Babbitt, Irving

Babbitt, Irving

(1865–1933) scholar, humanist; born in Dayton, Ohio. This Harvard professor (1894–1933) and scholar of French literature espoused the New Humanism, a conservative creed that called politically for self-discipline and restraint, and literarily for a traditional canon of classic authors; it provoked sharp liberal opposition.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.