George D. Herron
Encyclopedia
George D. Herron was an American clergyman, lecturer, writer, and Christian socialist activist. Herron is best remembered as a leading exponent of the so-called "Social Gospel
" movement and for his highly publicized divorce and remarriage to the daughter of a wealthy benefactor which scandalized polite society of the day. A self-imposed exile from America followed. During World War I
, Herron broke with the anti-militarist Socialist Party and filed regular intelligence reports on German public opinion to the American and British governments in support of the Allied war effort.
, the son of poor parents, Isabella Davis and William Herron. After serving as a time as an apprentice to a printer, Herron enrolled at Ripon College
in Wisconsin
, his only formal education.
In 1883, Herron married Mary Everhard. The couple had five chldren together.
of a Congregational church in Lake City, Minnesota
from 1890 to 1891, before moving to another church at Burlington, Iowa
. Herron became interested in the Social Gospel
movement and organized a study group called the Institute of Christian Sociology while in Iowa. It was in Minnesota
that Herron first achieved widespread notoriety, when he delivered a provocative sermon, "The Message of Jesus to Men of Wealth" before the Minnesota Congregationalist Club in Minneapolis
in 1890:
Herron was unceasing and outspoken in his condemnation of the excesses of the rich, historian Howard Quint notes, calling Herron a "stormy petrel
" who "compellingly challenged the social right of the wealthy to their possessions and vigorously preached a powerful gospel of social redemption" and was "likened by his admirers to the Old Testament
prophets
." This earned Herron not only a "host of idolizing followers," but also a "sizeable number of critics who, in varying degrees of hostility, considered him a menace to established social and religious institutions," Quint remarks.
One of those impressed with the vision and energy of the young preacher was a wealthy parishioner, Mrs. Elizabeth D. Rand. Rand decided to put Herron into a position where he could reach more people with his ideas by endowing
a new chair in "Applied Christianity" at Iowa College
(now Grinnell) on Herron's behalf. Beginning in 1893 and for the next six years, Herron taught on campus, gaining national renown given the novelty of the subject matter.
Also making the move to Grinnell was the beautiful daughter of his benefactor, Carrie Rand, who was appointed Dean of Women at Grinnell. This brought the married Mr. Herron and the young Miss Rand into regular contact, ultimately resulting in a love affair which estranged Herron from his wife and family. Combined with his outspoken political views, this provided fodder for Herron's opponents, who forced him to resign his teaching position at the Congregationalist college in 1899.
Herron eventually moved out from his home with Mary Everhard, who divorced him on grounds of desertion in 1901. Polite society was scandalized by the minister-turned-socialist father of five who had taken up with a younger woman; the court sensationally awarded his former wife and children Carrie Rand's personal fortune of $60,000 at the time of his divorce.
Herron and Rand married in May 1901 in an unconventional ceremony in Rochester, New York
officiated by Christian socialist minister William Thurston Brown. Herron was subsequently defrocked from the Congregational Church ministry by the action of the Council of Iowa Congregational Churches, which pronounced Herron "guilty of immoral and unChristian conduct." Shortly afterward the couple moved to Florence, Italy along with the older Mrs. Rand in a self-imposed exile to escape from publicity.
(SLP), the intellectual leader of which was party newspaper editor Daniel DeLeon. Herron exited the SLP in the aftermath of its bitter 1899 faction fight and joined the Social Democratic Party of America headed by Victor L. Berger
and Eugene V. Debs
, only then making his status as a socialist a matter of public knowledge. He actively campaigned for Debs in the Presidential election of 1900.
He was an outspoken advocate of unity between the dissident faction of the Socialist Labor Party of America
headed by Henry Slobodin and Morris Hillquit
with the Chicago-based Social Democratic Party, speaking and wrote on behalf of the controversial matter in the socialist press. He was a founding member of the result of this organizational union, the Socialist Party of America
(SPA) in the summer of 1901.
A gifted public speaker, Herron was called upon to deliver the nominating speech for Debs at the 1904 National Convention of the Socialist Party, held in Chicago.
In 1905, his benefactor Mrs. Rand died, leaving a will which allotted $200,000 to "carry on and further the work to which I have devoted the later years of my life." George Herron and Carrie Rand Herron were named the trustees of this fund, which was used to establish a library and school for socialist education, the Rand School of Social Science
. This institution carried on for the next half century, eventually donating its library to New York University
at the time of its dissolution, where it formed the initial core of today's Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives
.
The summer of 1914 saw the shattering of the fragile European peace with coming of World War I
. Herron immediately cast his lot with the Entente powers of Great Britain
, France
, Tsarist Russia
, and Italy
in the conflict with the combined forces of the German
and Austro-Hungarian empires. As a committed individualist
, Herron strongly disliked the Prussian
conception of the centralized and militarized
state and was hostile to Germany from the outset.
Historian Mitchell Pirie Briggs neatly summarized Herron's position thus:
With the outbreak of hostilities, Herron moved from Italy to Geneva, Switzerland, so as to be more nearly "in the center of the conflict."
In 1916, when President
Woodrow Wilson
campaigned successfully for re-election under the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War." Herron, as a vocal public intellectual in Europe, contended that Wilson was far from neutral towards the European conflict and inferred that he was waiting for the appropriate juncture to enter the United States into the conflict. Herron was considered in Europe as among the most reliable interpreters of the intentions of the Wilson administration, an assessment that was only enhanced when Herron's pronouncements came true in April 1917 with American entry into the war.
Unsurprisingly, he was bitterly opposed to the decision of the Socialist Party of America to continue its militant opposition to the conflict at its 1917 Emergency National Convention held in St. Louis, Missouri
. Herron broke with the SPA and terminated his support of the Rand School.
Herron was the featured speaker on the Italian situation at a closed-door conference of about 25 key American decision-makers called in Paris
late in November 1917 by American Ambassador W.F. Sharp. Thereafter, Herron began contributing regular written reports to the American Legation at Berne, Switzerland. In addition to his intelligence work on behalf of the U.S. State Department, Herron also supplied the British War Office and British Foreign Office with similar reports. Herron's intelligence and analysis was greatly valued by the British, who alloted him 1,000 francs
per month so that stenographic help could be hired.
It was Herron's function to pass to his superiors details of his conversations and correspondence with various German contacts and acquaintances, many of whom were academics. These reports often took the form of appeals by his German associates for some particular action by President Wilson and his administration. Herron consistently maintained the need for a dictated peace through German surrender, an eventuality which came to pass in November 1918.
Herron was greatly disappointed with the 1919 Paris Peace Conference
, with a draconian Treaty of Versailles
which made a "perjury" of official Allied war objectives. Regardless of his unhappiness, once the Treaty of Versailles was signed and it became clear that the choice at hand was that document or no peace treaty at all, Herron put his grave misgivings aside and joined with those urging the treaty's ratification. It was the Peace of Paris "or no peace at all — perhaps for more than a generation," Herron argued in a published article.
In response to the onerous and punitive terms imposed upon defeated Germany, Herron published a book in 1921 entitled The Defeat in the Victory. For Herron, Woodrow Wilson's war to "Make the World Safe for Democracy" had ended up as "The Great Disappointment."
Herron's papers are housed at several institutions. The bulk of Herron's papers are located at the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University
in Palo Alto, California
. The Herron material at Stanford consists of some 30 manuscript boxes, plus scrapbooks and two microfilm reels. An additional 1.3 linear feet of material at the library of Grinnell College
in Grinnell, Iowa
and 0.25 linear feet at the Bobst Library of New York University
in New York City.
Other significant Herron correspondence may be found in the A.M. Simons Papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society
in Madison
.
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
" movement and for his highly publicized divorce and remarriage to the daughter of a wealthy benefactor which scandalized polite society of the day. A self-imposed exile from America followed. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Herron broke with the anti-militarist Socialist Party and filed regular intelligence reports on German public opinion to the American and British governments in support of the Allied war effort.
Early years
George Davis Herron was born January 21, 1862, in Montezuma, IndianaMontezuma, Indiana
Montezuma is a town in Reserve and Wabash townships, Parke County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,022 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Montezuma is located at ....
, the son of poor parents, Isabella Davis and William Herron. After serving as a time as an apprentice to a printer, Herron enrolled at Ripon College
Ripon College (Wisconsin)
Ripon College is a liberal arts college in Ripon, Wisconsin, USA. It offers small class sizes and intensive mentoring to students. Ripon has a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa--one of the nation's most prestigious honor societies. Alumni have high rates of success in the workforce as well as acceptance...
in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, his only formal education.
In 1883, Herron married Mary Everhard. The couple had five chldren together.
Theological career
In 1883, Herron became a Congregationalist minister. He was the pastorPastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
of a Congregational church in Lake City, Minnesota
Lake City, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,950 people, 2,131 households, and 1,402 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,166.9 people per square mile . There were 2,347 housing units at an average density of 553.3 per square mile...
from 1890 to 1891, before moving to another church at Burlington, Iowa
Burlington, Iowa
Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,663 in the 2010 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in the 2000 census. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area including West Burlington, Iowa and Middletown, Iowa and...
. Herron became interested in the Social Gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
movement and organized a study group called the Institute of Christian Sociology while in Iowa. It was in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
that Herron first achieved widespread notoriety, when he delivered a provocative sermon, "The Message of Jesus to Men of Wealth" before the Minnesota Congregationalist Club in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
in 1890:
"Bluntly, Herron told his audience that the existing social and religious order was wrong because it placed a premium on competition, self-interest, and material power. Such a civilization failed to secure morality and justice, since it put the weak at the mercy of the strong and at the same time minimized the paramount Christian principles of stewardship and sacrifice. * * *
"The day was coming, said Herron, in which a truly Christian social order would exist on earth, the fulfillment in the here and now of God's Kingdom of HeavenHeavenHeaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. In such a society the ordering of things would be in accordance with His divine sanction."
Herron was unceasing and outspoken in his condemnation of the excesses of the rich, historian Howard Quint notes, calling Herron a "stormy petrel
Petrel
Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of the four families within that group...
" who "compellingly challenged the social right of the wealthy to their possessions and vigorously preached a powerful gospel of social redemption" and was "likened by his admirers to the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
prophets
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
." This earned Herron not only a "host of idolizing followers," but also a "sizeable number of critics who, in varying degrees of hostility, considered him a menace to established social and religious institutions," Quint remarks.
One of those impressed with the vision and energy of the young preacher was a wealthy parishioner, Mrs. Elizabeth D. Rand. Rand decided to put Herron into a position where he could reach more people with his ideas by endowing
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
a new chair in "Applied Christianity" at Iowa College
Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
(now Grinnell) on Herron's behalf. Beginning in 1893 and for the next six years, Herron taught on campus, gaining national renown given the novelty of the subject matter.
Also making the move to Grinnell was the beautiful daughter of his benefactor, Carrie Rand, who was appointed Dean of Women at Grinnell. This brought the married Mr. Herron and the young Miss Rand into regular contact, ultimately resulting in a love affair which estranged Herron from his wife and family. Combined with his outspoken political views, this provided fodder for Herron's opponents, who forced him to resign his teaching position at the Congregationalist college in 1899.
Herron eventually moved out from his home with Mary Everhard, who divorced him on grounds of desertion in 1901. Polite society was scandalized by the minister-turned-socialist father of five who had taken up with a younger woman; the court sensationally awarded his former wife and children Carrie Rand's personal fortune of $60,000 at the time of his divorce.
Herron and Rand married in May 1901 in an unconventional ceremony in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
officiated by Christian socialist minister William Thurston Brown. Herron was subsequently defrocked from the Congregational Church ministry by the action of the Council of Iowa Congregational Churches, which pronounced Herron "guilty of immoral and unChristian conduct." Shortly afterward the couple moved to Florence, Italy along with the older Mrs. Rand in a self-imposed exile to escape from publicity.
Political activities
From 1892 until 1899, Herron was a quiet supporter of the Socialist Labor Party of AmericaSocialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...
(SLP), the intellectual leader of which was party newspaper editor Daniel DeLeon. Herron exited the SLP in the aftermath of its bitter 1899 faction fight and joined the Social Democratic Party of America headed by Victor L. Berger
Victor L. Berger
Victor Luitpold Berger was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and an important and influential Socialist journalist who helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist movement. The first Socialist elected to the U.S...
and Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
, only then making his status as a socialist a matter of public knowledge. He actively campaigned for Debs in the Presidential election of 1900.
He was an outspoken advocate of unity between the dissident faction of the Socialist Labor Party of America
Socialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...
headed by Henry Slobodin and Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side during the early 20th century.-Early years:...
with the Chicago-based Social Democratic Party, speaking and wrote on behalf of the controversial matter in the socialist press. He was a founding member of the result of this organizational union, the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
(SPA) in the summer of 1901.
A gifted public speaker, Herron was called upon to deliver the nominating speech for Debs at the 1904 National Convention of the Socialist Party, held in Chicago.
In 1905, his benefactor Mrs. Rand died, leaving a will which allotted $200,000 to "carry on and further the work to which I have devoted the later years of my life." George Herron and Carrie Rand Herron were named the trustees of this fund, which was used to establish a library and school for socialist education, the Rand School of Social Science
Rand School of Social Science
The Rand School of Social Science was formed in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America in 1906. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served as a research bureau, a publisher, and the operator...
. This institution carried on for the next half century, eventually donating its library to New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
at the time of its dissolution, where it formed the initial core of today's Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives
The Tamiment Library is a research library at New York University that documents radical and left history, with strengths in the histories of communism, socialism, anarchism, the New Left, the Civil Rights Movement, and utopian experiments. The Robert F. Wagner Archives, which is also housed in...
.
Years of emigration
Carrie Rand Herron died in 1914, leaving George Herron two young sons to care for. He subsequently married a third time.The summer of 1914 saw the shattering of the fragile European peace with coming of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Herron immediately cast his lot with the Entente powers of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Tsarist Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the conflict with the combined forces of the German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
and Austro-Hungarian empires. As a committed individualist
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
, Herron strongly disliked the Prussian
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
conception of the centralized and militarized
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
state and was hostile to Germany from the outset.
Historian Mitchell Pirie Briggs neatly summarized Herron's position thus:
"And so it came about that Professor Herron, pacifist, Socialist, and intenationalistInternationalism (politics)Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...
, became ardently pro-Ally at the beginning of the war and remained pro-Ally to the end. His faith never left him. Knowing as he did the iniquities of the Entente Powers, the secret treaties and understandings, the jockeying and trading for economic and political advantages even during the progress of the war, and the frightful anachronism of the Russian autocracy, he could still believe that the only hope for a change world lay in the overthrow of the German system. The evils in the polity and social organization of England, France, and Italy were bad enough, but they were eradicable; the evils in Prussianism were basic, innate, inerradicable. It was inevitable, therefore, that he should have desired the entry of the United States into the struggle."
With the outbreak of hostilities, Herron moved from Italy to Geneva, Switzerland, so as to be more nearly "in the center of the conflict."
In 1916, when President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
campaigned successfully for re-election under the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War." Herron, as a vocal public intellectual in Europe, contended that Wilson was far from neutral towards the European conflict and inferred that he was waiting for the appropriate juncture to enter the United States into the conflict. Herron was considered in Europe as among the most reliable interpreters of the intentions of the Wilson administration, an assessment that was only enhanced when Herron's pronouncements came true in April 1917 with American entry into the war.
Unsurprisingly, he was bitterly opposed to the decision of the Socialist Party of America to continue its militant opposition to the conflict at its 1917 Emergency National Convention held in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
. Herron broke with the SPA and terminated his support of the Rand School.
Herron was the featured speaker on the Italian situation at a closed-door conference of about 25 key American decision-makers called in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
late in November 1917 by American Ambassador W.F. Sharp. Thereafter, Herron began contributing regular written reports to the American Legation at Berne, Switzerland. In addition to his intelligence work on behalf of the U.S. State Department, Herron also supplied the British War Office and British Foreign Office with similar reports. Herron's intelligence and analysis was greatly valued by the British, who alloted him 1,000 francs
Swiss franc
The franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; it is also legal tender in the Italian exclave Campione d'Italia. Although not formally legal tender in the German exclave Büsingen , it is in wide daily use there...
per month so that stenographic help could be hired.
It was Herron's function to pass to his superiors details of his conversations and correspondence with various German contacts and acquaintances, many of whom were academics. These reports often took the form of appeals by his German associates for some particular action by President Wilson and his administration. Herron consistently maintained the need for a dictated peace through German surrender, an eventuality which came to pass in November 1918.
Herron was greatly disappointed with the 1919 Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
, with a draconian Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
which made a "perjury" of official Allied war objectives. Regardless of his unhappiness, once the Treaty of Versailles was signed and it became clear that the choice at hand was that document or no peace treaty at all, Herron put his grave misgivings aside and joined with those urging the treaty's ratification. It was the Peace of Paris "or no peace at all — perhaps for more than a generation," Herron argued in a published article.
In response to the onerous and punitive terms imposed upon defeated Germany, Herron published a book in 1921 entitled The Defeat in the Victory. For Herron, Woodrow Wilson's war to "Make the World Safe for Democracy" had ended up as "The Great Disappointment."
Death and legacy
George Herron died on October 9, 1925. He was 63 years old at the time of his death.Herron's papers are housed at several institutions. The bulk of Herron's papers are located at the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. The Herron material at Stanford consists of some 30 manuscript boxes, plus scrapbooks and two microfilm reels. An additional 1.3 linear feet of material at the library of Grinnell College
Grinnell College
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. known for its strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
in Grinnell, Iowa
Grinnell, Iowa
Grinnell is a city in Poweshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,218 at the 2010 census. Grinnell was named after Josiah Bushnell Grinnell and is the home of Grinnell College.- History :...
and 0.25 linear feet at the Bobst Library of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
in New York City.
Other significant Herron correspondence may be found in the A.M. Simons Papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society is simultaneously a private membership and a state-funded organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West...
in Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
.
Books and pamphlets
- The Larger Christ. Chicago : Fleming H. Revell Co., 1891.
- The Call of the Cross: Four College Sermons. Chicago : Fleming H. Revell Co., 1892.
- A Plea for the Gospel. Boston: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1892.
- The New Redemption: A Call to the Church to Reconstruct Society According to the Gospel of Christ. Boston: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1893.
- The Christian State: A Political Vision of Christ: A Course of Six Lectures Delivered in Churches in Various American Cities. Boston: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1895.
- Social Meanings of Religious Experiences: A Course of Lecture-Sermons. Boston: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1896.
- Between Caesar and Jesus. Boston: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1899.
- A Confession of Social Faith: An Address Before the Chicago Single Tax Club, at Willard Hall, Friday Evening, March 17, Stenographically Reported. Chicago: Chicago Single-Tax Club, 1899.
- American Imperialism: An Address Delivered April 12, 1899. Chicago: Social Forum, 1899.
- The Social System and the Christian Conscience. Liverpool: Liverpool Fabian Society, 1900.
- Why I Am a Socialist: Address at a Mass Meeting of the Social Democratic Party at Central Music Hall, Chicago, Sept. 29, 1900. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1900.
- The Day of Judgment. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1904.
- From Revolution to Revolution: An Address in Memory of the Paris Commune of 1871. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1907.
- William Mailly as a Socialist Type. New York: n.p., 1912.
- The Menace of Peace. New York: M. Kennerley, 1917.
- Woodrow Wilson and the World's Peace. New York: M. Kennerley, 1917.
- Germanism and the American Crusade. New York: M. Kennerley, 1918.
- The Greater War. New York: M. Kennerley, 1919.
- The Defeat in the Victory. London: C. Palmer, 1921.
- The Revival of Italy. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1922.
Articles
- "Class Consciousness," The Socialist (Seattle), whole no. 156 (August 2, 1903), pg. 1.
Further reading
- Mitchell P. Briggs, George D. Herron and the European Settlement. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1932.
- Robert M. Crunden, Ministers of Reform: The Progressives' Achievement in American Civilization, 1889-1920. New York: Basic Books, 1982.
- Susan Curtis, A Consuming Faith: The Social Gospel and Modern American Culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991.
- Jacob Henry Dorn, Socialism and Christianity in Early 20th Century America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.
- Robert T. Handy, George D. Herron and the Social Gospel in American Protestantism, 1890-1901. Dissertation, University of Chicago Divinity School, 1949.
External links
- Finding Aid for George Davis Herron Papers, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa.
- Guide to the George D. Herron Papers, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University, New York City.