Irving Kristol (born 1920) is considered the founder of American neoconservatism. He is married to conservative author and emeritus professor Gertrude Himmelfarb, and is the father of William Kristol. He describes himself as a "liberal mugged by reality".

Kristol was born into a Jewish family in New York City. He earned his B.A. in History from the City College of New York in 1940, where he was an active Trotskyist. He wrote in 1983 that he was “proud” to have been a member of the Fourth International in 1940. ^* From 1941-1944, he served as staff sergeant in the armored infantry in Europe in World War II.

He was the managing editor of Commentary magazine from 1947 to 1952, cofounder of the British magazine Encounter and its editor from 1953 to 1958, editor of the Reporter from 1959 to 1960, executive vice-president of Basic Books from 1961 to 1969, and professor of social thought at the New York University Graduate School of Business from 1969 to 1988. Since 1988, he has been John M. Olin Distinguished Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Kristol is the founder of the politics and culture journal The Public Interest and the foreign affairs journal The National Interest. He was co-editor of The Public Interest (first with Daniel Bell, then with Nathan Glazer) from its founding in 1965 until 2002 and publisher of The National Interest from its founding in 1985 to 2001.

He is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute since 1988, a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 1972, a member of the Wall Street Journal Board of Contributors since 1972, and president of National Affairs, Inc.

In July 2002, President George W. Bush awarded Kristol the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Quotes

Attributed

• "A neoconservative is just a liberal who got mugged by reality. A neoliberal is a liberal who got mugged by reality but has not pressed charges."
• "There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people. There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work."
• "Corporate philanthropy should not be, and cannot be, disinterested. It must shape or reshape the climate of public opinion."
• "If you care for the quality of life in our American democracy, then you have to be for censorship."

Books

• Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea 1995 (ISBN 0028740211)
• Reflections of a Neoconservative: Looking Back, Looking Ahead 1983 (ISBN 0465068723)
• Two Cheers for Capitalism 1978 (ISBN 0465088031)
• On the Democratic Idea in America
• The American Revolution as a successful revolution (Distinguished lecture series on the Bicentennial) 1973 (ISBN 0844713007)

External links

• American Conservatism 1945-1995, by Irving Kristol
• The Neoconservative Persuasion, by Irving Kristol

Neoconservatives | Project for the New American Century | American columnists | Members of the Council on Foreign Relations | Newspaper publishers of the 20th century (people) | Newspaper publishers of the 21st century (people) | Pundits | United States Army soldiers | American World War II veterans | Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients | People from New York City | Jewish-American journalists | 1920 births | Living people | Kristol family

Irving Kristol | Irving Kristol | Irving Kristol