Max Ascoli (1898–1978) was a Jewish Italian-American professor of political philosophy and law at the New School for Social Research, United States of America.

Career

Ascoli's career started in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and continued in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Background

Ascoli was born in Ferrara, Italy on June 25, 1898, into an Italian Jewish family. He was the only child of Enrico Ascoli, a coal and lumber merchant, and Adriana Finzi. In 1920, he graduated in Law from the

University of Ferrara The University of Ferrara ( it, Università degli Studi di Ferrara) is the main university of the city of Ferrara in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. In the years prior to the First World War the University of Ferrara, with more than 5 ...

. In 1921, he published a critical study of French socialist

Georges Sorel Georges Eugène Sorel (; ; 2 November 1847 – 29 August 1922) was a French social thinker, political theorist, historian, and later journalist. He has inspired theories and movements grouped under the name of Sorelianism. His social and ...

. In 1924, he published a biography of philosopher Benedetto Croce. In 1928, he graduated in Philosophy from the University of Rome.

Italy

In 1928, Ascoli held the chair of Philosophy of Law at the University of Rome, but he was arrested. In 1929, he accepted a post at the

University of Cagliari The University of Cagliari ( it, Università degli Studi di Cagliari) is a university in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It was founded in 1606 and is organized in 11 faculties. History The ''Studium Generalis Kalaritanum'' was founded in 1606 alon ...

(Sardinia). His opposition to the Italian fascist regime, however, led him into exile.

United States

In 1931, Ascoli received a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship and moved to the United States. In 1939, he became an American citizen. Ascoli met Alvin Johnson during his time with the Rockefeller Foundation and later joined the New School for Social Research that Johnson co-founded in New York. He was active in the

Mazzini Society The Mazzini Society was an antifascist political association, formed on a democratic and republican basis, situating itself within the tradition of the Risorgimento, and created in the United States by Italian-American immigrants in the late 1930s. ...

, an anti-fascist organization founded in 1939 by Italian intellectuals who had fled fascist Italy. For many years, Ascoli taught at the New School for Social Research, becoming dean of the Graduate School (1939–41). He left the New School to serve the government for two years under Nelson A. Rockefeller, then Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. He then went on to focus on a new magazine.

''The Reporter''

In 1949, Ascoli joined

James Reston James Barrett Reston (November 3, 1909 – December 6, 1995), nicknamed "Scotty", was an American journalist whose career spanned the mid-1930s to the early 1990s. He was associated for many years with ''The New York Times.'' Early lif ...

to found ''

The Reporter (magazine) ''The Reporter'' was an American biweekly news magazine published in New York City from 1949 through 1968. History and profile The magazine was founded by Max Ascoli, who was born in 1898 in Ferrara, Italy to a Jewish family. in Ascoli grew ...

'', an influential, liberal magazine for some two decades (1949-1968). Its circulation peaked at 215,000 readers. In 1968, Ascoli merged the publication with

Harper’s Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

. Contributors included: Dean Acheson, James Baldwin, McGeorge Bundy,

Isaac Deutscher Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...

Theodore Draper Theodore H. Draper (September 11, 1912 – February 21, 2006) was an American historian and political writer. Draper is best known for the 14 books he completed during his life, including work regarded as seminal on the formative period of the Ame ...

John Kenneth Galbraith John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through t ...

Gertrude Himmelfarb Gertrude Himmelfarb (August 8, 1922 – December 30, 2019), also known as Bea Kristol, was an American historian. She was a leader of conservative interpretations of history and historiography. She wrote extensively on intellectual history, ...

Irving Howe Irving Howe (; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America. Early years Howe was born as Irving Horenstein in The Bronx, New York. He was the son of ...

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...

Irving Kristol Irving Kristol (; January 22, 1920 – September 18, 2009) was an American journalist who was dubbed the "godfather of neoconservatism". As a founder, editor, and contributor to various magazines, he played an influential role in the intellectual ...

, Boris Pasternak,

Eugene V. Rostow Eugene Victor Rostow (August 25, 1913 – November 25, 2002) was an American legal scholar and public servant. He was Dean of Yale Law School and served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs under President Lyndon B. Johnson. In the ...

, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.,

Peter Viereck Peter Robert Edwin Viereck (August 5, 1916 – May 13, 2006) was an American poet and professor of history at Mount Holyoke College. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1949 for the collection ''Terror and Decorum''.Edmund Wilson Edmund Wilson Jr. (May 8, 1895 – June 12, 1972) was an American writer and literary critic who explored Freudian and Marxist themes. He influenced many American authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose unfinished work he edited for publi ...

Personal life and death

Ascoli was married twice. His first wife was Italian poet Anna Maria Cochetti (who wrote under the pen name Anna Maria Armi); he divorced her in 1940. His second wife was Marion Rosenwald Ascoli, whom he married in 1940. Marion was the daughter of CEO of the ''

Sears, Roebuck and Company Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began ...

'',

Julius Rosenwald Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions in ...

. (She was also previously married to Alfred K. Stern, whom she divorced in 1936.) She had been chairwoman and president of the Citizens Committee for Children of New York and previously president of the New York Fund for Children and of the Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem. Marion Ascoli died in 1990, aged 88. Their son is Peter Ascoli, author of ''

'', a book about his maternal grandfather. Ascoli died after a long illness at his home in Manhattan on January 1, 1978 at the age of 79.

Works

Th
Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
houses Max Ascoli's papers. His books include criticism of Italian fascist

Corporatism Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...

Books written

* ''Vie dalla Croce'' (1924) * ''Saggi Vichiani'' (1928) * ''Gíustizia: Saggio di Filosofia del Diritto'' (1930) * ''Intelligence in Politics'' (1936) * ''Fascism: Who Benefits?'' (1939) * ''War Aims and America's Aims'' (1941) * ''Power of Freedom'' (1949)

Books co-written

* ''Fascism for Whom?'' with Arthur Feiler (1938)

Books edited

* ''Political and Economic Democracy'', edited by Max Ascoli and Fritz Lehmann (1937) * ''Fall of Mussolini, His Own Story'', translated from the Italian by Francis Frenaye, edited and with a preface by Max Ascoli (1948) * ''Reporter Reader'' (1956) * ''Our Times: The Best from the Reporter'' (1960) * ''Reporter Reader'' (1969)

Articles

* Articles for ''

Foreign Affairs (magazine) ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy an ...

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Max Ascoli papers
at th
Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ascoli, Max 1898 births 1978 deaths Sapienza University of Rome alumni University of Ferrara alumni University of Cagliari faculty The New School faculty Italian exiles Italian emigrants to the United States