Norman Podhoretz, the neoconservative titan who led Commentary magazine for 35 years, died Tuesday in Manhattan, New York, at the age of 95.
His son, John Podhoretz, confirmed his death and revealed that his father died peacefully with a recent translation of “The Odyssey” on his desk as a tribute to Commentary.
“At the very end of his life, Norman Podhoretz was himself, a man of letters,” John wrote.
Podhoretz transformed Commentary – published through the American Jewish Committee – from a modest newspaper into one of the most influential conservative publications in America, the New York Times (NYT) reported. He ran the magazine from 1960 to 1995 and began moving to the right after taking the helm. He would attack Soviet expansionism and later Islamist militancy. (RELATED: David Horowitz, Loyal Conservative, Dead at 86)
“Norman laid the groundwork for a more muscular, democratizing version of neoconservatism,” said academic Jacob Heilbrunn. “It was a version he contrasted with the more limited foreign policy espoused by neoconservatives like Ms. Kirkpatrick, who were skeptical of the United States’ ability to remake developing societies in its own image. »
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– John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) December 17, 2025
Born in Brooklyn on January 16, 1930, to a Yiddish-speaking milkman from Eastern Europe, Podhoretz earned a scholarship to Columbia University, according to the New York Times. He studied under the famous literary critic Lionel Trilling before pursuing graduate studies at the University of Cambridge.
His political journey took him from the liberal intellectual circles of 1950s New York to the upper echelons of conservative thought. President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004.
His change cost him friendships with prominent writers, including Norman Mailer, Lillian Hellman, and Irving Howe. “It was a really passionate intellectual life,” Podhoretz told the New York Times in 2017. “It’s hard to imagine today, but people actually came to blows over literary disagreements.”
His wife, social critic Midge Decter, died in 2022. Survivors include son John, now editor of Commentary, daughter Ruthie Blum, daughter-in-law Naomi Decter Munson, 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
