On Wednesday morning, we woke up to the news that legendary magazine editor Norman Podhoretz had died peacefully in Manhattan. He was 95. Podhoretz, who edited Commentary magazine between 1960 and 1995, was an irrepressible intellectual force in American public life.
Several months ago, I had the honor of meeting Norman, to interview him for a piece in The Free Press, which we’re reprinting below. For two and a half hours, we sat together in his apartment in Manhattan. Bookshelves lined the walls, crammed with hundreds upon hundreds of titles. In the entryway hung the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to him in 2004 by President George W. Bush.
Age had chipped away at his ease of movement and speaking, but he resisted it. On the coffee table sat a photograph of Norman at about 22 years old. “I think that’s what I look like,” he confessed to me. Coursing through his words was a fierce sense of loyalty to his character, to his family, and to his country. “I’m a rabid American patriot,” he told me. He took immense pride in his career and legacy—which now includes 13 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
“I’ve lived a rich life, in every sense,” reads the following piece, drawn from our conversation. In it, he recounts his remarkable journey: One that began in the slums of Brownsville, Brooklyn, and ended in the heart of what he describes as the “glittering fortress of class and intellect” that is Manhattan.
I’ll forever treasure the time I spent with Norman before his passing. Here’s what he told me about his extraordinary life. May his memory be a blessing. —Jillian Lederman, December 17, 2025
“One of the longest journeys in the world is the journey from Brooklyn to Manhattan.”
I wrote that line in 1967, and for better or worse, it has been quoted back to me ever since. I wrote it because it was true. Fifty-eight years later, it still is.
