Changes

''Commentary'' was the successor to the ''Contemporary Jewish Record.'' When the ''Record'''s editor died in 1944, its publisher, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) consulted with New York intellectuals including [[Daniel Bell]] and literary critic [[Lionel Trilling]]. They recommended the AJC hire Elliot Cohen (1899-1959) to start a new journal. He had been an editor of a Jewish cultural magazine and was now a fundraiser.  

''Commentary'' was the successor to the ''Contemporary Jewish Record.'' When the ''Record'''s editor died in 1944, its publisher, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) consulted with New York intellectuals including [[Daniel Bell]] and literary critic [[Lionel Trilling]]. They recommended the AJC hire Elliot Cohen (1899-1959) to start a new journal. He had been an editor of a Jewish cultural magazine and was now a fundraiser.  

''Commentary'' had the mission being a nonpartisan journal focusing on Jewish affairs and other contemporary issues--a sort of Jewish ''Harper's,'' only more scholarly. Cohen designed the new magazine to reconnect assimilated Jews and Jewish intellectuals with the broader, more traditional and very liberal Jewish community. At the same time ''Copmmentary'' would bring the ideas of the young Jewish intellectuals to a wider audience. It demonstrated that Jewish intellectuals, and by extension all American Jews, had turned away from their past political radicalism to embrace mainstream American culture and values.  

''Commentary'' had the mission being a nonpartisan journal focusing on Jewish affairs and other contemporary issues--a sort of Jewish ''Harper's,'' only more scholarly. Cohen designed the new magazine to reconnect assimilated Jews and Jewish intellectuals with the broader, more traditional and very liberal Jewish community. At the same time ''Commentary'' would bring the ideas of the young Jewish intellectuals to a wider audience. It demonstrated that Jewish intellectuals, and by extension all American Jews, had turned away from their past political radicalism to embrace mainstream American culture and values.  

Cohen stated his grand design in the first issue:

Cohen stated his grand design in the first issue:

As Podhoretz put it, ''Commentary'' was to lead the Jewish intellectuals "out of the desert of alienation...and into the promised land of democratic, pluralistic, and prosperous America."

As Podhoretz put it, ''Commentary'' was to lead the Jewish intellectuals "out of the desert of alienation...and into the promised land of democratic, pluralistic, and prosperous America."

Cohen broght on board strong editors who themselves wrote important essays, including Irving Kristol; art critic Clement Greenberg; film and cultural critic Robert Warshow; and sociologist [[Nathan Glazer]]. ''Commentary'' paid well and published such rising stars as [[Hannah Arendt]], Daniel Bell, [[Sidney Hook]], and [[Irving Howe]].  

Cohen brought on board strong editors who themselves wrote important essays, including Irving Kristol; art critic Clement Greenberg; film and cultural critic Robert Warshow; and sociologist [[Nathan Glazer]]. ''Commentary'' paid well and published such rising stars as [[Hannah Arendt]], Daniel Bell, [[Sidney Hook]], and [[Irving Howe]].

 

Although many or even most of the editors and writers had been socialists, Trotskyites or Stalinists in the past, that was no longer tolerated.  ''Commentary'' articles were anti-Communist--but also anti-McCarthyite; it identified and attacked any perceived weakness among liberals on cold war issues, giving full backing to President [[Harry Truman]]'s new [[Cold War]] policies such as the [[Truman Doctrine]], the [[Marshall Plan]], and [[NATO]]. The soft-on-Communism position of the [[CIO]] and [[Henry Wallace]] came under steady attack.

==Current Staff==

==Current Staff==