Who Is the ‘Forgotten Man’? A Historical Look

Daily Signal ^ | February 14, 2017 | Salim Furth, Ph.D.

[HokieMom]

The Forgotten Man is back with a vengeance.

Since Amity Shlaes revived the phrase in the title of her best-selling history of the Great Depression, “the Forgotten Man” has come to stand in for the losers in the left’s identity politics.

Thus, the 21st-century Forgotten Man has a conventional-sounding name, is heterosexual, never went to graduate school, and does not know where the 202 area code is. (It’s Washington, D.C.)

The Forgotten Man has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker. President Donald Trump name-checked this retro superhero in his Nov. 9 victory speech and his inaugural address: “The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”

And this Wednesday, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, will address the Forgotten Man directly in a speech at The Heritage Foundation.

Despite all the attention, the Forgotten Man remains a misunderstood figure. He and his wife, the Forgotten Woman, were created by the acerbic pen of William Graham Sumner, a 19th-century Yale professor and one of the first American sociologists.

Sumner’s essay provides guidance and warning to modern conservatives who want to champion the forgotten.

Sumner defines the Forgotten Man:

"He is the clean, quiet, virtuous, domestic citizen, who pays his debts and his taxes and is never heard of out of his little circle. … His name never gets into the newspaper except when he gets married or dies."

The Forgotten Man takes precautions, saves (even if he earns little), avoids excess, and does not make himself a burden on society.

Sumner offers three principles for public policy to benefit the Forgotten Man:

1. Be chary of charitable feelings....

[HokieMom]

[Oratam]

Sumner’s essay provides guidance and warning to modern conservatives who want to champion the forgotten.

One hundred years on and Sumner's description of the Forgotten Man is still accurate . . . yet I failed to see where his analysis serves as a warning.

[Dalberg-Acton]

The Forgotten Man by William Graham Sumner, from the Mises Institute.

"The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C's interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man."

[MUDDOG]

‘Buked and scorned.

[StormEye]

When the "forgotten man" starts forgetting about and not
giving a damn about the rotten society he lives in, that's
when real change will occur. Like when the
forgotten man doesn't show up for work, forgets to pay his taxes
or forgets to keep the lights on in the cities or the fresh water flowing, or the sewers clear, or the food delivered to the grocery stores, or even forgetting to farm his land.
Yeah, there will be some real change coming then.

[HokieMom]

[Jacquerie]

Shlaes described the forgotten man as the poor, working class, forgotten shlubs who paid the bill for progressive, Utopian dead end projects.