The Young Burnham

This chapter discusses the emergence of the two James Burnhams. During the early 1920s, most Americans saw World War I as a catastrophe, but the teenage Burnham found redeeming features in the conflict. He wrote an essay extolling World War I, and his belief that violence could regenerate the world appeared in his writings for almost a half-century. First as a Marxist and later as a Cold Warrior, this James Burnham optimistically argued that democracy could prevail if force and power—sometimes even violence—were properly used. A second James Burnham who was skeptical and gloomy appeared during his college years. This side of Burnham, in its mature form, questioned true democracy and its future, maintaining it was always stifled by the ruling elite. Both James Burnhams remain politically significant.