Martin Peretz

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Martin H. Peretz, also known as Marty Peretz (born December 6, 1938), is an American publisher. Formerly an assistant professor at Harvard University, he purchased The New Republic in 1974 and took editorial control soon afterwards.[1] He retained majority ownership until 2002, when he sold a two-thirds stake in the magazine to two financiers.[1] Peretz sold the remainder of his ownership rights in 2007 to CanWest Global Communications, though he retained his position as editor-in-chief.[2] In March 2009, Peretz repurchased the magazine with a group of investors led by ex-Lazard executive Laurence Grafstein.[3] He is a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Board of Advisors.[4]

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[edit] Personal

Peretz is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. He received his B.A. degree from Brandeis University in 1959, and M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in Government[5], going on to lecture in social studies. He has seven honorary doctorates, and in 1982 received the Jerusalem Medal.

Peretz is currently separated from Anne Labouisse Farnsworth Peretz, daughter of Henry Richardson Labouisse, Jr. and an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine Company fortune. Anne's inherited wealth is widely credited as having given Peretz the means to acquire The New Republic.[6] He is also a descendant of the Yiddish writer I. L. Peretz. He is the father of director Jesse Peretz and writer Evgenia Peretz. Peretz is a long-time friend and supporter of Al Gore.

In 1993, Harvard inaugurated the Martin Peretz Chair in Yiddish Literature in his honour[7]. The Chair is currently held by Ruth Wisse.

[edit] Editorial stance

Under the leadership of Peretz, the magazine generally maintained liberal and neoliberal positions on economic and social issues, and assumed hawkish and strong pro-Israel stances in foreign affairs. Peretz has said "Support for Israel is deep down, an expression of America's best view of itself."[8] Alexander Cockburn and Ken Silverstein report that Peretz said "I am in love with the state of Israel."[9]

Peretz has long supported Democrats over Republicans, including being a major behind-the-scenes benefactor of Eugene McCarthy's primary presidential bid in 1968. He strongly supported Senator Barack Obama in both his Democratic primary race and in the 2008 general election.

On January 8, 2010, Peretz referred to himself as a "loyalist" to the Democratic Party, albeit a "strained" one:

I do not want the Republicans to gain any [Congressional] seats, the more so as that party stands for (almost) nothing in which I believe. So call me a party loyalist, even though my loyalties are very much strained. But, then, I care most about foreign policy ... and my party does not give a damn.[10]

A strong supporter of Israel, in opposing the appointment of Charles W. Freeman, Jr. as chief of the National Intelligence Council, Peretz wrote:

But Freeman's real offense (and the president's if he were to appoint him) is that he has questioned the loyalty and patriotism of not only Zionists and other friends of Israel, the great swath of American Jews and their Christian countrymen, who believed that the protection of Zion is at the core of our religious and secular history, from the Pilgrim fathers through Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. And how has he offended this tradition? By publishing and peddling the unabridged John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, with panegyric and hysteria.[11]

In spite of his electoral support for Obama, Peretz strongly criticized him in his column of July 14, 2009:

Frankly, I am sick and tired of President Obama's eldering--more accurately, hectoring--Israel's leaders. It is, after all, they whose country is the target of an armed and ideological cyclone that Obama has done precious little to ease. He brought nothing back from Riyadh and Cairo, absolutely nothing except the conviction of the Arab leaders that they need do nothing but sit and wait until the president squeezes one concession after another out of Jerusalem.[12]

[edit] In Popular Culture

Peretz was portrayed by Ted Kotcheff in the 2003 film Shattered Glass, based on the Stephen Glass controversy.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Kirkpatrick, David D. (2002-01-28). "New Republic's Longtime Owner Sells Control to 2 Big Financiers". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE1D8153AF93BA15752C0A9649C8B63. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  2. ^ Seelye, Katharine Q. (2007-02-28). "New Republic’s Editor in Chief Sells His Share of the Magazine". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/business/media/28mag.html. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  3. ^ http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0309/Peretz_investors_buying_back_TNR_.html
  4. ^ "About the Institute: Board of Advisors". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC11.php?CID=133. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  5. ^ http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/erich-segal-kindle Erich Segal Z”L
  6. ^ Turque, Bill (2000). Inventing Al Gore: A Biography. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 51. ISBN 0618131604. "His 1967 marriage to Anne Labouisse Farnsworth, an heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune, helped him buy The New Republic from Gilbert Harrison in 1974."  |quote = Marty Peretz bought the magazine in 1974 from Gilbert Harrison with $380,000 garnered from the wealth of his wife, Anne Labouisse Farnsworth, heir to one of the great fortunes created by the Singer Sewing Machine company. }}
  7. ^ http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~nelc/yiddish.html
  8. ^ Reprint of Martin Peretz, "Surveying the Israel Lobby: Oil and Vinegar," The New Republic Online, 30 March 2006
  9. ^ Washington Babylon, Alexander Cockburn and Ken Silverstein, Verso 1996
  10. ^ You Read it Here First: "Surprise Anxiety for Favored Democrats" in Massachusetts, The New Republic Marty Peretz blog "The Spine," January 8, 2010.
  11. ^ Chas Freeman Is Bigoted And Out Of Touch, The New Republic Marty Peretz column "The Spine," February 25, 2009.
  12. ^ Obama's Chutzpah. Sorry, Only Israelis Have Chutzpah. So It's Obama's Haughty Condescension, The New Republic Marty Peretz column "The Spine," July 14, 2009.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Peretz"