The New Republic

About The New Republic

The New Republic is an American magazine of politics, culture, and the arts that has been published continuously since November 1914. Based in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it publishes ten print issues per year alongside a daily online platform at newrepublic.com. Widely regarded as one of the signature journals of American liberalism, the magazine has been described by The New York Times as distinguished by its intellectual rigor and left-leaning political views. Across more than a century of publication, it has served as a training ground and proving ground for generations of journalists, public intellectuals, and policymakers, combining long-form argument, literary criticism, and reported essays with commentary on domestic politics and foreign affairs.

History and Founding

The New Republic was founded in 1914 by three young progressive intellectuals: Herbert Croly, author of the influential political tract The Promise of American Life; Walter Lippmann, then already one of the country's most promising young journalists; and Walter Weyl, an economist. According to The New York Times, the magazine was in part conceived in Theodore Roosevelt's living room, and its founders intended it as a weekly review of current events guided by progressive principles but independent of any party or politician. The first issue appeared on November 7, 1914, and sold only 875 copies, but within a year circulation had climbed to roughly 15,000. The magazine initially supported Woodrow Wilson's neutrality during the early years of World War I, but after the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 it shifted toward supporting American intervention, backing Wilson's decision to enter the war in 1917. In the aftermath of the Paris Peace Conference, however, Croly and Lippmann turned sharply against the Treaty of Versailles, which Croly denounced as a peace of annihilation. Wartime circulation peaked near 43,000 before declining, and Lippmann departed the magazine in 1920 while Croly was replaced as editor in 1930. Through the Great Depression, the magazine moved leftward, expressing sympathy with the labor movement and skepticism toward the Soviet Union's authoritarianism while retaining hope that it would prove transitory.

The Peretz Era and Cold War Liberalism

In 1974 the magazine was purchased by Martin Peretz, a Harvard lecturer whose ownership would define the next four decades of its life. Under Peretz, The New Republic became the house journal of a particular strain of muscular, interventionist liberalism associated with the Cold War and later neoconservatism. The magazine supported the use of American power abroad, advocated market-friendly economic policies at home, and took a strongly pro-Israel line. This era produced some of the most famous editorial runs in American journalism. Michael Kinsley served two stints as editor (1979 to 1981 and 1985 to 1989), sharpening the magazine's witty, contrarian liberal voice. Andrew Sullivan edited the magazine from 1991 to 1996, a period marked by controversy, including the publication of an excerpt from Charles Murray's The Bell Curve, which argued for racial differences in intelligence and drew fierce criticism. Michael Kelly (1996 to 1997) and Charles Lane (1997 to 1999) followed, and in 1998 the magazine endured the scandal of staff writer Stephen Glass, whose fabrications were later dramatized in the film Shattered Glass. Peter Beinart (1999 to 2006) and Franklin Foer (2006 to 2010) continued the tradition of liberal internationalism, with the magazine notably supporting the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a position it later regretted.

The Chris Hughes Turmoil

In March 2012, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes purchased The New Republic, becoming owner, editor-in-chief, and publisher. His tenure proved turbulent. In late 2014 Hughes replaced Franklin Foer, who had returned as editor in 2012, with former Gawker editor Gabriel Snyder as part of a plan to reimagine the magazine as a vertically integrated digital media company. The move prompted a mass exodus: the longtime literary editor Leon Wieseltier resigned, dozens of contributing editors asked to be removed from the masthead, and much of the editorial staff walked out. Publication was briefly suspended during the upheaval, and the episode became a cautionary tale about the perils of tech money in legacy journalism. Hughes never succeeded in realizing his vision, and in February 2016 he sold the magazine to Win McCormack, the founder and editor-in-chief of the Tin House literary quarterly. Former Nation publisher Hamilton Fish joined as publisher and editorial director. Under McCormack, the magazine returned to its progressive roots, repositioning itself as a left-of-center voice in the Trump and post-Trump eras.

Editorial Philosophy and Political Stance

The New Republic's editorial stance has evolved considerably over its history, but it has remained consistently left of center for most of its existence, with its center of gravity shifting from progressive internationalism to Cold War liberalism to today's progressivism. The current iteration of the magazine emphasizes social justice, economic equality, environmentalism, and democratic reform, while continuing the magazine's long-standing interest in ideas, literature, and the arts. It has been critical of both Republican administrations and of the Democratic establishment when it deems them insufficiently progressive, and it has championed figures and movements on the American left, including the campaigns of Bernie Sanders. At the same time, the magazine has maintained its tradition of literary and cultural criticism, publishing book reviews, film criticism, and essays that situate politics within broader cultural debates.

Notable Writers and Contributors

The New Republic's masthead has read like a who's who of American intellectual life. Early contributors included the philosopher John Dewey, sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois, economist John Maynard Keynes, authors Thomas Mann, George Orwell, and Virginia Woolf, and the critic Edmund Wilson. In the twentieth century, the magazine's pages hosted work by critics such as Stanley Kauffmann on film and Leon Wieseltier, whose literary editorship shaped American letters for three decades. Its political writers have included Michael Kinsley, Hendrik Hertzberg, Andrew Sullivan, and Peter Beinart, while later contributors have spanned the spectrum of liberal and progressive journalism. The magazine has also been a launching pad for young journalists who went on to prominent careers at larger publications, and its writing fellowship tradition and staff alumni network remain a notable feature of its institutional identity.

Print and Digital Publishing

A weekly for most of its history, The New Republic now publishes ten print issues per year and maintains a daily online platform at newrepublic.com. Print circulation was roughly 50,000 in the late 2000s, a figure typical of highbrow opinion journals, and the magazine's readership has long been concentrated among policymakers, academics, journalists, and politically engaged professionals in Washington and New York. The digital operation has expanded significantly since the McCormack era, with the website publishing daily reporting, commentary, and criticism, alongside newsletters and podcasts. The magazine's design has undergone several notable redesigns, most prominently the 2013 overhaul under Chris Hughes, and it continues to experiment with digital formats while preserving the print edition as the flagship of the brand.

Influence on American Politics

Few magazines can claim the New Republic's record of influence on American political thought. In its early decades, it helped articulate the progressive and New Deal liberalism that reshaped the Democratic Party. Under Martin Peretz, it was a key forum for the neoconservative-inflected liberalism of the 1980s and 1990s, including the "Third Way" politics associated with Bill Clinton. Its editorial positions have repeatedly set the terms of debate within the liberal coalition, from its early support for civil rights and opposition to the Vietnam War to its more recent advocacy of universal health care, climate action, and democratic reforms. Even its missteps, such as its support for the Iraq War and the controversies of the Sullivan editorship, have shaped broader conversations about the responsibilities of opinion journalism. The magazine's alumni populate senior positions across American media and government, extending its influence well beyond its pages.

Awards and Recognition

The New Republic has received numerous honors over its long history, including National Magazine Awards for its reporting, criticism, and design. Its writers have won major journalism prizes, and the magazine's literary section under Leon Wieseltier was widely considered one of the finest in American publishing. The Glass scandal of 1998 led to significant reforms in the magazine's fact-checking procedures, and its reputation for editorial standards has since been restored. The magazine has also been the subject of documentaries, books, and the feature film Shattered Glass, testament to its outsized place in the mythology of American journalism.

Ownership and Business Model

The magazine is currently owned by Win McCormack, who purchased it from Chris Hughes in 2016, with Michael Caruso serving as publisher and Michael Tomasky as editor since 2021. Like most opinion magazines, it operates on a combination of subscription revenue, advertising, and philanthropic support, and its business has been subsidized by its owners throughout much of its history. The Peretz era, the Hughes interlude, and the current McCormack ownership each illustrate the financial challenges of sustaining a serious magazine of ideas in a difficult media market. The magazine's resilience across eleven decades, however, testifies to the enduring appeal of its formula: serious, argumentative journalism aimed at readers who take politics and ideas seriously.