Herbert Earle Gaston (1881-1956) wrote a history of the National Nonpartisan League, an organization of western farmers founded by A. C. Townley and others in 1915, to counter propaganda circulated against it by its opponents, of which there were many. In his "Preface" to the book, published in 1920 by Harcourt, Brace and Howe, he writes:
"It is the intention of this volume in the main to merely tell the story of the foundation and growth of this extraordinary political organization, and in so doing to give the reader a basis upon which he may construct his own estimate of the importance of the organization as a political and social movement; may form his own judgment as to whether it is a 'menace' or a 'hope,' and make his own predictions as to its future."
In fact its future was short. As described by historian Michael J. Lancing in "Insurgent Democracy: The Nonpartisan League in North American Politics" (2015), the organization ceased to function at national and state levels by 1924--though its influence could be seen in the 1930s, 1940s and beyond.
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