Changes

In the late 1950s the magazine sagged, as Cohen suffered from mental illness. After he committed suicide Norman Podhoretz (b. 1930) took over in 1960, running the magazine with an iron hand until his retirement in 1995.  Podhoretz, a brilliant pugnacious, and combative editor, was a protégé of [[Lionel Trilling]]. He reduced the space given to Jewish issues and, most importantly, moved ''Commentary'''s ideology sharply left. Circulation soared to 60,000 as the magazine became a mainstay of the Washington liberal elite in the heyday of Presidents [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]].   

In the late 1950s the magazine sagged, as Cohen suffered from mental illness. After he committed suicide Norman Podhoretz (b. 1930) took over in 1960, running the magazine with an iron hand until his retirement in 1995.  Podhoretz, a brilliant pugnacious, and combative editor, was a protégé of [[Lionel Trilling]]. He reduced the space given to Jewish issues and, most importantly, moved ''Commentary'''s ideology sharply left. Circulation soared to 60,000 as the magazine became a mainstay of the Washington liberal elite in the heyday of Presidents [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]].   

==Moving right==

==Moving right==

The emergence of the New Left--which was bitterly hostile to Johnson, to capitalism and to universities--angered Podhoretz by its shallowness and, especially, by its hostility to Israel in the 1967 war.  Articles attacked the New Left regarding On questions ranging from crime, the nature of art, drugs, poverty, and the new egalitarianism. ''Commentary'' sounded the tocsin: the New Left was a dangerous anti-American, anti-liberal, and anti-Semitic force.  The shift helped define the emerging [[neoconservative]] movement and space to disillusioned liberals.   

The emergence of the New Left--which was bitterly hostile to Johnson, to capitalism and to universities--angered Podhoretz by its shallowness and, especially, by its hostility to Israel in the 1967 war.  Articles attacked the New Left on questions ranging from crime, the nature of art, drugs, poverty, and the new egalitarianism. ''Commentary'' sounded the tocsin: the New Left was a dangerous anti-American, anti-liberal, and anti-Semitic force.  The shift helped define the emerging [[neoconservative]] movement and space to disillusioned liberals.   

As the readership base shifted to the right, ''Commentary'' filled a vacuum for conservative intellectuals, who otherwise were dependent on William Buckley's ''National Review.''  In March 1975, [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]]'s article "The United States in Opposition," urged America to vigorously defend liberal democratic principles when they were attacked by Soviet-bloc and Third World dictatorships at the United Nations. Soon President [[Geraly Ford]] appointed Moynihan as be ambassador to the United Nations, where his outspoken advocacy of American values led to election to the Senate in 1976. Political scientist Jeane Kirkpatrick's November 1979 denunciation of the foreign policy of President [[Jimmy Carter]], "Dictatorships and Double Standards," impressed [[Ronald Reagan]], who defeated carter in 1980. In 1981 he appointed her to the United Nations ambassadorship and ''Commentary'' reached the apogee of its influence.

As the readership base shifted to the right, ''Commentary'' filled a vacuum for conservative intellectuals, who otherwise were dependent on William Buckley's ''National Review.''  In March 1975, [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]]'s article "The United States in Opposition," urged America to vigorously defend liberal democratic principles when they were attacked by Soviet-bloc and Third World dictatorships at the United Nations. Soon President [[Geraly Ford]] appointed Moynihan as be ambassador to the United Nations, where his outspoken advocacy of American values led to election to the Senate in 1976. Political scientist Jeane Kirkpatrick's November 1979 denunciation of the foreign policy of President [[Jimmy Carter]], "Dictatorships and Double Standards," impressed [[Ronald Reagan]], who defeated carter in 1980. In 1981 he appointed her to the United Nations ambassadorship and ''Commentary'' reached the apogee of its influence.