36 Facts About Nat Hentoff

Nathan Irving Hentoff was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media.

Nat Hentoff often wrote on First Amendment issues, vigorously defending the freedom of the press.

Nat Hentoff was a staff writer for The New Yorker, and his writings were published in: The New York Times, Jewish World Review, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Commonweal, and Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo.

Nat Hentoff was born on June 10,1925, in Boston, Massachusetts, the firstborn child of Simon, a traveling salesman, and Lena.

Nat Hentoff played soprano saxophone and clarinet as a youth, and became interested in jazz after listening to Artie Shaw play.

Nat Hentoff received his Bachelor of Arts degree with highest honors, in 1946 from Northeastern University.

Nat Hentoff began his career in broadcast journalism while hosting a weekly jazz program on Boston radio station WMEX.

Nat Hentoff went on to write many books on jazz and politics.

In 1952, Nat Hentoff joined Down Beat magazine as a columnist.

Nat Hentoff was fired in 1957, he alleged, because he attempted to hire an African-American writer.

Nat Hentoff co-founded The Jazz Review in 1958, a magazine that he co-edited with Martin Williams until 1961.

Around the same time, Nat Hentoff began freelance writing for Esquire, Playboy, Harper's, New York Herald Tribune, Commonweal, and The Reporter.

Nat Hentoff wrote for The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times.

Nat Hentoff worked with the Jazz Foundation of America to help American jazz and blues musicians in need.

Nat Hentoff wrote many articles for The Wall Street Journal and The Village Voice to draw attention to the plight of America's pioneering jazz and blues musicians.

Nat Hentoff then went on to write for United Features, Jewish World Review, and The Wall Street Journal.

Nat Hentoff joined the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, as a senior fellow in February 2009.

In 2013, The Pleasures of Being Out of Step, a biographical film about Nat Hentoff, explored his career in jazz and as a First Amendment advocate.

Nat Hentoff espoused generally liberal views on domestic policy and civil liberties, but in the 1980s, he began articulating more socially conservative positions especially in regard to medical ethics and reproductive rights.

Nat Hentoff was opposed to abortion, voluntary euthanasia, and the selective medical treatment of severely disabled infants.

Nat Hentoff believed that a consistent life ethic should be the viewpoint of a genuine civil libertarian, arguing that all human rights are at risk when the rights of one group of people are diminished, that human rights are interconnected, and that people deny others' human rights at their peril.

Nat Hentoff was a civil libertarian and free speech activist who opposed abortion and capital punishment.

Nat Hentoff served on the board of advisors for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, another civil liberties group.

Nat Hentoff agitated against the Vietnam War and against the United States' participation.

Nat Hentoff criticized Israeli policies such as the absence of due process for Palestinians and the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Nat Hentoff criticized the Clinton administration for the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

Nat Hentoff criticized the Bush administration for "authoritarian" policies such as the Patriot Act and other civil liberties restrictions legislated through invoking the ostensible need for homeland security.

Bush administration's expansion of presidential power, in 2008 Nat Hentoff called for the new president to deal with the "noxious residue of the Bush-Cheney war against terrorism".

Nat Hentoff wanted lawyer John Yoo to be prosecuted for war crimes.

Nat Hentoff stated that while he had been prepared to support Barack Obama enthusiastically in the 2008 US presidential election, his view changed after looking into Obama's voting record on abortion.

Nat Hentoff won the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award in 1980 for his columns on law and criminal justice.

In 2004, Hentoff was named one of six NEA Jazz Masters by the US National Endowment for the Arts, thus becoming the first nonmusician in history to win this award.

Nat Hentoff recalled that as a youth, he would travel around the city with his father during the High Holidays to listen to various cantors and compare notes on their performances.

Nat Hentoff said cantors made "sacred texts compellingly clear to the heart," and he collected their recordings.

In later life, Nat Hentoff was an atheist, and sardonically described himself as "a member of the Proud and Ancient Order of Stiff-Necked Jewish Atheists".

Nat Hentoff married three times, first to Miriam Sargent in 1950; the marriage was childless and the couple divorced that same year.