History of Psychology © 2011 American Psychological Association

2012, Vol. 15, No. 1, 19 –32 1093-4510/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0024168

THE ROOSEVELT YEARS:

Crucial Milieu for Carl Rogers’ Innovation
Godfrey T. Barrett-Lennard
Murdoch University

This study explores broad features of political culture and event of the 1930s and World
War 2 years, viewed in relation to the emergence and rapid early growth of the new
therapy of Carl Rogers. The paper traces Rogers’ early professional life and examines
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

distinctive emphases in sociopolitical thought and development during Franklin D.

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Roosevelt’s leadership as President over the prolonged emergency of the Great De-
pression and the crisis of the War. The study includes a focus on the President’s own
outlook and style, pertinent New Deal innovations, and wartime needs. Twelve features
of this larger context are discriminated as together having vital importance for the new
therapy and its founder. The congruent courses of the macrocontext and of Rogers’
innovation are followed to the ending of Roosevelt’s life. Direct causation is not
attributed, but the evidence adduced newly points to particular contours of a larger
environment favorable for the expression of Rogers’ values and rare ability. In sum, the
author concludes that a synergy of highly conducive historical circumstance and
individual exceptionality contributed to the philosophical underpinnings, attitudinal
values and early momentum of Rogers’ client-centered therapy.

Keywords: Carl Rogers, Franklin Roosevelt, John Dewey, New Deal, context, counseling,
system

The 20th century was like a vast, barely nav- ers’ life journey spanned most of this varying
igable river, so greatly varied in its differing course—January 1902 to February 1987. The
reaches that it is only by tracing its course that young Carl was already in his midteens when
we begin to see a connected whole. Carl Rog- the United States entered World War I. His
whole tertiary education, and a major phase of
his career, occurred between the great wars. His
first job as a psychologist began in the late
This article was published Online First July 4, 2011.
Godfrey T. Barrett-Lennard, School of Psychology, Mur-
1920s, and for 12 eventful years (until 1940) he
doch University, Western Australia. The author studied with worked in an evolving child study and guid-
Carl Rogers, pioneered research on the therapist-client re- ance-treatment agency in Rochester, New York.
lationship with his Relationship Inventory, and graduated Together with the years of World War 2 imme-
(PhD, 1959) from the University of Chicago. He is honorary diately following, this was the period in which
Doctor of the University at Murdoch, and mentor to the
Godfrey Barrett-Lennard Counselor Training Center there; the gestation and birth of client-centered ther-
and is a Fellow and Life Member of APA and of its apy occurred. This crucial phase coincided in
Australian counterpart. His later writing searches into the time with the Great Depression, the New Deal
nature and pivotal role of relationship systems in human and War years, and the whole momentous con-
life.
The study and thought in this paper has a history itself,
text and course of Franklin Roosevelt’s presi-
although this new version is its first publication in a pro- dency.
fessional journal. The earliest related expression (Barrett-
Lennard, 1983) appears in the Proceedings of a European
psychotherapy research conference. A paper presented at Aim and Scope of This Study
the 1991 meeting of the American Psychological Associa-
tion is another forerunner, as is the treatment in my book on Can important features of Rogers’ direction,
the origins and substance of Carl Rogers’ helping system and the rapid advance of his innovation, be
(Barrett-Lennard, 1998). understood as a response to wider systems in his
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad-
dressed to Godfrey T. Barrett-Lennard, 110A Empire Ave- milieu? What larger strands of thought and so-
nue, Wembley Downs WA 6019, Australia. E-mail: gt_barrett- cietal emergency and leadership lent impetus to
[email protected] his directions and advance? The aim of this
19
 20 BARRETT-LENNARD

paper is to bring into focused view the idea and Carl Rogers’ last years in his Rochester phase
indication of linkage between features of a dis- included the writing and publication of his first
tinctive historical context and a particular inno- book: The clinical treatment of the problem
vation. Generally, small systems of human ac- child (1939). Embedded within this work is a
tivity and development that emerge and prosper distilled discussion of intensive personal ther-
within the context of more encompassing soci- apy (Rogers, 1939). He wrote at the time as a
etal systems have influential roots in the work- careful reporter and synthesizer, distinguishing
ing and properties of those larger systems (Bar- two main approaches, psychoanalysis and “re-
rett-Lennard, 2005; Bronfenbrenner, 1979; lationship therapy,” the latter flowing especially
Etzioni, 1968; Kriz, 2008). As emergents they from the work of Otto Rank (1936/1945), Jessie
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are originals, not copies, though crucially influ- Taft (1933), and Frederick Allen (1942/1947).
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

enced by their contextual origins. In the present Speaking of this second approach used with
case, particular qualities and potential influ- parents he emphasized that it only works with
ences of a macroenvironment, including its those motivated toward such assistance and that
most prominent figure, are considered in rela- the relationship between the worker and parent
tion to a rapidly flourishing microcosm of new is fundamental (Rogers, 1939). The “worker” in
thought and practice in the helping and human most cases was a social worker in a field under
relations sphere. wider transformation from major concern with
In specific scope, this inquiry picks up ele- social environmental conditions into a mental
ments of Carl Rogers’ career and published health discipline substantially concerned with
thought during his professional practice phase personal adjustment and emotional well being
in Rochester, New York (1928 –39) and in the (Horn, 1989; Lublove, 1969). In the late 1920s
ensuing years of World War 2. The human Rogers had an eventful period of training, as a
impacts of the Great Depression, and the early psychology fellow, in the Institute for Child
and subsequent course of Roosevelt’s presi- Guidance in New York (Horn, 1989; Rogers,
dency, also are traced. The core of the paper 1967) and in Rochester he also came to identify
examines the context of sociopolitical thought actively with the field of psychiatric social work
and action and emergent wartime needs in (Rogers, 1967). A feature of the relationship
which Rogers’ innovation developed, and approach to therapy that he especially warmed
works to identify features favorable for the un- to was “the fresh viewpoint of noninterference
folding direction and early impact of his work. and reliance upon the individual’s own ten-
This writer’s later close contact with Rogers, dency toward growth which it has emphasized”
first as a doctoral student with him in Chicago, (Rogers, 1939, p. 200).
helped to inform some elements in this study, By late 1940, Rogers was gathering momen-
which, however, extends through territory and tum in his first career academic position, as
across disciplines in a journey as absorbing to professor of psychology at Ohio State Univer-
the author as it is novel. sity. This included a crucial invited talk given at
the University of Minnesota, a talk then devel-
Rogers’ Course in His Rochester Period oped as Chapter 2 of his second book centered
and the War Years this time on the therapeutic counseling process,
Counseling and psychotherapy (Rogers, 1942).
In later encapsulating the phase of his profes- In characterizing this “newer psychotherapy”
sional career before he entered academia in Rogers carries the philosophy of his earlier ac-
1940, Rogers stressed that he “was completely count of relationship therapy to committed
immersed in carrying on practical psychological further development in a systematically nondi-
service, diagnosing and planning for the delin- rective mode of practice application that was
quent and underprivileged children who were without precedent in its process and openness to
sent to us . . . and in many instances carrying on scrutiny and evaluation.
‘treatment interviews’.” Furthermore: “There Subtitled Newer Concepts in Practice, Rog-
was only one criterion in regard to any method ers’, 1942 volume was one major step in a
of dealing with these children and their parents, period of meteoric advance on numerous fronts,
and that was, “Does it work? Is it effective?” which included: opening up the therapy process
(Rogers, 1967, p. 358). to empirical research, refining practice in the
 MILIEU FOR CARL ROGERS’ INNOVATION 21

context of intensive supervision and teaching, how I understand its role in the environment of
contributing leadership in the area of profes- contributing influence around Rogers, could
sional affairs in psychology (including his term turn to my earlier book (Barrett-Lenard, 1998,
as president of the American Psychological As- pp. 29 –33). Suffice it here to mention Archibald
sociation), and pioneering in the unprecedented MacLeish, who had values that Rogers reso-
development of large-scale counseling re- nated with and whose passion and abilities were
sources for returning war veterans (Rogers, called on by the Roosevelt administration. Al-
1944). A further book (Rogers & Wallen, 1946) ready by the mid1930s, MacLeish was deeply
was probably the first substantial manual de- concerned over the development and potential
signed specifically for use in the training of lay consequences of totalitarianism in Europe. His
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counselors. Significantly, in one passage, the verse plays, designed to raise awareness, in-
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authors relate the emphases of client-centered cluded Panic (MacLeish, 1935), The Fall of the
counseling to American democracy: City (MacLeish, 1937), and Air Raid (Ma-
cLeish, 1938), the latter two for radio produc-
All the characteristics of this type of counseling are tion. He was appointed in 1939, at Roosevelt’s
also tenets of democracy. The client’s participation is
voluntary, self-initiated. The counseling atmosphere is determined behest, as Librarian of Congress and
built upon respect for the person, tolerance, and accep- his contributions included service in the State
tance of differences, faith in the person’s ability to Department and a role in the development of
accept responsibility for his own conduct, and freedom UNESCO (MacLeish, 2011; Archibald Ma-
for growth toward maturity. It is perhaps no accident
that this emphasis in counseling has reached its fruition
cLeish, n. d.). Rogers later quoted MacLeish as
in America. (Rogers & Wallen, 1946, p. 23) expressing a view close to his own heart:
We do not feel our knowledge. Nothing could better
Rogers and Wallen’s last point, which also illustrate the flaw at the heart of our civiliza-
echoes the philosophy and permeating influence tion . . . Knowledge without feeling is not knowledge
of John Dewey (1928/1960), seems to me of and can lead only to public irresponsibility and indif-
pivotal importance—although not further elab- ference, and conceivably to ruin (MacLeish as cited in
orated by the authors. Dewey’s thought first Rogers, 1974).
came directly to Rogers’ attention via one of his
admired teachers at Columbia University, Wil- The Roosevelt Presidency: Circumstance,
liam Kilpatrick (Rogers, 1967). Dewey believed Style, and Outlook
that personal freedom was grounded in political
and economic conditions. As he summed up in By March 1933, just before the new president
his essay ‘Philosophies of freedom,’ “the con- took office, and over three agonizing years after
ditions that form political and economic liberty the first major slide toward the pit of the De-
are required in order to realize the potentiality pression, 15 million Americans had lost their
of freedom which each of us carries with him in jobs (Leuchtenburg, 1963, p. 14). This was
his very structure” (Dewey, 1928/1960). Dewey more than one fourth of the U.S. labor force,
was a leading exemplar of a broader “progres- and it may be inferred that not less than one-
sive”-reformist movement concerned with the quarter of the total population were without
quality of the American polity in a variety of benefit of earned or inherited income. In Mid-
areas (see, e.g., Burnham, 1960), from educa- western “Middletown,” from the classic study
tion to the working and implications of democ- by Lynd and Lynd (1937), every fourth family
racy. My immediate concern centers on the was on relief—such as it was. In their expres-
Roosevelt years, although a study of the 1920s sive summation:
and Rogers’ earlier background further The great knife of the depression had cut down impar-
grounded my present focus (Barrett-Lennard, tially through the entire population cleaving open lives
1998, pp. 3– 6, 16 –21; see also Allen, 1931). and hopes of rich as well as poor. The experience has
Serious fiction is a significant channel and been more nearly universal than any prolonged recent
expression of social thought, and literary works emotional experience in the city’s history; it had ap-
proached in its elemental shock the primary experience
reflecting the temper of the times and searching of birth and death. (Lynd & Lynd, 1937, pp. 295–296)
into human experience and struggle among or-
dinary people were influential in the milieu of In this darkened context of crisis, trauma and
the 1930s. Readers interested in this work and need, the leadership of the nation changed hands
 22 BARRETT-LENNARD

in voluntary and orderly fashion. The country was exploration of the meanings and responsibilities
like a patient actively seeking therapy; providing of liberty and applications of democracy, and
unprecedented opportunity for helping reform in- the wide promulgation and accessibility of his
volving socioeconomic restoration and healing views, made him influential internationally, as
without the radical imposition of new and funda- well as nationally (Popkewitz, 2005). He
mentally different primary structures; it was a sought, in effect, to release people from fre-
recuperative transformation, not a literal revolu- quently oversimplified assumptions and was an
tion. With a people so sorely in need of strong, advocate of the continued testing and progres-
salient and swift assistance, Roosevelt applied sion of ideas with practical implication for the
what amounted to a societal crisis therapy. betterment of human development and life qual-
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A full decade after his rapidly evolving po- ity. For Dewey, human experience was never
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litical career began in 1910, Roosevelt con- culture-free and the notion of “rugged individ-
tracted poliomyelitis. Clearly, he brought tre- ualism” was unsupportable. His “new individu-
mendous inner drive and other assets to his own alism” was predicated on “the idea that the state
rehabilitation, a central occupation for at least has the responsibility for creating institutions
the next six years. Finally, he made a full- under which individuals can effectively real-
fledged comeback into politics in 1928 as Gov- ize the potentialities that are theirs” (Dewey,
ernor of New York, presiding in that office 1935, as cited by Milkis, 2002, p. 38). This
through the worst period of the Depression. implies a higher freedom than choice between
While physically impaired he was no longer presented alternatives, for example, of com-
handicapped in outlook or effect in his vocation peting market interests. He favored the term
and no doubt grew in aspects of his human “instrumentalism” for the search to develop
awareness through the adversity of his disease and perfect arrangements that advanced con-
and self-propelled recuperation. As expressed joint human well-being (e.g., Dewey, 1939).
by Alan Brinkley (2010, p. xi), he “made his His thought fed in various ways into the fer-
way to greatness through will power, empathy ment of ideas and goals of the New Deal.
and commitment.” Milkis affirms that this was more than a broad
Early in his campaign for the presidency, osmosis of ideas: “Indeed, FDR’s economic
Roosevelt had reached into the academic and constitutional order pronounced in the Com-
professional community and formed a small monwealth Club Address [1932] bore striking
close group of consultants and costrategists, similarities to the views he [Dewey] had ex-
popularly known as the “brain trust.” Immedi- pressed in his six-part series ‘individualism:
ately after his election this group expanded, old and new,’ published by the New Republic
planning in a ferment of activity. They included during late 1929 and early 1930.” (Milkis,
professionals from the social welfare and help- 2002, p. 37).
ing fields, especially social workers experienced A reviewer of the present article suggested
in innovative programs with structurally disad- that Dewey was the “glue” in the connection of
vantaged groups. Frances Perkins (the first ever Rogers and the Roosevelt/New Deal ethos.
woman U. S. cabinet member) had such a back- Though I will identify further linkages, it seems
ground; Harry Hopkins (right-hand assistant clear that Dewey’s vision worked in direct and
and confidante to the President, Sherwood, indirect ways, as significant encouragement
1948) had worked at Christadora (then settle- both to Rogers and the New Dealers and in this
ment) House in New York. Adolf Berle, Henry sense was a conduit between them. In Rogers’
Morgenthau, Jr. and Herbert Lehman (each with case, besides the influence through William Kil-
major New Deal roles) had involvement with patrick, he mentions Dewey’s inspiration else-
the Henry Street settlement in New York. Rex where: for example, “the roots of almost every
Tugwell, an original brain trust member, had innovative change in education in the last sev-
related strong concern with social justice issues. eral decades can be traced back to the thinking
All “shared John Dewey’s conviction that orga- of John Dewey and the principles which were in
nized social intelligence could shape society” fact the underlying guides for the best of pro-
for human benefit (Leuchtenburg, 1963, p. 33). gressive education” (Rogers, 1970, p. 159). In
Dewey’s searching and forceful writing on another place he wrote: “Thus we find ourselves
human sociopolitical processes, including his in fundamental agreement with John Dewey’s
 MILIEU FOR CARL ROGERS’ INNOVATION 23

statement: ‘Science has made its way by releas- He was a man of high intelligence but he used all his
ing, not by suppressing, the elements of varia- faculties when he was thinking about a subject . . . . He
had to have feeling as well as thought. His emotions,
tion, of invention and innovation, of novel cre- his intuitive understanding, his imagination, his moral
ation in individuals’” (in Ratner, 1939, as cited and traditional bias, his sense of right and wrong—all
by Rogers, 1961, p. 398). entered into his thinking, and unless these flowed
Dewey, Rogers, and Roosevelt were all su- freely through his mind, he was unlikely to come to
perb communicators in their respective any clear conclusion or even to a clear understanding.
(Perkins, 1946/1947, p. 153)
spheres. In his inaugural address of March 3
1933, the new president acknowledged the The whole-person functioning she saw was in
desperate feeling of people and conveyed re- Perkins’ view a great part of the basis of Roos-
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assurance, as in his now-famous rhetoric:

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evelt’s tremendous rapport with ordinary peo-

“The only thing we have to fear is fear it- ple. In any case, the qualities that inspired
self—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified ter- confidence in him as person and national
ror that paralyzes needed efforts to convert leader were once more of critical importance
retreat into advance.” Further, “the people of as he faced election, again, in late 1936, and
the United States have not failed. In their won a landslide victory. In the meantime a
need they have registered a mandate that they major development beyond the early innova-
want direct, vigorous action.” Two days after tions was the difficult working out (via a
Roosevelt assumed office, emergency edicts cabinet committee headed by Secretary of
proclaimed a mandatory bank “holiday” and Labor Frances Perkins) and legislated en-
recalled Congress into special session. A shrining of the national Social Security sys-
week later (March 12), some 60 million peo- tem (Kennedy, 2005, pp. 261–273). This in-
ple listened to the President by radio in the cluded an old-age contributory insurance
first of his “fireside chats,” assuring them that scheme for all wage earners, a system of
this crisis was over and they now could unemployment insurance, provision for
safely deal with the banks that were about to groups not covered by insurance or with spe-
reopen.
cial needs, and limited support in the public
Further steps followed in rapid succession
health arena. Roosevelt himself saw this de-
and, almost at once, the mood of the nation
velopment, though it was short of his ideal, as
began to turn. The pattern of presidential-
a cornerstone of his program of rehabilitation
cabinet initiative, rapid innovative legislation,
and reform (Leuchtenberg, 1963, pp.132–
and public response, continued for the 100-
133). Brinkley (2010, p. 50) described it
day period that Congress remained in session
much later as “the most important piece of
(details in, e.g., Burns, 1956, and Leuchten-
social legislation in American history.” As
burg, 1963). Walter Lippmann offered a com-
such it advanced the cause of social justice in
pact view of the overall effect:
a range of expressions, for example, as noted
At the end of February we were a congeries of disor- in the next section (aspect #4).
derly panic-stricken mobs and factions. In the hundred By 1938, Roosevelt saw clearly the mate-
days from March to June we became an organized rializing apparition of another major war.
nation confident of our power to provide for our own
Over the next long three years, before the
security and to control our own destiny. (cited in
Boardman, 1967, p. 66) United States itself was catapulted directly
into that war, he was to face enormous further
On the face of it, this was indeed a major challenge and tests as a political leader and
social therapeutic achievement! fallible top manager in a pluralist society.
Roosevelt sometimes confused listeners by Effectively, he was a highly visible educator
the way he could rapidly shift and express in a nation-wide “school”, a statesman in-
different sides of himself in dialogue (Leuch- creasingly on center stage in a world in ex-
tenburg, 1963, p. 167). From her years as a traordinary peril, and a “process” person
close colleague Frances Perkins saw his (Rogers, 1961, pp.131–158)—as implied
breadth of expression in a very positive light. above in Perkins’ close and sympathetic ob-
She noted: servation of him.
 24 BARRETT-LENNARD

New Paths in Step: Tracing the assistants. As summed-up by Hofstadter (1966,

Roosevelt-Rogers “Connection” p. 214): “The New Deal brought the force of the
mind into closer relation with power than it had
Roosevelt’s presidency continued into a third been within the memory of any living man—
term in 1940, a year that also marked the birth closer than it had been since the days of the
of client-centered therapy (Rogers, 1967; Rog- Founding Fathers.” This feature contributed an
ers & Russell, 2002, p. 11). My tracing here inventive energy surrounding and influencing
sums up key features of Roosevelt’s time and further emphases.
presidency, which formed the larger sociopolit- (2) The New Deal placed emphasis on
ical context conducive to the philosophy and searching out paths to change that would im-
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advance of Rogers’ work. These features are prove the lot of ordinary people.
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arranged in four groups. The first set includes

Improvements were both at a “rescue” level
conditions and qualities supportive of practical
(via job creation and other assistance programs)
innovations in the helping and enabling human
services sphere. Collectively, these aspects and of a kind to enhance longer-range opportu-
were of a kind to provide an ambience of en- nity and security. Structures were created and
couragement and support, not specifically of altered to empower categories of people who
Rogers’ innovation but inclusive of it. In a had been weak, dependent or disenfranchised.
word, they provided distinctly fertile soil for Many changes were experimental and reflected
such development. A second group of features greater openness to new thought and perspec-
imply a supportive context for Rogers’ direction tives on the working of economic systems and
at the level of more particular ideas and values; on human and social well-being (Burns, 1956).
values consonant with the thrust of Dewey’s In the emergencies of the time, it was not a
work and reflected in contributing architects of laissez-faire openness but an active, evolving
the New Deal including Hopkins (see Sher- search that set in motion far-reaching develop-
wood, 1948), Perkins (1946/1947) and others, mental shifts in the overall polity and conditions
besides Roosevelt himself. A third set of aspects of institutional and personal life (see later ap-
point to rather striking concordances of attitude, praisal by Keller, 2002).
style and human engagement as between Roos- (3) The New Deal ethos was highly prag-
evelt and Rogers. No direct causation is in- matic and instrumental in character.
ferred, but contextually mediated supportive in- From public works and housing construction
fluence is likely, as will be noted. A fourth to nature conservation, unemployment relief to
group stems directly from wartime conditions strengthening the hands of workers through le-
and needs, in which Rogers’ work took off and gal protection of unionization, from public
responsively flourished. Altogether, 12 aspects health and medical care to banning child labor
divided into these groups are distinguished. and, later, to somehow getting former U.S. war-
ships to England in time to help avert invasion
Group A. Conditions Favoring Inventive (Burns, 1956), the emphasis was on getting
Development of Human Helping Services concrete positive results. According to Frances
Perkins (1946/1947, p. 156), on economic, wel-
(1) Scholars, human service professionals,
and other talented individuals played a major fare and other issues, Roosevelt’s question al-
role in Roosevelt’s administration. ways was “Will it work, will it do some good?”
The President recruited and relied on liberal Carl Rogers’ self-acknowledged pragmatism (in
intelligentsia from a variety of fields, including Rogers, 1967–see earlier quotation) is a strik-
those earlier mentioned, who were visionary ingly congruent expression of this feature of the
and down-to-earth, inventive and administra- Roosevelt/New Deal ethos. Although pragma-
tively competent, as well as politically aware. tism did not originate in the New Deal, its
Well-known and younger scholars, social work- large-scale expression to improve human cir-
ers, writers and people from other professions cumstance assumed a new centrality and
became involved and were highly influential at many new forms during Roosevelt’s Presi-
top levels of government in spearheading New dency. Rogers’ emphasis was one of these
Deal programs and as presidential advisors and new forms (Barrett-Lennard, 1998, p. 40).
 MILIEU FOR CARL ROGERS’ INNOVATION 25

(4) Programs on behalf of the more vulnera- chological safety (Rogers, 1942, 1951). He im-
ble groups in society provided assistance that plied that the exercise and experience of such
was unprecedented on a national scale. active choice was uniquely consistent with non-
These included workers in marginal employ- impositional forms of personal therapy. Such
ment as well as those who could not get jobs, assistance should be available to those needing
people over retirement age, sustenance farmers it, he held, regardless of whether they could pay
and miners, children in difficulty or disadvantage for it. His own work exemplified this principle:
and adults in variously caused states of depen- with each person paying according to his or her
dency. Americans became more sensitized to psy- means (Rogers, 1942, 1977). Although practice
chological stress during the Depression and saw in some New Deal programs fell short of inten-
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the corrosive effects on people’s self-images and tion, the features to make people feel safe, sup-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

personal relationships of experienced failure and ported and empowered, including the enshrin-
fears around privation, of humiliating depen- ing of social security, were congruent with sig-
dency, and of guilt, anxiety, depression and sup- nificant aspects of the helping philosophy
pressed anger (Leuchtenburg, 1963; Perkins, advanced and practiced by Rogers.
1946/1947). According to Trattner (1974, p. 243), (6) Active involvement in considering alter-
social workers doubled in number during the natives, and contributing to decisions by those
1930s, and demand increased in the other helping directly affected by the decisions, became much
professions under the impact of social security more widespread under the New Deal.
reform and changes within the professions them- The country became significantly more demo-
selves (Abbott, 1988). Rogers’ employer in Roch- cratic in practice. In a word, “The Roosevelt ad-
ester was the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty ministration spun an intricate web of procedures
to Children, and he refers closely to placement of to permit the will of different interest groups to be
some of the child clients in foster homes and expressed” (Leuchtenburg, 1963, p. 85). Among
special institutions (Rogers, 1939; Kirschenbaum, many specific examples: “Millions of farmers
2007). The Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) voted in AAA crop referendums, including thou-
program introduced under the Social Security leg- sands of southern Negroes 关sic兴 who had never
islation of 1935 would have been responsive to before cast a ballot,” the new Authority in the
similar needs and, when in effect, a further source Tennessee Valley region “raised the principle of
of moral and potential funding support in its local participation to a fine art” and “millions of
sphere. workmen cast ballots at Labor Board collective
bargaining elections” (1963, p. 86). Rogers
Group B. The Support of Collaborative (1951), speaks in particular of the TVA (pp. 5),
Processes, Client/Citizen Choice and an which, he suggests, “if lifted from [its] context,
Ethos of Shared Responsibility and could equally well be regarded as an exposition of
Concern for Safety and Security the basic orientation of the client-centered thera-
pist.” More broadly, along with federal “central-
(5) A shift in balance occurred, away from ization” there was increased local participation
reliance on traditional forms of individualism built in by law and by a ferment of involvement in
and toward arrangements designed to be collab- issues of the time. There was a loss of the sense of
orative, empowering, and protective in quality. powerlessness that had come to a head during the
The latter implied a mutuality of responsibil- Depression. This pattern was fully in keeping with
ity between the state or community-as-a-whole Dewey’s social philosophy, as well as with Rog-
and the individual. It also was implied that “the ers’ values. Client-centered therapy practices, as
individual can function best, both in his own manifest in teaching (Rogers, 1951, pp. 384 – 428)
interest and as a contributor to society, in a and group-organizational contexts (Gordon,
secure rather than an insecure environment” 1951), as well as in counseling, became an inno-
(Fusfeld, 1959, p. 67). These things imply hu- vative expression of a broader ethos “in which the
manist/human-centered ideals as discussed by values of self-direction, choice and responsibility
Dewey (1939) and also are at the core of Rog- were alive in a ‘laboratory’ of national scale”
ers’ orientation. From the first, Rogers empha- (Barrett-Lennard, 1998, p. 42).
sized the importance in effective therapy of the (7) Roosevelt surrounded himself with peo-
client’s responsibility and choice and of psy- ple of distinct and thus varying viewpoint. He
 26 BARRETT-LENNARD

encouraged debate and inquiry and evidently More specifically, as Burns (1956, p. 476)
welcomed the airing of hot differences of expressed it, the President believed “in the ul-
opinion and cooler variation in judgment. He timate goodness and reasonableness of all
did not dictate. Rogers, too, fostered active men.” His evident inclination was to expect
engagement and inquiry, was nonjudgmental well of people, to trust them as individuals and,
and trusting, warm in recognition and respect- where he had some doubt, to believe that to treat
ing of differences. them as reasonable and trustworthy would bring
The President’s thought involved roving explo- out and enhance their potential in these ways.
ration and lateral thinking, and moments of bril- He was sharply conscious that the inherent di-
liant improvisation and synthesis. Elaborate theo- vinity or goodness he believed in could be de-
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rizing, or problem solving by formula, were not flected, distorted, or even warped beyond rec-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

his forte. Indications are that he encouraged and ognition, but seldom beyond retrieval (as I un-
accepted divergent thinking in and between others derstand him) if only the way could be found.
to the point of seeming disorder, but with an Rogers’ correspondingly optimistic views of
accompanying vitality, release of creative energy, human nature and potential are visible through-
and mobilization of effort to impractical orders of out his writing and practice. A great part of his
achievement. Frances Perkins observed that Roos- work was a search to identify and bring to
evelt “administered by the technique of friendship, ever-wider application basic conditions con-
encouragement, and trust. This method of not giv- ceived as healing to troubled or damaged indi-
ing direct and specific orders . . . released . . . cre- viduals and also as ingredients for natural hu-
ative energy . . . His free system involved trust in man growth and actualization (Rogers, 1959,
his colleagues and recognition of the value and 1961, 1967). Already in his 1942 book he wrote
capacity of every individual” (Perkins, 1946/1947, (p. 29) that the new approach (in contrast to
p. 380). The qualities in action that she describes earlier ones) “relies much more heavily on the
bear striking resemblance to Rogers’ attitude and individual drive toward growth, health and ad-
way, both in my experience of him and in views justment. Therapy is not a matter of doing
expressed by other colleagues (e.g., Farson, 1974). something to the individual . . . 关but兴 a matter of
This is not to suggest that he took on this pattern freeing him for normal growth and develop-
directly from Roosevelt or other New Dealers. ment.” Roosevelt’s concordant attitude at least
influenced Rogers indirectly through his ad-
Nor would it be meaningful to regard the similar-
vancement of concrete programs (such as TVA)
ity as coincidence. The underlying values and
that reflected an empowering belief in human
attitude modality were not unique to Roosevelt.
capacity and an attitude of support for values in
They would have been present and further encour-
the culture that encouraged Rogers’ direction.
aged in some circles within the culture as well as
Rogers himself acknowledged that “client-
being epitomized by Roosevelt. For Rogers, effec-
centered therapy has drawn, both consciously
tive counseling, besides its contribution to “the and unconsciously, upon many of the current
more adequate development” and “personal integ- streams of clinical, scientific and philosophical
rity” of the individual was also “a significant sym- thought which are present in the culture” (Rog-
bol of the value which democracy puts on the ers, 1951, pp. 5).
fundamental importance and worth of each citi- (9) The term “responsive initiator” points to
zen” (Rogers, 1942, p. 11). And in speaking of the another basic feature of Roosevelt’s style and
broader grounding of his therapy Rogers wrote make-up, with application also to Rogers.
(1951, pp. 5– 6), “Some of its roots stretch . . . out FDR took initiatives, to begin with, affecting
into educational and social and political philoso- millions of his countrymen and then, also, of
phy which is at the heart of our American culture.” global consequence. However, although a re-
former, he did not adopt the ultimate convictions
Group C. Concordances in Human Outlook of a crusader. As a teaching president with the
and the Evocation of Relationship whole nation as his classroom and a desire to
inform, explain and influence, his approach
(8) Roosevelt, as well as Rogers, held an seemed to be more in the direction of fostering
essentially positive or optimistic view of human new awareness than of trying to mold his audience
nature. or instill a particular vision of the truth. Certainly,
 MILIEU FOR CARL ROGERS’ INNOVATION 27

in the political arena, calculated manipulation and Roosevelt is cited as recalling later that people
frontal attack were within his repertoire, and he would stop her in the street to say they missed
evidently enjoyed a skillful fight (Burns, 1956). his dialogue with them “about my government,”
Yet these were resources he used selectively as, while Justice William Douglas observed that he
for example, with powerful adversaries and sys- made people feel they shared the Presidency.
tems that thwarted reforms he believed in most Leuchtenberg returns to this theme, with further
strongly. My study of Roosevelt’s speeches salient observation and quotations, in his related
(Zevin, 1946) and accounts from people who later book (1995). Perkins (1946/1947) men-
knew or observed him (including Burns and Per- tions a young soldier standing outside the White
kins) suggests that he wanted to serve and em- House after news came of Roosevelt’s death
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power others from a position of strength, and that who said in soliloquy, in her hearing, “‘I felt as
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

he could listen almost as well as he spoke. if I knew him.’ (A pause) ‘I felt as if he knew
Roosevelt’s leadership style, especially dur- me—and I felt as if he liked me’” (Barrett-
ing the War as Perkins describes it, was that of Lennard, 1998, p. 43– 44).
a catalyst in the creative harnessing of many Relationship quality hinges partly on the capac-
disparate ideas and forces. He was “a creative ity for empathy, which Roosevelt (as well as Rog-
and energizing agent rather than a careful, di- ers) must have possessed in generous degree—as
rect-line administrator” (Perkins, 1946/1947, p. mentioned by Brinkley (2010) and implied by
384)—a portrayal also applicable to Rogers in Perkins (1946/1947). Knutson (1972, p. 63) also
my experience of him as a doctoral student suggests that Roosevelt, as a “president of action”,
colleague in the 1950s. Given the president’s enjoyed his role and did so partly from “a sense of
encompassing orbits of influence and Rogers’ empathy” and perhaps partly (using words of an-
small circle within it, one might infer that the other author) from “a sense of the artistry of
latter was encouraged, partly by influence per- power.” In the President’s position, such artistry
colating down through intermediate systems, in
no doubt involved at times an exercise of “power
the development of his own potent integration
over,” usually I infer in the interest of empowering
of responsive and initiating elements. Plausibly,
or improving the lot of less powerful others.
there was “permission” in the culture for the
My intensive and then periodic contact with
pattern described, which Roosevelt personified
and may have strengthened (Barrett-Lennard, Rogers spanned a period of 35 years, beginning
1998). with my doctoral studies and therapy training.
(10) People on an extraordinary scale expe- Two of my strongest early impressions of him
rienced an actual relationship with Roosevelt, as were (a) of remarkable congruency between the
developed similarly in the case of Carl Rogers. person-in-action and what he wrote and espoused,
Franklin, on his side, appeared to have a vivid and (b) of capacity (in common with Roosevelt) to
personalized sense of his audience even in radio change gears and completely refocus his attention,
addresses, especially in his evening “fireside concern and corresponding communication al-
chats.” Although speaking perhaps to 50 million most instantly—as, for example, following a
people, his bearing and tone suggested personal filmed client interview by immediately turning to
association rather than speech to a mass audi- the unseen viewer and distilling the interview’s
ence (Burns, 1956). In Frances Perkins’ (1946/ substance and some of the principles it illustrated
1947, p. 61) observation: “His face would smile (Rogers, 1952). He also came to be experienced as
and light up as though he were actually sitting a growth-enhancing father-figure/friend by great
on the front porch or in the parlor with them. numbers of people. His direct contacts were far-
People 关listening兴 felt this and it bound them to flung: during the last year of his life he conducted
him in affection.” Leuchtenburg (1963, p. 331) workshops in South Africa (still under apartheid),
notes the view that people responded to the Austria and Hungary and was planning follow-up
President with “the kind of trust they would visits to the Soviet Union and South Africa (Rog-
normally express for a warm and understanding ers & Russell, 2002). During his life journey, both
father who comforted them in their grief, or in person and through his contacts and writing, he
safeguarded them from harm.” Thus he also had touched the lives of countless individuals.
“gave people the feeling that they could confide Besides the many who knew him directly, many
in him directly.” In the same passage, Mrs. others strongly sensed the person behind his per-
 28 BARRETT-LENNARD

sonally luminous writing and recordings of inter- demands of war-production industries. Short
views and talks. courtships and long, formative separations of-
Again, in the area of human relational capacity ten occurred. Many children were virtually
the parallelism between Rogers and the New fatherless from birth, or during an influential
Deal/World War 2 President is striking. Its exact period in early childhood, and in a position of
basis is not presumed to be simple. One might attenuated relationship with their working
speculate that the younger Carl, without sharp mothers. The roles of women in the working
awareness of it, took heart from such a notable world, the economy and in public life ex-
example in his milieu of a manifest quality in panded. Important changes toward equality of
keeping with his own tendency—although the big opportunity and status for black citizens and
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differences in context and career of the two men ethnic minorities occurred, though not with-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

would have limited conscious identification. out contradiction and tensions. Many veterans
Whatever the ingredient factors in this parallel, returned home during the war, deeply affected
including influences mediated through other peo- emotionally and interpersonally, if not phys-
ple and systems, Rogers’ wider world included a ically. Such changes increased the demand for
giant presence with remarkable ability to reach out and acceptance of counseling assistance in
and connect in relationship. more versatile, practical and client-centered
Beyond the issues already documented, the war forms than traditional psychotherapy. Nash
years further challenged and opened the way for (1971), a modern historian, points out that
Rogers and his new therapy (see “Group D,” be- psychological counseling as well as legal aid
low). As implied, he saw his work as directly and other selected human services expanded
harmonizing with and even helping to preserve the responsively during the war period. Rogers’
practices and freedoms associated with democ- new therapy was an especially pertinent re-
racy in the American tradition. He accepted that source in the context of these seismic
the war was a tragic but necessary reality. He changes, as he clearly recognized himself,
supported the overall war effort and advanced his much later, when asked about the reception of
counseling as an aid to morale and as valuable to his 1942 book. In his words, because this
men seriously stressed by and imagining combat work actually had “something to say to people
(Rogers, 1944; Rogers & Russell, 2002). The war who were trying to help returning veterans
brought meteoric development of psychology adjust . . . the book skyrocketed and began to
generally, as an applied field, one in which con- have enormous impact” (Rogers & Russell,
tribution to the understanding and maintenance of 2002, p. 136).
morale— civilian and military—was a key strand (12) For many people, the transition from war
(e.g., Abbott, 1998; Herman, 1995). Rogers’ ther- to peace involved stresses as great or greater
apy was uniquely offered and applied on a large than the war itself, and, seeking personal-
scale through the United Services Organization to emotional help was more accepted.
provide critical assistance to returning veterans The new therapy was to become unrivalled in
facing problems of readjustment to civilian life its responsiveness and availability (through the
(Rogers, 1967; Rogers & Russell, 2002). United Service Organizations and other con-
texts) to discharged servicemen and women not
Group D. Meeting the Surge in under psychiatric care or intensive medical
Psychosocial/Counseling Need and New treatment. Veterans who had adapted to a highly
Awareness Stemming From the Flux of organized, structurally authoritarian military
War and Return of War-Changed Veterans system were reentering a contrasting peacetime
to Altered Home Environments democracy requiring a different quality of self
(Herman, 1995; Rogers & Wallen, 1946). Fur-
(11) The war was a time of social dislocation ther, the culture as a whole was undergoing
and new awareness of personal-emotional major transition in the emerging postwar world,
needs. of which heightened personal psychological in-
Personal costs of the war included separa- terest and awareness was an aspect. Emotional
tion of families and huge changes in the in- suffering, lack of a sense of meaning or direc-
terpersonal worlds of a vast number of peo- tion, loneliness and felt deficiency in relation-
ple, due both to military service and the labor ships with others, were all less acceptable, less
 MILIEU FOR CARL ROGERS’ INNOVATION 29

taken-for-granted than before. More people ex- Only just over a year after the United States
perienced both the need for and possibility of had been formally at war, Roosevelt devoted
personal change. The more actively they sought much of his State of the Union speech (Jan. 7,
relief and change, the more suited the new non- 1943) to discussing the meaning of freedom,
directive and client-centered therapy was to and the nature and achievement of an adequate,
their needs. durable peace. “I have been told,” he said, “that
this is no time to speak of a better America after
the war. I am told it is a grave error on my part.
Final Terms/Last Words: FDR
I dissent.” On returning, shortly afterward, from
At his third inauguration as President, in Jan- a surprise trip to a theater of war, he spoke
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uary 1941, Roosevelt spoke in deceptively sim- perceptively of the attitudes of U.S. servicemen.
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

ple, strong affirmation about the linkage of per- “Ask them what they are fighting for,” he said,
sonhood, nationhood and democracy, stirring “and every one of them will say: ‘I am fighting
thoughtful listeners across his own country and for my country.” Ask them what they really
in many other regions. He said: mean by that and you will get what, on the
surface, may seem to be a wide variety of an-
A nation, like a person, has a body—a body that must swers,” answers that are individual expressions
be fed and clothed and housed, invigorated and of the common theme of fighting for freedom.
rested . . . With prescient inference, he continued:
A nation, like a person, has a mind—a mind that must
The personal freedom of every American and his fam-
be kept informed and alert, that must know itself, that
ily depends . . . upon the freedom of his neighbors in
understands the hopes and needs of its neighbors . . .
other lands. For today the whole world is one neigh-
borhood. That is why this war has spread to every
And a nation, like a person, has something deeper,
continent and most of the islands of the sea. And unless
something more permanent, something larger than the
the peace that follows recognizes 关this兴 . . . and does
sum of its parts . . .
justice to the whole human race, the germs of another
World War will remain a constant threat to mankind.
The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in
(Zevin, 1946, pp. 355–356)
human history. It permeated the ancient life of early
peoples. It blazed anew in the middle ages. It was
written in Magna Carta. (Zevin, 1946, pp. 269 –270) Roosevelt was elected again, in 1944, with a
mandate not only to lead his country to conclu-
Before 1941 was over, the United States was sion of the war but also, and just as important in
a combatant on a full war footing. On his still- his mind, into a new structure and quality of
minor stage, Rogers was working on his 1942 peace beyond. A main instrumental goal, on
book and, in the opening chapter, vigorously which he worked to the time of his death, was
relating his counseling approach to wartime the establishment of a permanent United Na-
needs—and to the preservation of democracy. tions organization; intended not only to help to
In respect to the latter, he points out that many prevent future great wars but to work in multi-
of the characteristics of a democratic society are ple ways for the well-being of peoples and
temporarily laid aside during war and there al- individuals, worldwide. Characteristically—and
ways is risk that the structures adopted may not as another example of outlook corresponding to
be reversible. The new therapy was a reminder Rogers’ optimistic stance, and reminiscent also
of a fundamental democratic principle regard- of his growth principle—the President’s last,
ing (as earlier noted) the “importance and worth short inaugural address contains the phrase “the
of each citizen” (Rogers, 1942, p. 11). Under trend of civilization is forever upward.”
wartime conditions, the values that had indi- At the time of Roosevelt’s reelection Carl
rectly helped to give birth to the new therapy Rogers in his own sphere was very signifi-
were under extreme test, and Roosevelt’s lead- cantly occupied with the war. His article
ership was evidently a critical factor in passing “Psychological adjustments of discharged
this test. It was some four years later that Rog- service personnel” (1944) would have been
ers described client-centered therapy virtually written and in press as the tidal movement of
as an offspring of American democracy: by armies in combat swept back through France
implication, still intact (Rogers & Wallen, and the Low Countries during the Allied
1946 —see earlier quote). counteroffensive. He reported that over one
 30 BARRETT-LENNARD

and a half million men already had been dis- Conclusion

charged since the Pearl Harbor attack, and
that their transition back into civilian life My theme, in a word, has been that distin-
presented a very large-scale problem. Diffi- guishable features of thought, crisis, and devel-
culties given special and vivid attention by opment in the 1930s and War years, especially
Rogers included the frequent deep anger or features linked to Roosevelt’s presidency and
pent-up hostilities of returning veterans; dis- then also to the emergencies and aftermath of
turbances to self-esteem which a diagnostic war, had contributory bearing on emphases of
approach to helping tended to exacerbate; a the client-centered innovation and also were
frequent loss of purpose in the more amor- conducive to its strong early development and
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

phous civilian context; a wide range of dis- impact. This can be viewed as a special case of
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

tressing problems in marriage and family re- the broader principle that small emergent sys-
lations as veterans returned as changed people tems are interdependently linked with the larger
if not also with the need to live with physical systems within which they arise. Since the sys-
handicaps. The article ends with a clear, prac- tems are complex the linkage is too, even where
tical statement of suggested helping princi- interest centers on one-way influence, large to
ples (Rogers, 1944). small.
For Roosevelt personally there had been no In the present instance, while Rogers’ inno-
let-up from his hugely demanding roles for a vation was in part a counteraction to dominant
long time and, on the heels of his 1944 re- prior currents in the psychotherapy and human
election, it was apparent to those close to him service fields (Rogers, 1942), on another level it
that he was not well (Perkins, 1946/1947). was a positive response to prevailing opportu-
The long, exhausting Crimea trip and confer- nity and need within a conducive sociopolitical
ence, on recaptured ground at Yalta, still lay context and the emergency of war. Ironically, as
ahead. The San Francisco conference on the Rogers later acknowledged, the stresses and
United Nations, during which the UN was other human effects of World War 2 helped to
officially born, would follow some time after catapult his writing and counseling approach
that. Between these two events, the President into prominence (Rogers & Russell, 2002). Be-
suffered the stroke that killed him, snuffing fore the War, there were influential mediating
out a presence felt personally by countless figures, such as Dewey, who shared significant
individuals. values both with Rogers and the New Dealers.
A day or two before he died, Roosevelt had Close study of features of this historical context
finalized his Jefferson Day speech. As noted, also reveals some striking congruencies of atti-
in his first speech as President during the tude and style between Rogers and Roosevelt,
Depression crisis, he had said, “the only thing which in their fleshing out contribute to my
we have to fear is fear itself.” In his last conclusion. In sum, this total analysis plausibly
unspoken address the echoing words appear: demonstrates that the historical context worked
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow in synergy with Rogers’ own bent and talent in
will be our doubts of today.” While referring leading to the distinctive and powerful surge of
to the war ongoing, his emphasis lay else- the first major American innovation in psycho-
where: “More than an end to this war, we therapy.
want an end to the beginnings of all wars—
yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman and thor-
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