Garet Garrett

Garet Garrett – Life, Career, and Notable Ideas

Explore the life, writings, political views, and legacy of Garet Garrett (1878–1954), American journalist, novelist, and critic of the New Deal and U.S. interventionism, along with some of his most striking quotes and lessons.

Introduction

Garet Garrett (born Edward Peter Garrett; February 19, 1878 – November 6, 1954) was an American journalist, novelist, and political commentator. He became a significant voice of classical liberal, anti-New Deal, and noninterventionist thought in the mid-20th century.

His work blends financial reportage, economic critique, fiction, and political essays. He is especially known for his opposition to expanding federal power under Franklin D. Roosevelt, for his skepticism about U.S. military involvement abroad, and for his defense of individual liberty, decentralization, and sound money.

In the following sections, we trace his life, key works and themes, influence, and lessons we can draw from his intellectual trajectory.

Early Life and Background

• Garrett was born on February 19, 1878, in Pana, Illinois.

• He grew up on a farm near Burlington, Iowa.

• His formal education was modest; he was largely self-educated, immersing himself in economics, literature, and political thought.

• As a teenager, he left home and found work as a printer’s apprentice (or “printer’s devil”) in Cleveland.

These humble beginnings helped shape Garrett’s later style: direct, skeptical of elites, and rooted in real-world economic and social dynamics.

Journalism, Career, and Literary Output

Early Journalism Career

• In 1898, Garrett moved to Washington, D.C., where he began reporting on national politics, covering the administration of President William McKinley.

• By 1900 he relocated to New York City and began working as a financial reporter, eventually contributing to publications such as The New York Sun, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Evening Post.

• In 1916, Garrett became executive editor of the New-York Tribune.

• Starting in 1922, Garrett became a leading economic essayist for the Saturday Evening Post, writing widely on business, finance, and public policy until roughly 1942.

Throughout these years his work combined financial insight with political judgment, always with a critical eye toward government expansion and intervention.

Fiction and Thematic Novels

In addition to journalism, Garrett wrote fiction—novels that dramatize economic, institutional, and moral challenges. Some notable works include:

• The Driver (1922) — a novel about a speculator, Henry M. Galt, who acquires a failing railroad and revitalizes it, only to face resistance from centralized powers.

• The Cinder Buggy (1923)

• Satan’s Bushel (1924)

• Ouroboros; or, The Mechanical Extension of Mankind (1926)

• Harangue (1926)

• The American Omen (1928)

• A Bubble That Broke the World (1932) — Garrett’s analysis of the speculative boom and bust of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

• The Wild Wheel (1952) — a history of the Ford Motor Company.

• Late in life, he published The People’s Pottage (1953), a set of essays: “The Revolution Was,” “Ex America,” and “Rise of Empire.”

These works reflect Garrett’s attempt to dramatize and critique what he saw as the drift from constitutional, limited government toward centralized, managerial state power.

Political Essayist & Critic

• In the 1930s, Garrett emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Roosevelt’s New Deal, writing numerous essays and editorials arguing that many policies undermined individual liberty, free markets, and fiscal discipline.

• He also was a prominent noninterventionist, warning against U.S. entanglement in foreign wars. Before the Pearl Harbor attack, he opposed U.S. involvement in European conflicts, though after the attack he accepted the necessity of war while maintaining his broader skepticism of foreign intervention.

• In 1944, he founded and edited the journal American Affairs, through which he continued to critique wartime policies, central planning, and nationalism.

Because of Garrett’s outspoken critiques, he was sometimes marginalized in the mainstream press, especially during times when intervention and expansive government policies were dominant.

Key Themes, Philosophy & Political Views

Garet Garrett promoted several interlocking themes throughout his career. Below are some of the most central.

Limited Government & Individualism

Garrett believed that the enlargement of federal power under the New Deal, wartime policies, regulatory expansion, and deficit spending eroded the foundations of individual freedom and constitutional government. He argued that when government does more, it must inevitably do more still, as power accumulates.

His vision was of a republic of relatively constrained government, with individuals free to engage in commerce, innovation, and association without heavy-handed oversight.

Sound Money & Critique of Credit Expansion

Garrett was skeptical of fiat money, expansive credit, and central banking policies that he believed enabled speculative bubbles and disconnected financial growth from real productivity. A Bubble That Broke the World reflects this concern.

He emphasized that unchecked credit growth produces illusions of wealth that collapse when real constraints assert themselves.

Resistance to Imperialism & Foreign Entanglements

Garrett held that powerful nations often slide from limited republics into empires, and that America’s role should be more cautious and restrained. In his essays “Rise of Empire” he analyzes how foreign policy, military commitments, and status aspirations can undermine domestic liberty and fiscal health.

He saw interventionism as intimately connected with internal expansionism: as governments project power abroad, they expand authority at home.

Moral Imagination & Dramatic Economy

Unlike many economic writers who adopt dry, technical modes, Garrett often used narrative, metaphor, drama, and moral urgency in discussing commerce, institutions, and individual agency. His novels and essays alike seek to evoke the stakes of economic and political life.

He believed economic life wasn’t merely about prices or supply and demand—but about human creation, risk, and innovation.

Legacy and Influence

Although Garet Garrett has not remained a household name, his influence persists—especially among libertarian, classical liberal, and Old Right circles.

1. Influence in Libertarian / Classical Liberal Thought
   Libertarian thinkers often invoke Garrett as a precursor or co-founder of the modern movement, praising The People’s Pottage and his noninterventionist essays.

2. Revival through ors and Biographers
   Garrett’s editor and biographer Bruce Ramsey compiled collections such as Salvos Against the New Deal and Defend America First, helping preserve his writings for modern readers.

3. Echoes in Modern Debates
   His warnings about overexpansion, deficit spending, imperial overreach, and centralization resonate in contemporary debates around the role of the state, monetary policy, and foreign policy.

4. Literary Value
   Some of his novels, like The Driver and The Wild Wheel, are still read for their storytelling and thematic boldness. The Driver is sometimes noted for possible resemblance to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, though direct influence is contested.

5. Limited mainstream recognition
   Garrett’s criticisms were out of step with the dominant mid-20th century consensus endorsing a stronger federal government and global leadership role. For that reason, his voice was eclipsed over time.

Nonetheless, for those exploring the intellectual roots of dissent against the administrative state, Garrett remains a provocative figure.

Selected Quotes

Here are several memorable remarks (in paraphrase or translation) that reflect Garrett’s sensibility:

• “I have never seen a good farmer with a good wife in a state of failure.”

• “The Revolution Was” (title essay) — Garrett’s term for the way New Deal reforms transformed American governance within the form of constitutional institutions.

• “Things forbidden have a secret charm.” (This is sometimes cited in relation to his views on restrictions and human psychology, though attribution can vary.)

• On monetary policy: He often expressed that unchecked credit expansion is inherently dangerous and unsustainable. (From A Bubble That Broke the World.)

Because many of Garrett’s writings are in essays and periodicals rather than compiled quote collections, some of his most pointed statements are embedded in context, requiring reading his essays and novels.

Lessons from Garet Garrett

From Garrett’s life and works, modern readers may draw several lessons:

1. Liberty is vulnerable in prosperity
   It is often during times of relative prosperity, complacency, and optimism that state expansion is accepted. Garrett reminds us to remain skeptical and vigilant.

2. Fiscal restraint matters
   Credit expansion and deficit spending may postpone adjustment temporarily—but at the risk of systemic crashes. Garrett’s critique warns of the moral hazard inherent in too much government-enabled credit.

3. Foreign policy shapes domestic institutions
   As Garrett argued, great powers abroad tend to demand greater authority at home. The connection between empire and administrative consolidation is a continuing concern.

4. Story and imagination amplify ideas
   Garrett’s use of fiction and narrative suggests that ideas about economy and governance can benefit from moral framing, not just technical argumentation.

5. Dissent should not fade
   Even if dominant consensus is against you, sustained, principled disagreement helps preserve intellectual diversity and possible shifts in later generations.

6. Mixed intellectual stance
   Garrett was not dogmatic: he held some views (for example, on immigration and tariffs) that might seem inconsistent with full-blown free-market orthodoxy. That flexibility and willingness to question assumptions is itself a lesson in intellectual humility.

Conclusion

Garet Garrett was a singular figure in 20th-century American letters: at once journalist, novelist, economic critic, and political contrarian. His voice challenged the dominant currents of his time—New Deal liberalism, interventionism, expansive federal policy—and he did so with moral fervor, literary energy, and intellectual rigor.

While his name has receded from mainstream memory, in many ways his concerns are increasingly relevant: questions about the size and role of government, monetary policy, war and empire, and the preservation of individual liberty remain central. Exploring Garrett’s writings offers not just historical insight, but a challenging perspective on how power, institutions, and human agency interact.