Charles Peters’ legacy as ‘the godfather of neoliberalism’

Nick Schifrin:

Finally tonight: The longtime journalist who wrote the column "Tilting at Windmills," Charles Peters, often called the godfather of neoliberalism, died Thursday at his home in Washington.

Peters was once a campaign staffer for John F. Kennedy and later an executive at the Peace Corps. He was also the founding editor of the small "Washington Monthly" political journal.

Judy Woodruff sat down with Peters in 2017 to discuss how, for decades, he challenged the core beliefs of both liberals and conservatives.

Judy Woodruff:

You launched a magazine in the late 1960s, you said, because you wanted to look at what the federal government was doing right, and what it was doing wrong, how it could do better.

But you soon expanded that to look at the whole country.

Charles Peters, Founder, "Washington Monthly": We felt we had to get into those broader cultural issues.

But the main thing that happened was the snobbery that began with the anti-war movement. That was, I think, one of two really bad things that's happened to divide the country. The other was the growth of greed or the — and the conspicuous consumption that fueled the greed.

Judy Woodruff:

Snobbery.

Charles Peters:

Yes.

Judy Woodruff:

It's not a word that's thrown out a lot.

Charles Peters:

Yes.

Judy Woodruff:

What did you — who do you mean by it, and what happened?

Charles Peters:

In the anti-war movement, there was a feeling that the people who were against the war were morally superior to those who were for the war.

Well, I was against the war, but I understood there were an awful lot of good people who believed in the war. That's when I began to worry about what was going wrong with the anti-war movement, even though I was part of the anti-war movement.

Judy Woodruff:

You point out a number of ways in which the country, for all of its progress, has gone downhill.

Charles Peters:

Yes.

Judy Woodruff:

And another way is, you cite the greed that you saw crop up among people in Washington who came here originally to do public service, but then that changed.

Charles Peters:

Even though it contained that element of snobbery, that was also a beautiful element of idealism in the anti-war movement.

But that gradually changed in the '70s. I think part of it was simply these people were getting older. The V.W. Beetle was no longer the adequate car. They had to get the station wagon to the — and then they had to get the house.

But then they got the house, and then they got — it had to be a larger house, and it had to have a workout room, and it had to have a home office, and it had to have walk-in closets and state-of-the-art bathroom and kitchen. And, suddenly, people were into thinking they needed a lot of money.

And then they forgot about the wages paid to the worker. They became concerned with increasing their dividends, meaning increasing profits. And when they read about a plant closing, well, that might increase profit, you know? And we have got to watch those wages, because wages take away from profit.

Nick Schifrin:

Charles Peters was also the author of five books on politics and history. He was 96 years old.