Corliss Lamont
Corliss Lamont was born in Englewood, New Jersey in 1902. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, and then ‘’magna cum laude’’ from Harvard University in 1924. Subsequently, he did graduate work at University of Oxford and Columbia University, where he received his PhD. in philosophy. Dr. Lamont taught at Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, and the New School for Social Research (see New School University).
A leading proponent of Civil rights, he served as Director of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1932 to 1954, and then as chairman of the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, which successfully challenged Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Central Intelligence Agency.
Lamont wrote sixteen books, hundreds of pamphlets and thousands of letters to newspapers on significant social issues during his life long campaign for peace and civil rights. His most famous book is probably The Philosophy of Humanism, which is considered the definitive study of the humanist philosophy. His other book of importance to Humanism is The Illusion of Immortality. He also published intimate portraits of such luminaries as John Dewey and Bertrand Russell.
Lamont served as the honorary president of the American Humanist Association at the time of his death on May 19, 1995.