The Progressive Movement we see in today"s politics is anything but a new idea. We see it surface in various forms throughout history. The Promise of American Life was a defining point for such movement in the United States. In the post American Civil War era the country was fragmented economically and socially. This was the beginning of Teddy Roosevelt"s theories of strong government and FDR"s New Deal many years later. We see it even today when politicians espouse the necessity for government to bring social and economic groups closer together. "Along with Tocqueville"s Democracy in America, Croly"s study is necessary reading for an understanding of political growth in the United States." -- Trenton Times Herbert David was leader of the Progressive Movement, political philosopher and a co-founder of the magazine The New Republic. His political philosophy influenced many leading progressives including Theodore Roosevelt, as well as his close friends Judge Learned Hand and Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.