Irving Kristol began his political life as a member of the Young People's Socialist League in the 1930s. He considered himself a Trotskyist throughout his years as an undergrad at the City College of New York. But sometime after graduation, he experienced a complete and total change of heart. Kristol described himself as "a liberal who was mugged by reality."
He helped to found what would be called the Neoconservative movement, a radical organization whose goals he would ultimately describe as: "to convert the Republican Party, and American conservatism in general, against their respective wills, into a new kind of conservative politics suitable to governing a modern democracy."
[1] Capital Hospice, Arlington, VA.
Father: Joseph Kristol
Wife: Gertrude Himmelfarb (historian, m. 1942, one son, one daughter)
Son: Bill Kristol (editor of The Weekly Standard)
High School: Boys' High, Brooklyn, NY
University: BA History, City College of New York (1940)
President's Commission on White House Fellowships
American Association for the Advancement of Science 1972
American Council of Trustees and Alumni National Council; Donors Working Group
American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow (1977-)
American Enterprise Institute John M. Olin Distinguished Fellow (1988-99)
Council on Foreign Relations
Committee for the Free World
Coalition for a Democratic Majority
Institute for Educational Affairs Co-Founder
Jewish Policy Center Board of Fellows
National Association of Scholars Advisory board member
Project for the New American Century
Young People's Socialist League
Commentary Magazine Managing Editor (1947-52)
Encounter Co-Founder and Editor (1953-58)
The National Interest Founder and Publisher (1985-2002)
The Public Interest Co-editor (1965-2002)
The Reporter Editor (1959-60)
The Wall Street Journal Board of Contributors (1972-)
Presidential Medal of Freedom 9-Jul-2002
Risk Factors: Smoking
Author of books:
On the Democratic Idea in America (1972, politics)
Two Cheers for Capitalism (1978, politics)
Reflections of a Neoconservative: Looking Back, Looking Ahead (1983, essays)
Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea (1995, politics)
Born: 