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ALUMNI UPDATESNorman Podhoretz ’50 Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
In celebration of a 50-year editorial career, Norman Podhoretz ’50 has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor awarded to a civilian by the commander in chief. After receiving the award from President Bush on June 23, Podhoretz was quoted in The New York Times as saying, “It’s the most wonderful honor ever to come my way, the most wonderful honor I could ever imagine coming my way.” As editor of Commentary from 1960–95, Podhoretz became an outspoken proponent for what he viewed as ethical right and wrong. President Bush remarked in his speech, “Norm Podhoretz ranks among the most prominent American editors of the 20th century.” And, referring to the manner in which Podhoretz expressed his views on historical events and people he knew, Bush added that he was “never a man to tailor his opinions to please others, [and] has always written and spoken with directness and honesty.” Born in Brooklyn in 1930 to Jewish immigrants, Podhoretz began his political career as a devout liberal. However, well into his tenure at Commentary, he underwent a major shift in his political views that led to his position as a forerunner of what is now called neo-conservatism. While he risked isolating himself from former colleagues, Podhoretz believed he was on the proper path for himself. As his beliefs moved to the right, he diverged from the opinions of former friend Allen Ginsberg ’48, spurring a spirited rivalry that would last until Ginsberg’s death in 1997. Podhoretz previously has been featured in Columbia College Today. In the Winter 1985 cover story, “Political Mavericks,” he and neo-liberal Charles Peters ’49 (founding editor of The Washington Monthly) were highlighted in a side-by-side analysis of political right and left. More recently, the February 2001 issue offered a revealing excerpt from Podhoretz’s introspective memoir, Ex-Friends, about what he learned in his years at Columbia. Foremost was his praise of the Contemporary Civilization courses and their solid foundation of knowledge and literature. Looking back, he was struck by how Columbia taught him that as an American (and, perhaps, as a Jew) he was the “product of a tradition” and that all of the world’s history “bore a direct relation to me and the world in which I lived.” Podhoretz has hardly slowed down in retirement. In addition to Ex-Friends, he has written other memoirs and political analyses. In the September 2004 issue of Commentary, Podhoretz is featured with an extensive piece, “World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win.” As he states in the prefatory “Note to the Reader,” the article is “the story of what this nation has been fighting to accomplish since September 11, 2001.” Matthew Goldberg ’05 GS
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