19 Facts About Norman Podhoretz

Norman Podhoretz is an American magazine editor, writer, and conservative political commentator, who identifies his views as "paleo-neoconservative".

Norman Podhoretz is a writer for Commentary magazine, and previously served as the publication's editor-in-chief from 1960 to 1995.

The son of Julius and Helen Podhoretz, Jewish immigrants from the Central European region of Galicia, Podhoretz was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Norman Podhoretz's family was leftist, with his elder sister joining a socialist youth movement.

Norman Podhoretz skipped two grades and attended the prestigious Boys High School in the borough's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, ultimately graduating third in his class in 1946; his classmates included the prominent Assyriologist William W Hallo and advertising executive Carl Spielvogel.

In 1950, Norman Podhoretz received his BA degree in English literature from Columbia, where he was mentored by Lionel Trilling.

Norman Podhoretz served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955 as a draftee assigned to the Army Security Agency.

From 1981 to 1987, Norman Podhoretz was an adviser to the US Information Agency.

Norman Podhoretz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W Bush in 2004.

Norman Podhoretz was one of the original signatories of the "Statement of Principles" of the Project for the New American Century founded in 1997.

Norman Podhoretz received the Guardian of Zion Award from Bar-Ilan University on May 24,2007.

Norman Podhoretz served as a senior foreign policy advisor to Rudy Giuliani in his 2008 presidential campaign.

Norman Podhoretz was married to author Midge Decter from 1956 until her death in 2022, and together they had two children: syndicated columnist and current Commentary editor-in-chief John Norman Podhoretz and American-Israeli journalist Ruthie Blum.

In 2007, Norman Podhoretz argued that the United States should attack Iranian nuclear facilities.

Norman Podhoretz contends that the War on Terror is a war against Islamofascism, and constitutes World War IV, and advocates the bombing of Iran to preempt Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons.

Norman Podhoretz argues that when the US withdrew from Vietnam, it sacrificed its national honor.

Norman Podhoretz's virtues are the virtues of the street kids of Brooklyn.

In 1988 Norman Podhoretz wrote, "I have recently found myself sliding toward the pro-life camp" because of the potential abuses of terminating less than perfect babies and using babies as a resource for harvesting organs.

Norman Podhoretz's wife expressed a supportive perspective in her piece The Boys on the Beach which includes references to their family vacations on Fire Island, New York.