Robert Hunter
Robert Hunter was an influential American social and political figure born in 1874 in Terre Haute, Indiana. Initially rooted in radical socialist ideals, he dedicated much of his early career to social work, becoming involved with Jane Addams' Hull House in Chicago and advocating for various social reforms, including dental clinics and tuberculosis treatment for the underprivileged. Hunter's experiences led him to publish significant works, including the bestselling book "Poverty" in 1904, which contributed to his prominence within the Socialist Party.
Throughout his political journey, Hunter actively engaged in socialist politics, running for state and gubernatorial offices and participating in international socialist congresses. However, as the complexities of World War I emerged, Hunter's views evolved, leading him to disavow socialism in 1917. He relocated to California, where he transitioned into teaching economics and became a successful golf-course designer. Over the 1920s, he increasingly adopted conservative viewpoints, opposing major social assistance programs and the New Deal, ultimately positioning himself as a critic of the political movements he once supported. Hunter passed away in 1942, leaving behind a complex legacy that reflects the shifting landscape of American social and political thought in the early 20th century.
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Subject Terms
Robert Hunter
Socialist
- Born: April 10, 1874
- Birthplace: Terre Haute, Indiana
- Died: May 15, 1942
- Place of death: Santa Barbara, California
Biography
The arc of Robert Hunter’s social and political philosophy moved through an arguably radical socialist starting point to a conservative small-government realignment. Hunter was born in 1874 in Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of an auctioneer and Civil War veteran. After finishing his studies at Indiana University in 1896, Hunter moved to Chicago, where he became a resident in Jane Addam’s Hull House, a thriving, growing progressive precursor to the modern social-service agency. Hunter threw himself into social work with abandon. He chaired the City Homes Association investigating committee. Hunter was a founder and superintendent of a municipal lodging house, and a Small Parks Commission member. Hunter spent a sabbatical from Chicago in the summer of 1899 studying housing problems in London, and authored the 1901 book Tenement Conditions in Chicago after his return.
In New York in 1902, Hunter met Caroline Stokes, a social worker, but also the daughter of a wealthy banker. They married in 1903, and honeymooned at various progressive communities in Poland, Germany, and England. Their residence in Greenwich Village was fodder for the newspapers, who trumpeted the couple’s sacrifice. Caroline (Stokes) Hunter was reported to be worth twelve million dollars at the time. The Hunters had four children. In 1904, Robert Hunter published Poverty; it became a best seller.
After traveling to Europe in 1905 to examine European social legislation, Hunter returned a Socialist Party evangelist. Hunter advocated for dental clinics, the importance of case work, and healthy nutrition. Hunter continued efforts he had begun in Chicago to help poor get treatment for tuberculosis, in no small part motivated by his brother’s tuberculosis. Hunter ran as a Socialist Party state assembly candidate in New York, and Connecticut gubernatorial candidate, and traveled to International Socialist Congresses at Stuttgart in 1907 and Copenhagen in 1910.
The buildup to World War I after 1915 was a complex time in the evolution of the Socialist Party, the Labor movement, and labor unions. The confusing nexus of European nationalistic fervor, with struggles between Socialist parties and labor, was more than Hunter could bear. He disavowed the Socialist Party in 1917 and moved to California, where he taught economics and became a successful golf-course designer.
Hunter grew more conservative through the 1920’s. He chided Upton Sinclair when Hunter’s friend from his Chicago days ran for governor of California in 1934. Hunter derided Sinclair’s social assistance agenda as a recipe for perpetual poverty. Indeed, Hunter opposed Roosevelt’s New Deal, and was an unofficial strategist for Wendell Willkie’s run for the presidency. He touted Revolution—Why, How, When?, published in 1940, and took jabs at Roosevelt by declaring that revolutions were caused by the instability of the monetary system and the dissatisfaction of the middle class. Hunter died in 1942.