1940's The Arts | MacDonald, Dwight 1906-1982

MAGAZINE EDITOR, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR

Iconoclast.

In the 1940s Dwight Macdonald was a leading voice of intellectual dissent in America. A writer of satire and biting criticism, he published nearly single-handedly a magazine called Politics, the only American intellectual journal to oppose U.S. participation in World War II. An ardent pacifist, Macdonald also championed equality for African Americans and homosexual rights.

Early Years.

Macdonald was born in New York City. His father was a lawyer from a middle-class background, and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy Brooklyn merchant. Looking back at his parents' happy marriage, Macdonald later spoke of "the calm, affectionate atmosphere of my boyhood home." Indeed, Macdonald enjoyed a secure, privileged childhood. He attended private elementary schools in New York City, where he began to write, and then went to Phillips Exeter Academy, where he...