{{Use American English|date=May 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Evans Clark | image = Evans Clark 1926.jpg | caption = Clark {{circa}} 1926 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1888|8|9}} | birth_place = Orange, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1970|8|29|1888|8|9}} | death_place = Nyon, Switzerland | occupation = Writer | alma_mater = Columbia University | spouse = Freda Kirchwey }} '''Evans Clark''' (August 9, 1888 – August 29, 1970) was an American writer strongly committed first to Communist and Socialist causes and then liberal socio-economic issues, served for a quarter century as first executive director of the Twentieth Century Fund (renamed The Century Foundation), and was husband of Freda Kirchwey (editor and publisher of ''The Nation'' magazine, to which he contributed).<ref name=NYTobit> {{cite news | title = Evans Clark, Writer, Is Dead; Director of 20th Century Fund | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/29/archives/evans-clark-writer-is-dead-director-of-20th-century-fund-a-member.html | page = 21 | date = 29 August 1970 | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref><ref name=20CF> {{cite web | title = Evans Clark | publisher = Twentieth Century Fund | url = http://archivesofthecentury.org/myportfolio/evans-clark/ | date = | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref><ref name=Papers> {{cite web | title = Evans Clark Papers, 1910-1970: Finding Aid | publisher = Infomotions, LLC | url = http://infomotions.com/sandbox/liam/pages/ma24.htmlhttp://archivesofthecentury.org/myportfolio/evans-clark/ | date = | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref>
==Background==
Evans Clark was born on August 9, 1888, in Orange, New Jersey. His parents were William Brewster Clark, a New York physician, and Fanny Cox. He attended private schools in New York City and The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. In 1910, he earned a BA from Amherst College. He studied law in Columbia University but received an MA in government and politics in 1913.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=Papers />
==Career==
===Early career=== [[File:Fsr-sovietrussiacover.jpg|thumb|right|The RSGB, for which Clark worked, published ''Soviet Russia'' magazine, later turned over to Friends of Soviet Russia organization]] In 1913, Clark began his career as instructor in government at Princeton University. In 1917, he became research director for the Socialist members of the New York Board of Aldermen.<ref name=NYTobit />
In 1919, Clark became assistant director of a commercial department and then director information for the Russian Soviet Government Bureau (AKA the "Soviet Bureau"), an unofficial diplomatic organization established by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in the United States during the Russian Civil War (1919–1920).<ref name=NYTobit /> On March 28, 1919, and April 11, 1919 ''The New York Times'' published articles urging to close what it deemed the illegal representation of the Soviet Bureau. A number of government agencies conducted inquiries of the RSGB prior to its office being raided, including investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Treasury Department, the Directorate of Military Intelligence, and the War Trade Board. Information was provided as requested, with Soviet Bureau official Evans Clark noting to assistant director of the War Trade Board G.M. Bodman at a meeting on April 25, 1919, that the bureau "had nothing to conceal" and was "glad to furnish information to those entitled to have it." Additionally, Martens and his lawyer Charles Recht had met personally with officials of the Department of Justice in April and May, while Clark travelled to Washington, D.C. to consult with the personal secretary of U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer.<ref> {{cite book | first = Todd J. | last = Pfannestiel | title = Rethinking the Red Scare: The Lusk Committee and New York's Crusade Against Radicalism, 1919-1923 | pages = 63–64 | date = 12 September 2003}}</ref><ref name=Facts> {{cite book | first = Evans | last = Clark | authorlink = Evans Clark | title = Facts and Fabrications about Soviet Russia | publisher = Rand School of Social Science | url = https://archive.org/details/factsandfabrica00clargoog | date = 1920 | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref><ref> {{cite journal | first = T. Everett | last = Harré | title = Plot to Overthrow Government: N.Y. Legislative Probe Exposes Radicals Groups United to Establish 'Dictatorship of Proletariat' in America – Rand School Hotbed of Sedition | journal = The National Civic Federation Review | publisher = The Federation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=po0bAAAAMAAJ | page = 339 | date = 30 July 1919 | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref>
In 1919, Clark also joined the left-wing American People's Freedom Union (1919–1920). The union's executive secretary was Frances M. Witherspoon,<ref name=Lusk1110>Stevenson (ed.), ''Revolutionary Radicalism,'' part 1, vol. 1, pg. 1110.</ref> and secretary of it Free Political Prisoners Committee was Tracy Dickinson Mygatt.<ref name="MarchInManacles">[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/12/16/118247574.pdf "March in Manacles, Plan of Radicals,"] ''New York Times,'' December 16, 1919.</ref> Other members included Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Lewis Gannett, Harry W. Laidler, Jessica Smith, and Norman Thomas,<ref>Stevenson (ed.), ''Revolutionary Radicalism,'' part 1, vol. 1, pp. 1110-1111.</ref> as well as sociologist Winthrop D. Lane.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/08/05/98716172.pdf "Legion Protests Against Meyer Aid,"] ''New York Times,'' August 5, 1921.</ref>
In 1920, he helped organize the [http://www.lbgt.com/ Labor Bureau, Inc.] (LBI), an independent professional group, with George Henry Soule Jr., Alfred L. Bernheim, David J. Saposs. The LBI acted as economic advisers and public relations counselors for labor unions.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref> {{cite book | first = Mark | last = Hendrickson | title = American Labor and Economic Citizenship: New Capitalism from World War I to the Great Depression | publisher = Cambridge University Press | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GZ80AAAAQBAJ | page = 112 | date = 27 May 2013 | accessdate = 24 December 2017| isbn = 9781107028609 }}</ref> [[File:190800-randschooldefense-ad.jpg|thumb|right|''Case of the Rand School'' published on July 26, 1919, by the Rand School of Social Science, where Clark taught]] Clark taught at the Rand School of Social Science (a "property of the American Socialist Society") as a "specialist in municipal affairs." Fellow "noted lecturers and teachers" there included: Charles A. Beard, historian (Bureau of Municipal Research); Franklin H. Giddings; Alexander Goldenweiser; Benjamin B. Kendrick; William P. Montague; David Saville Muzzey; James Harvey Robinson; E. M. Sait; James T. Shotwell; Lester F. Ward; David Starr Jordan; Willard C. Fisher; Ellen Hayes; Vida D. Scudder; Charles Zueblin; Juliet Stuart Poyntz; Dorothy Brewster; George R. Kirkpatrick; Harry W. L. Dana; Morris Hillquit; W.E.B. DuBois; Jack London; and Max Eastman among others.<ref> {{cite book | title = The Case of the Rand School | publisher = Rand School of Social Science | url = https://archive.org/details/caseofrandschool00randuoft | pages = [https://archive.org/details/caseofrandschool00randuoft/page/13 13]–15 | date = 26 July 1919 | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref><ref> {{cite news | title = Intercollegiate Socialist Conference Held Next Week | newspaper = Harvard Crimson | url = http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1920/12/21/intercollegiate-socialist-conference-held-next-week/ | date = 21 December 1920 | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref><ref> {{cite journal | first =Marion Lucas | last = Bird | title = Rand School Begins 15th Year | publisher = The Call Magazine | url = http://www.marxisthistory.org/history/usa/parties/spusa/1920/1010-bird-randschool.pdf | pages = 5–8 | date = 21 December 1920 | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref>
In the early 1920s the Socialist Party was in severe membership decline and funding of the ''New York Call'' became correspondingly tenuous. In a last-ditch effort to save the paper, it was reorganized in the fall of 1923 to include non-Socialists in its management.<ref name=NL10th> {{cite magazine | first = William M. | last = Feigenbaum | title = New Leader Faces Its Tenth Year | magazine = The New Leader | page = 3 | date = 11 February 1933 }}</ref> On October 1, 1923, the name of the paper was formally changed to the ''New York Leader'' as a reflection of this new orientation. Pacifist minister Norman Thomas, formerly of ''The World Tomorrow,'' was named as editor of the publication.<ref name=NL10th /> Heber Blankenhorn became managing editor, Evans Clark business manager, and Ed Sullivan sportswriter.<ref> {{cite book | first = Gloria Garrett | last = Samson | title = The American Fund for Public Service: Charles Garland and Radical Philanthropy, 1922-1941 | publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group | url = https://archive.org/details/americanfundforp0000sams | url-access = registration | page = [https://archive.org/details/americanfundforp0000sams/page/105 105] | date = 1996 | accessdate = 24 December 2017| isbn = 9780313298738 }}</ref> This effort to stabilize the daily newspaper's funding was unsuccessful, however, and the ''New York Leader'' was terminated just six weeks later.<ref name=NL10th />
In 1925, Clark wrote editorials, books reviews, and feature stories for the ''New York Times'' through 1928.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=Papers />
===Twentieth Century Fund=== [[File:TCF_logo.gif|thumb|right|Logo of The Century Foundation, formerly the Twentieth Century Fund, with which Clark was a leader for nearly a half century]] In 1928, Clark became the first executive director of the Twentieth Century Fund (founded by Boston merchant Edward A. Filene), a role he served until 1958.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=20CF /><ref name=Papers />
The fund conducted economic research and fostered public education on economic problems. Under Clark, the fund began its own research into controversial areas, "working on the theory that controversy is an index of a topic's importance and of the need for its objective study." Topics included: consumer credit, pre-payment group medical service, economic sanctions in relation to peace, internal debts of the United States of America, old age security, and labor cartels.<ref name=NYTobit />
From 1958 to his death in 1970, Evans remained a member of the fund's board of trustees.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=20CF /><ref name=Papers />
===Other efforts=== [[File:NewDealNRA.jpg|thumb|right|Logo of the National Recovery Administration, which Clark served for New York in the 1930s]] In 1935, Evans became an economic advisor to the New York City Housing Authority, which he served until 1937. Concurrently, he served as chairman of the board of directors of the National Public Housing Conference. Concurrently, he served as chairman of the New York State Adjustment Board of the National Recovery Administration.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=20CF />
In 1937, he served on the panel of arbitrators of the New York City Labor Relations Board.<ref name=NYTobit />
In 1944, Clark was a major co-founder of the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, a non-profit organization that eventually provided medical care through 30 groups to more than 750,000 people in the New York City area.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=Papers />
After World War II, he became a champion for world peace and offered his views for the post-war world publicly: <blockquote>We as a people know much more clearly now than we did when the last war ended what we want of the peace. We want no more Depression this time. We want work; we want to be able to buy, with the money we earn, decent food, clothing and homes to live in; we want security in illness and old age; we want our children educated; and we want at least some of the luxuries that science and machinery have paraded before our eyes—an automobile, a radio, household conveniences.<ref name=NYTobit /></blockquote>
===New York Times===
As earlier mentioned, in 1925, Clark wrote editorials, books reviews, and feature stories through 1928.<ref name=NYTobit />
From 1954 to 1962, he served as a member of the NYT's editorial board and wrote about social and economic issues.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=20CF /><ref name=Papers />
==Personal and death==
In November 1915, Evans married Freda Kirchwey, editor and publisher of ''The Nation'' magazine. They had three sons, of whom only one, Michael, survived childhood.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref> {{cite web | title = Kirchwey, Freda. Papers of Freda Kirchwey, 1871-1972: A Finding Aid | publisher = Harvard University Library | url = http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/deepLink?_collection=oasis&uniqueId=sch00306 | date = | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref>
Evans died age 82 on August 28, 1970, in Nyon, Switzerland, where his wife and he were visiting their son.<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=Papers />
==Legacy==
At his death, the ''New York Times'' wrote in tribute: <blockquote>Long before Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal vastly expanded the nation's concepts of social responsibility, Evans Clark was helping to broaden the horizons of public thought on unmet needs in housing, health and other neglected areas. As a member of the editorial board of this newspaper and as director of the Twentieth Century Fund, he brought erudition and compassion to the illumination of social issues...<ref> {{cite news | title = Evans Clark | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/29/archives/evans-clark.html | page = 20 | date = 29 August 1970 | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref></blockquote>
==Writings==
'''Books:'''
Clark wrote the following:
* ''Facts and Fabrications about Soviet Russia'' (1920)<ref name=Facts />
Clark co-wrote the following:<ref name=NYTobit /><ref name=Papers />
* ''The Socialists in the New York Board of Aldermen: A Record of Six Months' Activity'' (1918)<ref> {{cite book | first1 = Evans | last1 = Clark | authorlink1 = Evans Clark | first2 = Charles | last2 = Solomon | authorlink2 = Charles Solomon (politician) | title = The Socialists in the New York Board of Aldermen: A Record of Six Months' Activity | publisher = Rand School of Social Science | url = https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/11833984 | date = 1918 | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref> * ''Financing the Consumer'' (1930) * ''Boycotts and Peace'' (1932) * ''How to Budget Health: Guilds for Doctors and Patients'' (1933)<ref> {{cite book | first1 = Evans | last1 = Clark | authorlink = Evans Clark | title = How to Budget Health: Guilds for Doctors and Patients | publisher = Harper (for the Twentieth Century Fund) | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SnNrAAAAMAAJ | date = 1933 | accessdate = 24 December 2017}}</ref> * '' The International Debts of the United States'' (1933) * ''Stock Market Control'' (1934)
'''Articles:''' Clark wrote articles based on fund studies and his own research into social and economic problems for the ''New York Times'', ''The Nation'', and other publications.<ref name=NYTobit />
==See also== {{Portal|Biography}}
* Russian Soviet Government Bureau (AKA the "Soviet Bureau") * People's Freedom Union * Rand School of Social Science * Twentieth Century Fund (The Century Foundation) * Freda Kirchwey * ''The Nation''
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.theatlantic.com/author/evans-clark/ The Atlantic] * [https://archivesspace.amherst.edu/repositories/2/resources/35 Evans Clark (AC 1910) Papers] from the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark Evans}} Category:Amherst College alumni Category:Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:1888 births Category:1970 deaths Category:Writers from Orange, New Jersey Category:The Hill School alumni Category:The Century Foundation Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Socialist Party of America politicians from New York (state)