Midge Decter

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Midge Decter
Born
Midge Rosenthal

(1927-07-25)July 25, 1927
Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
DiedMay 9, 2022(2022-05-09) (aged 94)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Journalist, author, writer
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1948; div. 1954)​
​
(m. 1956)​
Children4; including Rachel Abrams, Ruthie Blum and John Podhoretz

Midge Decter (née Rosenthal; July 25, 1927 – May 9, 2022) was an American journalist and author.[1][2][3][4][5] Originally a liberal, she was one of the pioneers of the neoconservative movement in the 1970s and 1980s.[6] She was a critic of feminism and the women's liberation movement.[6]

Early life

Career

Decter was assistant editor at Midstream, before working as secretary to the then-editor of Commentary, Robert Warshow.[1] Later she was the executive editor of Harper's Magazine under Willie Morris.[1] She then began working in publishing as an editor at Basic Books and Legacy Books.[1] Her writing has been published in Commentary, First Things, The Atlantic, National Review, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, and The American Spectator.[1][2][7] Together with Donald Rumsfeld, Decter was the co-chair of the Committee for the Free World, an anti-communist organization.[6] She was one of the original champions of the neoconservative movement with her spouse, Norman Podhoretz.[2] 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.[3] She was also a board member of the Center for Security Policy and the Clare Boothe Luce Fund.[2] A member of the Philadelphia Society, she was, for a time, its president.[8] 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.[9] She was also a senior fellow at the Institute of Religion and Public Life.[1] She was one of the signatories to Statement of Principles for the Project for the New American Century.[10] Decter served on the national advisory board of Accuracy in Media.[11] In 2008, Midge Decter received the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.[12]

Personal life

Decter married her first husband, Moshe Decter, in 1948.[13] Together, they had two children: Naomi and Rachel, who predeceased Decter in 2013.[14][15] They divorced in 1954.[14] Two years later, she married Norman Podhoretz, a neoconservative, who went on to become editor of Commentary magazine.[14][6] They remained married until her death. Together, they had two children: Ruthie Blum and John Podhoretz.[14][15] Decter lived most of her adult life in Manhattan.[6] She died on May 9, 2022, at her home in Manhattan. She was 94 years old.[14][15]

Publications

External videos
video icon Booknotes interview with Decter on An Old Wife's Tale, October 7, 2001, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Decter on Always Right, November 1, 2002, C-SPAN
video icon Presentation by Decter on Rumsfeld, October 14, 2003, C-SPAN
video icon Washington Journal interview with Decter on Rumsfeld, April 23, 2004, C-SPAN
  • Losing the First Battle, Winning the War[16]
  • The Liberated Woman and Other Americans (1970)[17]
  • The New Chastity and Other Arguments Against Women's Liberation (1972) ISBN 978-0-698-10450-1
  • Liberal Parents, Radical Children (1975) ISBN 978-0-698-10675-8
  • An Old Wife's Tale: My Seven Decades in Love and War (2001) ISBN 978-0-06-039428-8
  • Always Right: Selected Writings of Midge Decter (2002) ISBN 978-0-89195-108-7
  • Rumsfeld : A Personal Portrait (2003) ISBN 978-0-06-056091-1

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Midge Decter". The Philadelphia Society. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Midge Decter". HarperCollins US. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Heritage Foundation Board of Trustees Archived March 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Gallagher, Dorothy (September 16, 2001). "No U-Turns". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Converts Podhoretz & Decter Didn't Get a Job from Reagan, but Don't Knock a Blurb". Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Grinberg, Ronnie (2023). ""The First Lady of Neoconservatism": Midge Decter and the Politics of Family Values". Journal of American History. 110 (3): 497–521. doi:10.1093/jahist/jaad265.
  7. ↑ American Spectator webpage Archived November 27, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "Presidents of The Philadelphia Society". February 23, 2010. Archived from the original on February 23, 2010. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Conservative Minder" "The Weekly Standard" Retrieved April 15, 2019
  10. ↑ "New American Century Statement of Principles". Archived from the original on February 5, 2005. Retrieved June 6, 2007.
  11. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". Accuracy in Media. Archived from the original on September 12, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Recipients of the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom". Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  13. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named AP
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named NYT obit
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named WP obit
  16. ↑ Decter, Midge (2000). Losing the First Battle, Winning the War. Heritage Foundation.
  17. ↑ Decter, Midge (1971). The Liberated Woman and Other Americans. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan.

External links

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