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In the United States, the common meaning of " liberal" has evolved over time. In the 19th century it denoted classical liberalism. After World War II, it came to refer to left-of center (but anti-socialist and anti-communist) new liberalism. As McCarthyism and the reaction to Communism made the use of most left-wing political terms (including " socialism" and " social democracy") anathema in the U.S., the former New Dealers and others to the left of center adopted the name "liberal".
To distinguish themselves from these, those in the U.S. who were closer to classical liberalism adopted the name " libertarian", a political stance closer to modern conservatism than to modern liberalism. Since approximately the Reagan era, the word "liberal" has been so much used as a derogatory term by U.S. conservatives that much of the left now adopts the term " progressivesProgressivism or political progressivism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. There are also a number of Progressive political parties in various countries. All of these are primarily (though not necessari".
U.S. liberalism of the Cold WarThe Cold War (c. 1945- 1991) was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between groups of nations practicing different ideologies and political systems. On one side was the Soviet Union and its allies, often referred to as the E era was the immediate heir to Franklin Delano RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt Order 32nd President Term of Office March 4, 1933 April 12, 1945 Predecessor Herbert Hoover Successor Harry S. Truman Date of Birth January 30, 1882 Place of Birth Hyde Park, New York Date of Death April 12, 1945 Place of Death W's New Deal and the slightly more distant heir to the ProgressivesIn the United States, the Progressive Era was a movement of reform that began in America's cities in the 1890s and lasted through the 1910s. Reformers sought change in labor and fiscal policies in different levels of government; initially it was successfu of the early twentieth century.
Although Roosevelt died before the Cold War era, the political stance of Cold War liberalism can be found in Roosevelt's Four FreedomsThe Four Freedoms are a set of freedoms United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously outlined in his State of the Union Address delivered to the 77th Congress on January 6, 1941 (the address is also known as the Four Freedoms speech . He out (1941): of these, freedom of speechFreedom of speech is the right to freely say what you please, as well as the related right to hear what others have stated. It is self-explanatory. Recently, it has been commonly understood as encompassing full freedom of expression including the freedom and of religionFreedom of worship Freedom of religion is the individual's right or freedom to hold whatever religious beliefs he or she wishes, or none at all. This freedom extends mere freedom of thought by adding the freedom of worship and the freedom of religious con were classic liberal freedoms, but "Freedom from want" and "freedom from fear" were another matter entirely. Coming off of the Great Depression, and with World War II already being fought in Europe and the Pacific, Roosevelt boldly proposed a notion of freedom that went beyond mere government non-interference in people's private lives. "Freedom from want", especially, could justify positive government action to meet economic needs, a concept more associated with socialism and social democracy than with prior versions of liberalism.
Defining itself against both Communism and conservatism, Cold War liberalism resembled earlier "liberalisms" in its views on many social issues, but its economic views were not those of free-market liberalism; instead, they constituted a mild form of social democracy.
Most prominent and constant among the positions of Cold War liberalism were:
This resembled what in other countries was sometimes referred to as social democracy. However, unlike European social democrats, U.S. liberals never widely endorsed nationalization of industry.
In the 1950s and '60s, both major U.S. political parties included both liberal and non-liberal elements. The Democratic Party was a two-wing party: on the one hand, Northern and Western liberals, on the other generally non-liberal Southern white regionalists. In between were the northern urban democratic " political machines". These groups had been able to agree on the New Deal economic stimulus policies, but would slowly come apart over the issue of race and the Civil Rights movement. The Republican Party was divided between a largely liberal Wall Street faction and a largely conservative Main Street faction.
In the early Cold War years, the liberals generally did not see Harry S. Truman as one of their own, viewing him as a bit on the conservative side. However, both as elected officials and through organizations such as the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), liberals sided with both Truman and those farther to the right (e.g. Joe McCarthy, Richard M. Nixon) in strongly opposing communism, sometimes at the sacrifice of civil liberties.
For example, ADA co-founder and archetypal Cold War liberal Hubert H. Humphrey rose to national prominence by merging the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party into the Democratic Party ( 1944), thereby purging it of communist influence, and even while making his name as a prominent advocate for Civil Rights, unsuccessfully sponsored (in 1950) a Senate bill to establish detention centers where those declared subversive by the president could be held without trial.
Nonetheless, liberals turned against McCarthyism relatively early, and were central to McCarthy's downfall.
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