--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: No nation influenced American thinking…" description: "\"“No nation influenced American thinking more profoundly than Germany, W.E.B. DuBois, Charles Beard, Walter Weyl, Richard Ely, Richard Ely, Nicholas Mur..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87d/jonah-goldberg-2339_five-years_no-nation-influenced-american-thinking-m_300119.jpg" --- # No nation influenced American thinking more profoundly… ![“No nation influenced American thinking more profoundly than Germany, W.E.B. DuBois, Charles Beard, Walter Weyl, Richard Ely, Richard Ely, Nicholas Murray Butler, and countless other founders of modern American liberalism were among the nine thousand Americans who studied in German universities…” quote by Jonah Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87d/jonah-goldberg-2339_five-years_no-nation-influenced-american-thinking-m_300119.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87d/jonah-goldberg-2339_five-years_no-nation-influenced-american-thinking-m_300119.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/87d/jonah-goldberg-2339_five-years_no-nation-influenced-american-thinking-m_300119.jpg) > ““No nation influenced American thinking more profoundly than Germany, W.E.B. DuBois, Charles Beard, Walter Weyl, Richard Ely, Richard Ely, Nicholas Murray Butler, and countless other founders of modern American liberalism were among the nine thousand Americans who studied in German universities during the nineteenth century. When the American Economic Association was formed, five of the six first officers had studied in Germany. At least twenty of its first twenty-six presidents had as well. In 1906 a professor at Yale polled the top 116 economists and social scientists in America; more than half had studied in Germany for at least a year. By their own testimony, these intellectuals felt "liberated" by the experience of studying in an intellectual environment predicated on the assumption that experts could mold society like clay. No European statesman loomed larger in the minds and hearts of American progressives than Otto von Bismarck. As inconvenient as it may be for those who have been taught "the continuity between Bismarck and Hitler", writes Eric Goldman, Bismarck's Germany was "a catalytic of American progressive thought". Bismarck's "top-down socialism", which delivered the eight-hour workday, healthcare, social insurance, and the like, was the gold standard for enlightened social policy. "Give the working-man the right to work as long as he is healthy; assure him care when he is sick; assure him maintenance when he is old", he famously told the Reichstag in 1862. Bismarck was the original "Third Way" figure who triangulated between both ends of the ideological spectrum. "A government must not waver once it has chosen its course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward", he proclaimed. Teddy Roosevelt's 1912 national Progressive Party platform conspicuously borrowed from the Prussian model. Twenty-five years earlier, the political scientist Woodrow Wilson wrote that Bismarck's welfare state was an "admirable system . . . the most studied and most nearly perfected" in the world.”” [Jonah Goldberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonah-goldberg/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. German academic training shaped early American progressive policies, especially welfare state ideas derived from Bismarck’s model. **In simple terms:** German education influenced US progressive reforms. Key Takeaway Study foreign ideas to enrich policy. Themes history politics progressivism economics socialpolicy Mood analytical reflective Type historical political When to use this quote - academic research - policy design - comparative politics - education reform Key Concepts cultural exchange institutional diffusion policy borrowing Questions to Reflect On - How did German ideas interact with American traditions? - Can modern policy benefit from foreign models? 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In 1906 a professor at Yale polled the top 116 economists and social scientists in America; more than half had studied in Germany for at least a year. By their own testimony, these intellectuals felt \"liberated\" by the experience of studying in an intellectual environment predicated on the assumption that experts could mold society like clay. No European statesman loomed larger in the minds and hearts of American progressives than Otto von Bismarck. As inconvenient as it may be for those who have been taught \"the continuity between Bismarck and Hitler\", writes Eric Goldman, Bismarck's Germany was \"a catalytic of American progressive thought\". Bismarck's \"top-down socialism\", which delivered the eight-hour workday, healthcare, social insurance, and the like, was the gold standard for enlightened social policy. \"Give the working-man the right to work as long as he is healthy; assure him care when he is sick; assure him maintenance when he is old\", he famously told the Reichstag in 1862. Bismarck was the original \"Third Way\" figure who triangulated between both ends of the ideological spectrum. \"A government must not waver once it has chosen its course. It must not look to the left or right but go forward\", he proclaimed. Teddy Roosevelt's 1912 national Progressive Party platform conspicuously borrowed from the Prussian model. 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