Thomas, Norman Mattoon

(1884-1968)

   Socialist Party of America leader Norman Thomas studied politics under Woodrow Wilson at Princeton University and then turned to theology. He was a Presbyterian pastor and worked in the New York settlement houses until 1918. A pacifist, Thomas opposed entry into World War I and was one of the founders of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a group of pacifist clergymen. He was also one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union. He was an associate editor of The Nation from 1921 to 1922 and codirector of the League of Industrial Democracy from 1922 to 1937. He ran unsuccessfully as the socialist candidate in the New York gubernatorial campaign in 1924 and as the party’s presidential candidate in 1928, 1932, and 1936, offering a moderate, non-Marxist brand of socialism critical of Soviet-style communism. Thomas initially worked to keep the United States out of the war in Europe and was a founding member of the America First Committee, but after 1941 he supported the war effort, although he opposed certain government policies, like the internment of Japanese Americans. He was the socialist presidential candidate again in 1940, 1944, and 1948 but later suggested that the party should abandon such campaigns and support progressive Democrats. Thomas resigned his official positions in the party in 1955, while continuing as its leading spokesman. In his later years, he spoke out against U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.