Barry Seldes, Rider University
“Leonard Bernstein in the 1950s: the Liberal from the Black List to the
Podium”

2:10-2:30
 Jeffrey Encke, Columbia University
“‘New York Is Everywhere like Paris’: the New York School, Moma, and the
Culture Wars of the 1950s”

2:30-2:40
Comment

Coffee

Race and Social Problems
3:00-3:20
Dan Wishnoff The Graduate Center, CUNY
“Liberalism at the Crossroads: Public Housing and Integration During the
1950s”

3:20-3:40
 Maura Spiegel, Columbia University
“Dear Officer Krupke: Liberalism, Parenting and Juvenile Delinquency and
Hollywood’s 1950s New York”

3:40-4:00
Wendell E. Pritchett, Baruch College, CUNY
“Race and Community in Postwar Brooklyn”

comment
4:00-4:10

4:15
Thank you and goodbye




--
Philip F. Napoli, Ph.D.
Curator
Herbert H. Lehman Suite and Papers
406 International Affairs Building
420 W. 118th St.
Columbia University
New York, NY  10027
212-854-3060