Irving Kristol

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Irving Kristol
Western Philosophy
Modern philosophy
Full name Irving Kristol
Birth January 22, 1920 (1920-01-22) (age 88)
School/tradition American neoconservatism

Irving Kristol (born January 22, 1920) is an American philospher, considered the founder of American neoconservatism. He is married to conservative author and emerita professor Gertrude Himmelfarb and is the father of William Kristol.

Contents

[edit] Background

Kristol was born in Brooklyn, New York City, into an orthodox Jewish family. However, he maintains that belief had nothing to do with his family's observance.[1] He earned his B.A. in History from the City College of New York in 1940, where he was an active Trotskyist. Before graduating, he met Gertrude Himmelfarb at a Trotskyist meeting, and they married on January 18, 1942.[2] He wrote in 1983 that he was “proud” to have been a member of the Fourth International in 1940.[3] From 1941 to 1944, he served as staff sergeant in the armored infantry in Europe in World War II. After the war, he was stationed in Marseilles for a year.[4]

He was the managing editor of Commentary magazine from 1947 to 1952, co-founder of the British-based Encounter and its editor from 1953 to 1958 when he handed over the reins to his friend and City College classmate Melvin J. Lasky[5], 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. He has used these positions and publications to animate the neo-conservative movement, arguing for low taxes, a well-funded and internationally active military, conservative social policy, and a minimalist interpretation of First Amendment rights. For example, he once stated that "I don’t think the advocacy of homosexuality really falls under the First Amendment any more than the advocacy or publication of pornography does."[6]

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 until 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.

Kristol suggests of himself, "Ever since I can remember, I've been a neo-something: a neo-Marxist, a neo-Trotskyist, a neo-liberal, a neo-conservative; in religion a neo-orthodox even while I was a neo-Trotskyist and a neo-Marxist. I'm going to end up a neo-that's all, neo dash nothing."[7]

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

[edit] Ideas

According to journalist Corey Robin, Kristol was explicitly in support of the idea of the United States building an international empire:

Conservatism, Kristol complained, "is so influenced by business culture and by business modes of thinking that it lacks any political imagination, which has always been, I have to say, a property of the Left." Kristol confessed to a deep yearning for an American empire: "What's the point of being the greatest, most powerful nation in the world and not having an imperial role? It's unheard of in human history. The most powerful nation always had an imperial role." But, he continued, previous empires were not "capitalist democracies with a strong emphasis on economic growth and economic prosperity." Because of its commitment to the free market, the United States lacked the fortitude and vision to wield imperial power. "It's too bad," Kristol lamented. "I think it would be natural for the United States...to play a far more dominant role in world affairs. Not what we're doing now but to command and to give orders as to what is to be done. People need that. There are many parts of the world—Africa in particular—where an authority willing to use troops can make a very good difference, a healthy difference." But with public discussion dominated by accountants—"there's the Republican Party tying itself into knots. Over what? Prescriptions for elderly people? Who gives a damn? I think it's disgusting that...presidential politics of the most important country in the world should revolve around prescriptions for elderly people. Future historians will find this very hard to believe. It's not Athens. It's not Rome. It's not anything." Kristol thought it unlikely that the United States would take its rightful place as the successor to empires past.[8]

[edit] Quotations

"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."[9][10]

"Senator McGovern is very sincere when he says that he will try to cut the military budget by 30%. And this is to drive a knife in the heart of Israel... Jews don't like big military budgets. But it is now an interest of the Jews to have a large and powerful military establishment in the United States... American Jews who care about the survival of the state of Israel have to say, no, we don't want to cut the military budget, it is important to keep that military budget big, so that we can defend Israel."[11]

[edit] Articles

[edit] Books

  • Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea 1995 (ISBN 0-02-874021-1)
  • Reflections of a Neoconservative: Looking Back, Looking Ahead 1983 (ISBN 0-465-06872-3)
  • Two Cheers for Capitalism 1978 (ISBN 0-465-08803-1)
  • On the Democratic Idea in America
  • The American Revolution as a successful revolution (Distinguished lecture series on the Bicentennial) 1973 (ISBN 0-8447-1300-7)
  • Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Kristol, Irving. Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea. New York: The Free Press, 1995. ISBN 0-02-874021-1 p. 3-4
  2. ^ Kristol, 12-13.
  3. ^ Flirting with Fascism, Laughland, John, The American Conservative, 30 June 2003 (retrieved 17 December 2007)
  4. ^ Kristol, 13-14.
  5. ^ "Stephen Spender Quits Encounter", The New York Times (1967-05-08). 
  6. ^ Sex and God in American Politics: What Conservatives Really Think, Pol'y Rev., Summer 1984
  7. ^ Review of Arguing the World (January 7, 1998) (retrieved 29 December 2007)
  8. ^ "Endgame: Conservatives after the Cold War" by Corey Robin February/March 2004 Boston Review
  9. ^ Origin of the Specious, Reason Magazine (July 1997)
  10. ^ Atheism Central for Secondary Schools - the noble lie
  11. ^ Kristol, Irving. 1973. Congress Bi-Weekly. American Jewish Congress. (Produced online)

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