Political Manhood

Red Bloods, Mollycoddles, and the Politics of Progressive Era Reform

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Government, Democracy, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book Political Manhood by Kevin Murphy, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kevin Murphy ISBN: 9780231503501
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: July 2, 2008
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Kevin Murphy
ISBN: 9780231503501
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: July 2, 2008
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

In a 1907 lecture to Harvard undergraduates, Theodore Roosevelt warned against becoming "too fastidious, too sensitive to take part in the rough hurly-burly of the actual work of the world." Roosevelt asserted that colleges should never "turn out mollycoddles instead of vigorous men," and cautioned that "the weakling and the coward are out of place in a strong and free community."

A paradigm of ineffectuality and weakness, the mollycoddle was "all inner life," whereas his opposite, the "red blood," was a man of action. Kevin P. Murphy reveals how the popular ideals of American masculinity coalesced around these two distinct categories. Because of its similarity to the emergent "homosexual" type, the mollycoddle became a powerful rhetorical figure, often used to marginalize and stigmatize certain political actors. Issues of masculinity not only penetrated the realm of the elite, however. Murphy's history follows the redefinition of manhood across a variety of classes, especially in the work of late nineteenth-century reformers, who trumpeted the virility of the laboring classes.

By highlighting this cross-class appropriation, Murphy challenges the oppositional model commonly used to characterize the relationship between political "machines" and social and municipal reformers at the turn of the twentieth century. He also revolutionizes our understanding of the gendered and sexual meanings attached to political and ideological positions of the Progressive Era.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In a 1907 lecture to Harvard undergraduates, Theodore Roosevelt warned against becoming "too fastidious, too sensitive to take part in the rough hurly-burly of the actual work of the world." Roosevelt asserted that colleges should never "turn out mollycoddles instead of vigorous men," and cautioned that "the weakling and the coward are out of place in a strong and free community."

A paradigm of ineffectuality and weakness, the mollycoddle was "all inner life," whereas his opposite, the "red blood," was a man of action. Kevin P. Murphy reveals how the popular ideals of American masculinity coalesced around these two distinct categories. Because of its similarity to the emergent "homosexual" type, the mollycoddle became a powerful rhetorical figure, often used to marginalize and stigmatize certain political actors. Issues of masculinity not only penetrated the realm of the elite, however. Murphy's history follows the redefinition of manhood across a variety of classes, especially in the work of late nineteenth-century reformers, who trumpeted the virility of the laboring classes.

By highlighting this cross-class appropriation, Murphy challenges the oppositional model commonly used to characterize the relationship between political "machines" and social and municipal reformers at the turn of the twentieth century. He also revolutionizes our understanding of the gendered and sexual meanings attached to political and ideological positions of the Progressive Era.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book Quadrophenia by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book The Multivoiced Body by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book The Great Flowing River by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book Essays on the Essay Film by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book What China and India Once Were by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book Creative Pasts by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book Unifying Hinduism by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book Not Ours Alone by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book Wearing My Tutu to Analysis and Other Stories by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book When the State Winks by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book The 23rd Cycle by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book Learn or Die by Kevin Murphy
Cover of the book This Incredible Need to Believe by Kevin Murphy
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy