Progressivism, Liberalism, and the Rich

This chapter discusses the indictment of wealthy Americans by progressives and liberals alike. Both effectively demonized the rich as alien beings who threatened the national community. The campaign against great wealth produced a paradoxical denouement. By the 1940s, the liberals' crusade helped create the seemingly homogeneous, essentially middle-class national community they wanted. But by the end of the twentieth century, the liberals' very success undermined their vigilance against the threat of wealth, helped make the rich seem safely like other Americans, and, paradoxically, made a liberal governmental elite appear to be the true threat to national community. As a result, liberalism has, in recent years, proved too conservative and too ineffective against the continuing resurgence of great fortunes in the early twenty-first century.</p

Commodore's 'strange gift' became educational legacy

Includes descriptive metadata provided by producer in MP3 file: "Many are familiar with the basic facts that surround the founding of Vanderbilt University in 1873, but the unusual confluence of characters and events that led to this unlikely gift is the stuff of fiction. Historian Michael McGerr recounted Cornelius Vanderbilt's journey from single-minded businessman to university patron in the inaugural Founder's Day Lecture on March 16." This speech was given in 2006. McGerr discusses, in detail, Cornelius Vanderbilt's life and the peculiar way the founding of Vanderbilt University came to be