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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Politics - 21. Southern Conservatism and Liberalism - 5. Southern Liberalism
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468 An American Dilemma
state, as Southern states go, and proud of the national reputation of its
University. But even in the Deep Southern state of Georgia, the college has
a slight liberal influence. When recently Governor Eugene Talmadge, one
of the most vicious demagogues of the South, tried to dismiss ten educators
in the state’s highest institutions, he met the condemnation of the regional
educational association, the vociferous protest of the students and even the
mild protests of the remaining teachers. Even though the issue was a
racial one, the opposition was quite vigorous—much more vigorous than
Talmadge had bargained for and much more vigorous than he would have
received a generation ago. Mainly as a consequence of his attacks on
academic freedom, Talmadge was defeated at the following election.
Some of the liberal editors in the Upper South, such as Jonathan Daniels,
Virginius Dabney, and Mark Ethridge, also enjoy a certain amount of
protection in their liberal views through the fact that they have achieved
positions of national eminence. But many others do not. And all of them
have to sell their papers in the local market to make a living.
In this situation it is evident that the result must be a rigorous selection
of the liberal professors and editors in the South. For men of humble
origin and modest gifts and vision it is actually too dangerous to be libera]
in the region. It is an obvious fact—usually never denied in the South even
by conservatives—that the liberal professors and editors reach professional
standards far superior to the average in the region. This gives to liberalism
in the South a flavor of intellectual superiority, which is likely to attract
the most ambitious youths. And because it makes such high demands upon
a person in the way of talent and courage, mediocre youth avoid it. As
some Southern liberals under the New Deal have been awarded important
functions in national administration and politics, this adds more appeal
but, again, only to the select. To a degree this is the situation everywhere
in the world. It is always safest to be a conformer, but there are ‘‘glittering
prizes for the one who has a brave heart and a cutting blade,” as the late
British statesman Lord Birkenhead once told an English student assembly.^®
In the South the selective process seems to work with much more sharp-
ness than elsewhere in America.
To the group of outstanding liberals in the South belong also such writers
of fiction as Erskine Caldwell, Paul Green, William Faulkner, Ellen Glas-
gow, Julia Peterkin, Du Bose. Heyward, and Thomas S. Stribling. Their
direct influence in the South is probably much smaller than could be
assumed, as in all likelihood the majority of their readers are Northerners.
Book reading is restricted in the South. The North has always been, and still
is, the main public for Southern authors.
There are also labor union officials among the Southern liberals. The
growing group of social workers and people employed locally in the vari-
ous federd agencies contain also a significant portion of liberals. In addition,
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