Founder of Commentary Magazine to Lecture at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Norman Podhoretz, editor-at-large of Commentary magazine, will give a lecture entitled, "Jews, Catholics and Other Minorities" as part of the Kraft-Hiatt Lecture Series on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 8 p.m. in the Ballroom of the Hogan Campus Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.

In 1960, Podhoretz took over a small, relatively obscure journal, which was published by the American Jewish Committee with a circulation of 10,000. He formed the journal into Commentary magazine and served as its editor-in-chief for 35 years. In this capacity, Podhoretz was a leading member of a group of New York intellectuals who were known as "the Family."

During the 1960s, Commentary was a leading voice of radical social and political criticism. From the 1970s on, the magazine reflected Podhoretz' shift in political allegiance from radicalism to neoconservatism.

Podhoretz is a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute and the author of eight books ranging from literary criticism, to autobiography, to analyses of American foreign policy. Some titles include, "My Love Affair With America," "Ex-Friends" and "Making It."

The lecture is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, the department of political science and the Kraft-Hiatt Fund.

The Kraft-Hiatt Fund is endowed through gifts to Holy Cross and Brandeis University (Waltham, Mass.) from Worcester philanthropist Jacob Hiatt and his daughter and son-in-law, Myra and Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. The goal of the fund is to encourage greater understanding between Christians and Jews.