Robert Morss Lovett

Background

Robert Morss Lovett was born on December 25, 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, the son of Augustus S. Lovett, who was in the insurance business, and of Elizabeth Russell. He had a studious boyhood in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

Education

Lovett entered Harvard University. He graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1892.

Career

In 1892 Lovett was an assistant in English at Harvard University and an instructor the next year. In 1893 he was appointed an instructor in rhetoric at the University of Chicago. He became dean of the junior college department at Chicago in 1903, and in 1909 was made professor of English. His friendship at Chicago with William Vaughn Moody resulted in their collaboration on the widely used History of English Literature (1902). Both authors, though, were interested in other work. Moody became absorbed in verse, and Lovett wrote two novels, Richard Gresham (1904) and A Winged Victory (1907). Sympathetic reviewers appreciated Lovett's emotionalism but noted his limited ability to portray character. His play Cowards, which caused some local stir for indirectly discussing contraception, was presented by the Fine Arts Theater in Chicago (1914) and was subsequently published in Drama (August 1917).

Although Lovett early became interested in social issues, his literary standards remained conventional, as shown by his enthusiasm for Moody's verse, which he issued as Selected Poems of William Vaughn Moody (1931), with a long introduction. His well-regarded critique, Edith Wharton (1925), failed to note her indifference to social causes. He himself took no account of them in his Preface to Fiction (1930) or in the college texts he prepared with others. He remained in touch with liberal and radical literary thought through his long editorial association with the New Republic (1921 - 1929). The sources of Lovett's own alleged radicalism can be traced to Christian socialism, as shown, for instance, in his quotation from John Ruskin that wealth is the result of other people's work. Lovett resided for long periods at Hull House in Chicago, sharing the views and experiences of social workers, journalists, and ethnic leaders.

In 1912 he began his career as a "third-party hack" seeking charismatic leaders who would refresh the social and political scene. During the early stages of World War I he cooperated with the League to Enforce Peace but accepted American entrance into the war as necessary. In 1920 he began an association with the American Civil Liberties Union that continued throughout his life. In the following years he gave time to many causes, including independence for India and Ireland, the fight against capital punishment, and the Sacco-Vanzetti Defense League. The antiwar cause led him to approve of the Bolshevik Revolution, the pacifist Oxford Pledge, and the government-sponsored Kellogg-Briand Pact. Although Lovett was later accused of being a Communist, and admitted to having worked with Communists, his basic cause was peace. His most notable presidency was of the League for Industrial Democracy (1921 - 1938), which the Communists disliked. In 1935 an Illinois Senate committee investigating subversive activities at the University of Chicago recommended that Lovett be dismissed. The next year he retired.

Among his interests was the future of the Virgin Islands, of which his friend Robert Herrick was government secretary. Herrick died in 1938, and Lovett was appointed to the post the following year. In 1943 the Dies committee denounced Lovett, among others, as a subversive in government who ought to be relieved of his duties. The committee pointed to his work with the American League Against War and Fascism (later "for Peace and Democracy") and to his approval of the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War as evidence of Communist associations. Acting on Dies committee charges, the Kerr committee acquitted Lovett but recommended that he be discharged. The House of Representatives attached a rider to its Urgent Deficiency Bill stipulating that Lovett and two others not be paid their salaries. Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes both protested this action, they were unable to overcome an adamant Congress. Ickes, a former student of Lovett's at the University of Chicago, spoke with particular eloquence against what was widely recognized as a bill of attainder, forbidden by the Constitution. In 1944 Lovett was visiting professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico, where he remained until 1946. In that year a Supreme Court decision vindicated him and authorized payment of back salary. In his "elegiac" period of life, Lovett retired to Lake Zurich, Illinois.

Achievements

• Lovett was an important figure in the American cultural and political life of the United States during the beginning of the twentieth century. He was noted chiefly for his radical views and his affiliations made him the center of heated controversies in the press and in Congress. He authored a number of books of criticism including his famous "Edith Wharton" (1925) and several studies of British drama.

Works

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  • Shakspere's the Merchant of Venice

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • A History of English Literature

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Richard Gresham (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Richard Gresham Life began for Richard Gres...)

  • All Our Years, the Autobiography of Robert Morss Lovett

    (Lovett, Robert Morss, All Our Years: The Autobiography Of...)

  • Edith Wharton

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Sir Walter Scott's Marmion;

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • The tragedy of Julius Caesar. Edited by Robert M. Lovett

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • British Poetry and Prose, Vol. 1: From Beowulf to Blake
  • BRITISH POETRY AND PROSE Vol. 2 Wordsworth to Yeats
  • A Wingéd Victory,

Views

Lovett was a staunch advocate of the antiwar principles. He also campaigned against capital punishment and British colonialism.

Connections

On June 4, 1895, Lovett married Ida Mott-Smith, whom he had met at Hull House. They had three children.

Father:

Augustus S. Lovett

Mother:

Elizabeth Russell

Spouse:

Ida Mott-Smith

Friend:

William Vaughn Moody

Friend:

Robert Herrick

References

• Lionel Trilling and the Critics: Opposing Selves