Midge Decter
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox person Midge Decter (née Rosenthal; July 25, 1927 – May 9, 2022) was an American journalist and author.<ref name="philadelphia">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="harper">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="heritage">Template:Unfit</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Originally a liberal, she was one of the pioneers of the neoconservative movement in the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> She was a critic of feminism and the women's liberation movement.<ref name=":0" />
Early lifeEdit
Decter was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on July 25, 1927.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NYT obit">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":0" /> She was the youngest of three daughters of Rose (née Calmenson) and Harry Rosenthal, a sporting goods merchant.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her family was middle-class and Jewish.<ref>Template:Cite book Note: this quote is from the authors' introductory essay, not from the interviews.</ref><ref name=":0" /> She attended the University of Minnesota for one year, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America from 1946 to 1948, and New York University, but did not graduate from any of them.<ref name="NYT obit"/><ref name="WP obit">Template:Cite news</ref> She initially identified as a liberal on the political spectrum.<ref name="NYT obit"/><ref name=AP>Template:Cite news</ref>
CareerEdit
Decter was assistant editor at Midstream, before working as secretary to the then-editor of Commentary, Robert Warshow.<ref name="philadelphia"/> Later she was the executive editor of Harper's Magazine under Willie Morris.<ref name="philadelphia"/> She then began working in publishing as an editor at Basic Books and Legacy Books.<ref name="philadelphia"/> Her writing has been published in Commentary, First Things, The Atlantic, National Review, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, and The American Spectator.<ref name="philadelphia"/><ref name="harper"/><ref>American Spectator webpage Template:Webarchive</ref>
Together with Donald Rumsfeld, Decter was the co-chair of the Committee for the Free World, an anti-communist organization.<ref name=":0" /> She was one of the original champions of the neoconservative movement with her spouse, Norman Podhoretz.<ref name="harper"/> She was also a founder of the Independent Women's Forum, and was founding treasurer for the Northcote Parkinson Fund, founded and chaired by John Train. She was a member of the board of trustees for The Heritage Foundation.<ref name="heritage"/> She was also a board member of the Center for Security Policy and the Clare Boothe Luce Fund.<ref name="harper"/> A member of the Philadelphia Society, she was, for a time, its president.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Decter was arguably the leading antifeminist in the United States prior to Phyllis Schlafly's rise to prominence.<ref name=":0" /> She was a critic of the women's liberation movement.<ref name=":0" /> She defended "traditional" gender roles and "family values."<ref name=":0" /> She was a critic of the gay rights movement.<ref name=":0" />
Following a tongue-in-cheek remark by Russell Kirk, the Society's founder, about the prevalence of Jewish intellectuals in the neoconservative movement, Decter labelled Kirk an anti-Semite.<ref>"Conservative Minder" "The Weekly Standard" Retrieved April 15, 2019</ref> She was also a senior fellow at the Institute of Religion and Public Life.<ref name="philadelphia"/> She was one of the signatories to Statement of Principles for the Project for the New American Century.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Decter served on the national advisory board of Accuracy in Media.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2008, Midge Decter received the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Decter married her first husband, Moshe Decter, in 1948.<ref name=AP/> Together, they had two children: Naomi and Rachel, who predeceased Decter in 2013.<ref name="NYT obit"/><ref name="WP obit"/> They divorced in 1954.<ref name="NYT obit"/> Two years later, she married Norman Podhoretz, a neoconservative, who went on to become editor of Commentary magazine.<ref name="NYT obit"/><ref name=":0" /> They remained married until her death. Together, they had two children: Ruthie Blum and John Podhoretz.<ref name="NYT obit"/><ref name="WP obit"/>
Decter lived most of her adult life in Manhattan.<ref name=":0" /> She died on May 9, 2022, at her home in Manhattan. She was 94 years old.<ref name="NYT obit"/><ref name="WP obit"/>
PublicationsEdit
- Losing the First Battle, Winning the War<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- The Liberated Woman and Other Americans (1970)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- The New Chastity and Other Arguments Against Women's Liberation (1972) Template:ISBN
- Liberal Parents, Radical Children (1975) Template:ISBN
- An Old Wife's Tale: My Seven Decades in Love and War (2001) Template:ISBN
- Always Right: Selected Writings of Midge Decter (2002) Template:ISBN
- Rumsfeld : A Personal Portrait (2003) Template:ISBN