History's White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
To create a virtuous elite, we must first understand our country's past elites to ascertain which traits are worth emulating and which are not.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily align with those of The American Postliberal.
Tanner Greer, the author of the popular Substack The Scholar’s Stage, recently wrote an article about the former WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) aristocracy and their decline. The article is a worthwhile read and a good corrective to some misconceptions about America’s former ruling elite.
This piece does not seek to critique Greer’s work, but to write in dialogue with him about a matter of historical significance for understanding the United States and our history.
In the article, Greer argues that the historical term “the Eastern Establishment” is preferable to “WASP” for describing America’s largely uncontested ruling elite between 1930 and 1960. Greer rests part of his argument on the fact that many members of this elite were not Anglo-Protestant, and most Anglo-Protestants were not members of this elite.
This piece’s goal is not to contest the overall merits of many of Greer’s points. His article is a corrective and helpfully points out that America’s elite was not solely made up of Anglo Protestants, and—between the Civil War and Midcentury—it was dominated by the political power of the Northeast, to the detriment of other regions.
Indeed, in this period, that region that was the most culturally and demographically Anglo-Protestant, the South, was frozen out of national preeminence, with a Southerner not becoming president until Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in.
Additionally, the term WASP, as highlighted by Greer, is itself a fairly recent term, only being coined in 1964, long after the heyday of the WASPs. However, in spite of this, there is merit to the term “WASP” when analyzing American history.
One linguistic point worth raising is that WASP is not necessarily synonymous with “Anglo” or even “Anglo Protestant” in its formulation.
Since colonial times, America has had a significant German population—much to the annoyance of Benjamin Franklin—with the first Speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg, being of German descent. In using the term “Anglo-Saxon” instead of “Anglo,” the term “WASP” emphasizes the broader Germanic roots of England rather than English culture itself.
In this sense, ethnic Germans (such as the historic elite in much of the Midwest), Dutchmen (such as Van Buren, the Roosevelts), or those from other Germanic backgrounds do not invalidate the thesis that America’s elite was composed of WASPs.
More significantly, while Greer is correct in emphasizing the Eastern Establishment as comprising America’s ruling class, this neglects the critical importance of local WASP elites in the development of the United States.
California serves as a good example to explicate this point.
During the Twentieth Century, California’s elite, for simple geographical reasons, did not play an outsized role in governing the country (as did the elites of New England or New York). At the same time, its ruling elite was discernibly WASP, even if it was relatively insulated from the Eastern Establishment.
Politically and economically during this period, California had captains of industry comparable to those of the Eastern Establishment. William Randolph Hearst, Howard Hughes, Leland Stanford, David Hewes, and the Crocker as well as Getty families stand out as examples of this, just to name a few. While there were non-Anglos as well amongst California industrialists—most notably the Spreckels family—California’s elites tended to be WASPs in every sense of the word.
In education, California WASPs also built their own institutions, both emulating and challenging those of the Eastern Establishment and fitting the mold of what we would consider to be WASPy.
Stanford University, founded by one of the most prominent men in the state, is a good example of this. Additionally, many of the prep schools that dot the state were built in emulation of schools for the Eastern elite.
Socially, California’s elite also built networks and institutions similar to those of the Eastern Establishment. Indeed, some of these institutions would be integrated into the social network of the Eastern Establishment.
The most notable and infamous example is the Bohemian Grove— of which Californian politicians who achieved national status, such as Earl Warren, Ronald Reagan, or Richard Nixon, were members alongside Easterners such as George H.W. Bush.
Ironically, California’s mid-century rise contributed much to the downfall of this elite. California experienced massive population and economic growth after the Second World War, particularly in the south. At the same time, entertainment grew, supplanting older industries and creating a new, much more liberal elite.
California came to epitomize much of the spirit of mid-century America, from its large defense industry to the dominance of its suburban middle class. Part of this process was the decline of its earlier WASP elite from their positions of prominence. At the same time, California’s elite became more integrated into that of the nation as a whole.
Despite this, compared to other areas, contemporary California still maintains, at some level, a greater continuity in its governance with the older WASP elite than most states.
The current California governor, Gavin Newsom, comes from a prominent and, by California standards, old San Francisco family. Newsom’s father was a lawyer by practice as well as a confidant of the Getty family. Indeed, Gordon Getty, a billionaire heir to that family, has stated that he thinks of Gavin “as a son.”
The governor before Newsom, Jerry Brown, likewise came from a prominent California political family— though admittedly an Irish-Catholic, rather than a WASP one.
To understand our country’s present, it is necessary first to understand our past. To create a virtuous elite, we must first understand our country’s past elites to ascertain which traits are worth emulating and which are not.
Tanner Greer, in his many theses on the WASPs, provides an important corrective about America’s earlier ruling class. However, that the term “Eastern Establishment” may be preferable to “WASP” when describing the national ruling class does not rule out the fact that what are commonly thought of as WASPs did exist as an elite group and distinct class, as far afield as California.
Consequently, even if only a subset of WASPs (the Eastern Establishment) had national dominance, I do not think it would be incorrect to describe America’s former elite as the WASPs.
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