So last night I had dinner at a journalist friend’s house. At one point in the conversation my friend said that The New Republic was founded — or at least initially funded — by the Anti-Saloon League. I said I didn’t think that was right. He brought down his copy of Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer. And, lo and behold, it says that the ASL launched The New Republic to get its Prohibitionist message. This drove me crazy, as The New Republic has been sort of at the center of a lot of my book research these last couple of years and I had never heard a hint of this. I got home a little before midnight and started searching around. Couldn’t find anything. Then, this morning, I discovered that the ASL has a website. And there it is: The New Republic 1913-1916. Of course, this TNR wasn’t edited by Herbert Croly, the founder of the more famous New Republic, but by William E. “Pussyfoot” Johnson. It seems the author of Ambitious Brew either didn’t realize there were two magazines with the same name or didn’t think the distinction was worth making.

So now we can all rest easy.