Edwin Lawrence Godkin

Edwin Lawrence Godkin , 1831-1902, American editor, b. Moyne, Ireland, of English parentage. His idealism found expression in his History of Hungary and the Magyars (1853) and won him the job of correspondent (1853-55) to the London Daily News during the Crimean War. In 1856 he came to the United States and studied law. During the Civil War he traveled in the South, sending letters to the Daily News. In 1865, Godkin established the Nation on stockholders' money but shortly after was compelled to buy the paper to maintain it. In 1881 he became an editor of the New York Evening Post and in 1883 editor in chief, carrying the Nation, by then an influential critical weekly, with him as a weekly in connection with the Post. He was independent politically and attacked the carpetbag regime, corruption under President Grant, free silver, organized labor, and high tariffs. His self-assurance and integrity gave his opinion weight. He was an important spokesman of laissez-faire in economic policy. He wrote Problems of Modern Democracy (1896) and Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy (1898).

Bibliography: See R. Ogden, Life and Letters of Edwin Lawrence Godkin (1907); studies by W. M. Armstrong (1957) and L. H. Rifkin (1959).

Godkin, Edwin Lawrence (1831–1902), came to America from Ireland at the age of 25, and founded The Nation (1865), a liberal weekly commenting on public affairs, literature, and the arts. He was a disciple of the Bentham‐Mill‐Grote school of philosophy, believing that the ultimate social object is the greatest happiness of the greatest number, attained through liberty, under reason and justice. He edited the New York Evening Post (1883–1900), with which he had merged The Nation in 1881. His fearless independence, zeal, and wide knowledge made it an extremely influential newspaper. He was consistently liberal, believed wholeheartedly in democracy, sympathized with the Union during the Civil War, attacked the corruption of Grant's regime, led the Mugwump revolt against Blaine, supported Cleveland but attacked his jingoism, was an implacable foe of “free silver,” advocated a moderate tariff, deplored territorial expansion, and consistently worked for civil service reform. Thirty years prior to the formulation of F.J. Turner's ideas on the frontier Godkin found that the democratic tide in the U.S. “owed most of its force and violence” to the influence of frontier life, which proved a dangerous leveling influence and caused the rise of the demagogue and spoilsman. His books include Problems of Democracy (1896) and Unforeseen Tendencies of Democracy (1898).