The Liberal Papers Author:James Roosevelt In the fall of 1959, ten Democratic Congressmen and forty-six intellectuals, scientists, and scholars established the Liberal Project. Its purpose was to bridge the gap between the realm of free study and that of political action. Far more than a fact-finding or reform-suggesting committee, the Project wished to formulate a philosophy behind Lib... more »eral reform in general, to cleanse the haze from the word Liberalism so as to allow its development into a truly effective political force.
The Project attracted an increasing number of distinguished figures who expressed their views in a series of essays on everything from disarmament, policy toward South America, and the recognition of Red China, to urban renewal and the effect of corporations on American life. Many had wished that this exciting new vision of Liberalism could be extended in a unified body to the public, since the Project's original purpose was to communicate the ideas to an audience able to bring these ideas into action. The publication under the name of THE LIBERAL PAPERS of a first group of twelve of these essays, chosen to stress the themes of foreign policy and American defense, is the result of these hopes.« less