The Legacy of Keynes as Public Intellectual

Today the name John Maynard Keynes usually evokes thoughts of his book The General Theory and the revolution in macroeconomic theory and policy it inspired in the United States. Yet, in his 22, April 22, 1946 obituary, the New York Times only refers in passing to The General Theory in a long list of Keynes’s books, instead focusing on him “as a political and social economist who influenced both specialists and general public” (New York Times, 1946). Much of the Times’ tribute is devoted to Keynes’s impact as the author of The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919). He “first won public attention” with his departure from the Paris Peace Conference and publication of the book three months later: The book created a storm of controversy but was so widely in demand that it ran five editions the first year and was translated into eleven languages.1 Lord Keynes was not again associated with the British government in any official capacity until the spring of 1940, by which time much of what he had prophesied had come true. (New York Times 1946) The book’s “sensation” was due in part to its revealing portrait of the conference, but the Times also noted “its lucid literary style”. Subsequently its ideas captivated US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.