Freda Kirchwey

Mary Frederika "Freda" Kirchwey (September 26, 1893 – January 3, 1976) was an American journalist, editor, and publisher strongly committed throughout her career to liberal causes (anti-Fascist, pro-Soviet, anti-anti-communist). From 1933 to 1955, she was editor of The Nation magazine.

Background

Born in Lake Placid, New York, in 1893 as the Progressive Era was getting under way, Kirchwey was the daughter of pacifist Columbia Law Professor George W. Kirchwey. On the domestic front, she was a sharp critic of the House Un-American Activities Committee — calling Martin Dies Jr., its leader from 1938 to 1944, a "one-man Gestapo from Texas" — and the growth of McCarthyism in America. and argued that the certainty of nuclear proliferation meant the great powers must pool their sovereignty in a world government ("We face a choice between one world or none.") Louis Fischer resigned from the magazine afterwards, claiming Kirchwey's foreign coverage was too pro-Soviet. The magazine's political marginalization, however, also had financial consequences, becoming a significant financial drain by the early 1940s. As a result, Kirchwey sold her individual ownership of the magazine in 1943, creating a nonprofit organization, Nation Associates, formed out of the money generated from a recruiting drive of sponsors. Nation Associates ran the magazine and also conducted research and organized conferences. In 1951, Kirchwey brought Carey McWilliams to work for The Nation.

Death She died on January 3, 1976, in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Works

The Atomic Era: Can it Bring Peace and Abundance! (New York: McBride, 1950). One World or None, The Nation, August 18, 1945. Our Changing Morality: A Symposium (New York: A. & C. Boni, 1924). When H.G. Wells Split the Atom: A 1914 Preview of 1945, The Nation, August 18, 1945.