Date of Award

Spring 1991

Document Type

Restricted Thesis

Terms of Use

© 1991 Edward Miller. All rights reserved. Access to this work is restricted to users within the Swarthmore College network and may only be used for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes. Sharing with users outside of the Swarthmore College network is expressly prohibited. For all other uses, including reproduction and distribution, please contact the copyright holder.

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

History Department

First Advisor

Robert C. Bannister

Abstract

Using primary sources such as college newspaper articles and personal interviews, Miller tracks the emergence of the Swarthmore New Left in 1960 to its decline in 1967. He argues that the Swarthmore New Left’s origins lie in the “streams of liberalism” that ran through the College from 1940-1960, but that the New Left moved from the liberal tradition of its predecessors to more radical forms of activism as the decade wore on, ultimately collapsing due to its inability to sustain a search for a more radical counter-tradition.

Comments

Co-recipient of the Paul H. Beik Prize in History, awarded in 1991.

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