Marty Peretz

Marty Peretz

Martin H. "Marty" Peretz (pronounced /pəˈrɛts/; 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] In late-2010, Peretz gave up his title of editor-in-chief at The New Republic, becoming instead editor emeritus, and also terminated his blog "The Spine".[4]

Contents

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: "the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Bard College (1982), Coe College (1983), Long Island University (1988), Brandeis University (1989), Hebrew College (1990), Chicago Theological Seminary (1994), and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1987)."[6] In 1982, he received the Jerusalem Medal.

Peretz was married for 42 years to Anne Labouisse Farnsworth Peretz, daughter of Henry Richardson Labouisse, Jr. and an heir to the Singer Sewing Machine Company fortune.[7] Anne had helped him buy The New Republic in 1974.[8] The couple divorced in 2009, his wife citing infidelity and bad temper as problems in the marriage.[9][10]

In a profile of Peretz published in New York Magazine in Dec., 2010 by Benjamin Wallace-Wells, Peretz was described this way:

Peretz is a born belligerent. He was anti-Stalin by the age of 7; spent half a century defending a controversial brand of Zionism in the obscure, fratricidal fights of the ideological left; and retains a decisive eye for an enemy. Now, at 71, Peretz has a broad trunk and very narrow hips, and he leaves the impression of having been stuffed into his own skin, kicking and screaming. His extraordinary capacity for charm is matched by an extraordinary capacity for anger.[11]

Peretz 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 honor.[12] The Chair is currently held by Ruth Wisse.

Peretz is a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Board of Advisors.[13]

Editorial stance

Under the leadership of Peretz, The New Republic generally maintained liberal and neoliberal positions on economic and social issues, and assumed correspondingly pro-Israel stances in foreign affairs. Peretz has said "Support for Israel is deep down, an expression of America's best view of itself."[14] Alexander Cockburn and Ken Silverstein have stated that Peretz said "I am in love with the state of Israel."[15]

Media critic Eric Alterman wrote in the American Prospect regarding Peretz's tenure as editor of the New Republic: "[D]uring his reign, Peretz has also done lasting damage to the cause of American liberalism. By turning TNR into a kind of ideological police dog, Peretz enjoyed... [playing] a key role in defining the borders of "responsible" liberal discourse, thereby tarring anyone who disagreed as irresponsible or untrustworthy. But he did so on the basis of a politics simultaneously so narrow and idiosyncratic — in thrall almost entirely to an Israel-centric neoconservatism."[16]

Peretz has used the editorial page of the The New Republic to attack people whom he perceives as enemies of Israel[17][18]—"sometimes we attack people unfairly" according to his close friend and TNR literary editor Leon Wieseltier.[18] For example, Peretz attacked I. F. Stone after the journalist signed a public appeal for water and medical supplies for siege victims trapped in West Beirut during the 1982 Israeli Siege of Beirut: Peretz editorialized, "So this is what I. F. Stone has come to, asking his admirers to put up money so that the PLO can continue to fight."[18] In an editorial titled "Blacklisted", Peretz claimed during the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 that he was "the only writer on the Middle East not invited by PBS or NPR to speak about the Gulf."[18][19]

Peretz does not support Israeli settlements in the West Bank, describing the settlers as "self-righteous and often brutal."[20]

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 supported Senator Barack Obama in both his Democratic primary race and in the 2008 general election.[21] Recently, Peretz has expressed disappointment with Obama, telling The New York Times Magazine: “I’m not sure I feel betrayed, but it’s close... our first African-American president has done less to fight AIDS in Africa than George Bush, he’s done nothing on human rights.” [22]

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.[23]

A supporter of Israel, Peretz was a key editorial voice—despite at the time he had decreasing influence in Washington politics and editorial circles—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.[24]

After he withdrew his nomination, Freeman gave an interview to Robert Dreyfuss in The Nation saying he regretted he did not identify his attackers, including Peretz, as “right-wing Likud in Israel and its fanatic supporters here."[25] In the Washington Post, the late columnist David Broder, in a column entitled "The Country's Loss", wrote that Freeman was "low-key, thoughtful and obviously smart as hell" and that his nomination was killed because extreme supporters of Israel severely distorted his record.[26]

On November 8, 2010, Peretz indicated that he would prefer the Democratic Party nominate someone other than Obama for President in 2012:

Press people are speculating that maybe Barack Obama will be a one-term president. Yet wouldn't it be better that, rather than have a Republican candidate trounce him in the general elections, a Democrat try to unseat him in the party primaries and at the convention. Surely, there are many sensible Democrats who realize that the "yes, we can" dream is, in fact, Obama's own hallucination.[27]

Peretz has described Obama's foreign policy as "a folly and a fraud" and the principles of it as "at best, stupid and, at worst, treacherous." [28]

According to articles in the New York Times Magazine and elsewhere, editors of the New Republic gave Peretz his own blog in recent years because, due to disagreements about his opinions, "other TNR writers were embarrassed to share space with him." [29][30]

Accusations of bigotry

Over the course of his career, Peretz has drawn criticism from some fellow commentators, particularly Jack Shafer of Slate Magazine and Eric Alterman of The Nation for making comments they considered bigoted, particularly towards Arabs and Muslims.[17][31][32] He has written (among other things) that "'Arab society' is 'hidebound and backward' [and] [t]hat the Druze are 'congenitally untrustworthy'"[6]

On September 4, 2010, Peretz drew media attention and controversy when he posted an editorial which concluded:

But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.[33]

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof denounced Peretz's comments, asking: "Is it possible to imagine the same kind of casual slur tossed off about blacks or Jews?"[34]

Peretz issued an apology on September 13. Regarding his statement about Muslims and the First Amendment, Peretz said: "I wrote that, but I do not believe that. I do not think that any group or class of persons in the United States should be denied the protections of the First Amendment, not now, not ever."[35] Peretz also said that his comment that "Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims" was "a statement of fact, not of value" and pointed out that Kristof himself agreed that Muslims have not adequately condemned violence perpetrated by Muslims on fellow Muslims.[35]

Kristof responded by criticizing Peretz for falsely claiming that Kristoff agreed with him, and also for continuing to generalize that all Muslims had the attitude of Muslim terrorists toward human life:[36]

Making generalizations about racial, ethnic or religious groups is a dangerous game. Many Muslims see Americans dropping bombs in Iraq or Afghanistan and think that Christians don’t value human life. Arabs see Israelis invading Gaza and insist that Jews don’t value human life. Islam is no more monolithic than Christianity or Judaism, and these kinds of sweeping generalizations have historically led to dehumanizing other groups in ways that lead to discrimination and violence. They’re invidious and dangerous whether it’s we or Afghans who fall for them.[37]

On September 17, 2010, Peretz issued another apology:

… [I]n this past year I have publicly committed the sin of wild and wounding language, especially hurtful to our Muslim brothers and sisters. I do not console myself that many other Americans at this moment are committing the same transgressions, against others. I allowed emotion to run way ahead of reason, and feelings to trample arguments. For this I am sorry.[38]

Following the controversy, Harvard University canceled Peretz's scheduled September 25 speech on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Harvard's Social Studies Department where Peretz once taught.[39] The Atlantic's James Fallows summarized Peretz's reputation on September 25, concluding that if his legacy were settled that day, despite being "beloved by many students and respected by some magazine colleagues", in his 70s he would be considered a bigot.[40][41] Jefferson Morley, a Peretz friend, who worked at The New Republic from 1983 to 1987, told Jack Shafer of Slate, "I could never reconcile this intellectual strength with his racism and unpleasant attempts to play the bully."[42]

Stephen Glass controversy

During Peretz's tenure as editor of the New Republic, the magazine faced one of journalism's most notorious fabrication scandals. One of the magazine's writers, Stephen Glass, was found to have fabricated potions or all of 27 of 41 stories he wrote for the magazine. Stories were found to have included some accurate reporting interwoven with fabricated quotations, scenes, and incidents. In some instances, stories were made up in their entirety.[43][44] Explaining why it took so long to catch Glass' fraud, Peretz blamed two of his editors, the late Michael Kelly and Charles Lane for not catching the fraud earlier.[44]

In popular culture

In the 1993 novel Blue Hearts which was set in Washington D.C., PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer included Peretz as the roman à clef character "Jonathan Perry."[31] Peretz is portrayed in Stephen Glass's 2003 novel The Fabulist[31] and by Ted Kotcheff in the 2003 film Shattered Glass based on the Stephen Glass controversy.

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. ^ "Peretz in Exile". New York magazine, December 26, 2010.
  5. ^ http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/erich-segal-kindle Erich Segal
  6. ^ a b Pareene, Alex (2010-11-26) War Room's Hack Thirty - No. 5: Marty Peretz, Salon.com
  7. ^ Wallace-Wells, Benjamin (December 26, 2010). "Peretz in Exile". New York. http://nymag.com/news/features/70310/. Retrieved January 30, 2011. 
  8. ^ Turque, Bill (2000). Inventing Al Gore: A Biography. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 51. ISBN 0618131604. "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." 
  9. ^ "Peretz has lived alone for five years. His wife cited his infidelities and explosive temper as problems in the marriage, but Peretz pre-empted any discussion of his romantic world, declaring, “My sexual life is too complicated for one word, and not complicated enough for 15.” Still, he wears his wedding ring, and Anne’s own paintings share space with Degas’s on his walls." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Peretz-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
  10. ^ Rodrick, Stephen (2011-01-24). "Martin Peretz Is Not Sorry About Anything". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Peretz-t.html?pagewanted=5&_r=1. 
  11. ^ http://nymag.com/news/features/70310/
  12. ^ http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~nelc/yiddish.html
  13. ^ "About the Institute: Board of Advisors". Washington Institute for Near East Policy. http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC11.php?CID=133. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  14. ^ Reprint of Martin Peretz, "Surveying the Israel Lobby: Oil and Vinegar," The New Republic Online, 30 March 2006
  15. ^ Washington Babylon, Alexander Cockburn and Ken Silverstein, Verso 1996
  16. ^ http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=my_marty_peretz_problem_and_ours
  17. ^ a b Shafer, Jack (1991-04-12). "The Perfervid Peretz". Washington City Paper. http://www.jackshafer.com/misc_columns/20091128_perfervid_peretz.php. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  18. ^ a b c d Alterman, Eric (1999). Sound and Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 198. ISBN 0801486394. http://books.google.com/books?id=AawSTuz4ldAC&lpg=PA198&dq=Peretz%20blacklisted&pg=PA198#v=onepage&q=Peretz%20blacklisted&f=false. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  19. ^ Peretz, Martin (1991-04-15). "Blacklisted". The New Republic. p. 42. 
  20. ^ The Moratorium Has Ended, But Will The Peace Process With It?, The New Republic Marty Peretz blog "The Spine," September 27, 2010.
  21. ^ Lake, Eli (21 February 2008). "Obama's Brain Trust Taking Shape". New York Sun. http://www.nysun.com/national/obamas-brain-trust-taking-shape/71580/. Retrieved 4 February 2011. 
  22. ^ Rodrick, Stephen (24 January 2010). "Martin Peretz Is Not Sorry. About Anything.". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Peretz-t.html?_r=1&hpw=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 4 February 2011. 
  23. ^ You Read it Here First: "Surprise Anxiety for Favored Democrats" in Massachusetts, The New Republic Marty Peretz blog "The Spine," January 8, 2010.
  24. ^ Chas Freeman Is Bigoted And Out Of Touch, The New Republic Marty Peretz column "The Spine," February 25, 2009.
  25. ^ Robert Dreyfuss, Interview With Charles Freeman, The Nation, March 13, 2009.
  26. ^ David Broder, The Country's Loss. Washington Post, March 12, 2009.
  27. ^ Was the Gargantuan Loss of Democratic House Seats a Massacre or Just a Disaster?, The New Republic Marty Peretz blog "The Spine," November 8, 2010.
  28. ^ Obama's Foreign Policy is a Folly and a Fraud, The New Republic Marty Peretz blog "The Spine," November 30, 2010.
  29. ^ Rodrick, Stephen (2011-01-24). "Martin Peretz Is Not Sorry About Anything". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Peretz-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1. 
  30. ^ http://nymag.com/news/features/70310/index5.html
  31. ^ a b c Shafer, Jack (2010-09-14). "In Praise of Marty Peretz". Slate Magazine. http://www.slate.com/id/2267273/pagenum/all/#p2. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  32. ^ Alterman, Eric (2007-06-18). "My Marty Peretz Problem -- And Ours". The American Prospect. http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=my_marty_peretz_problem_and_ours. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  33. ^ Peretz, Martin (2010-09-04). "The New York Times Laments "A Sadly Wary Misunderstanding of Muslim-Americans." But Really Is It "Sadly Wary" Or A "Misunderstanding" At All?". The Spine (The New Republic). http://www.tnr.com/blog/77475/the-new-york-times-laments-sadly-wary-misunderstanding-muslim-americans-really-it-sadly-w. Retrieved 2010-10-06. 
  34. ^ Kristof, Nicholas (2010-09-11). "Is This America? url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/opinion/12kristof.html?_r=1". The New York Times. 
  35. ^ a b Peretz, Martin (2010-09-13). "An Apology". The Spine (The New Republic). http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-spine/77607/martin-peretz-apology. Retrieved 2010-10-06. 
  36. ^ Kristof, Nicholas (2010-09-13). "A Martin Peretz Apology". On the Ground (The New York Times). http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/a-martin-peretz-apology/. Retrieved 2010-10-06. 
  37. ^ Kristof, Nicholas (2010-09-13). "A Martin Peretz Apology". The New York Times. http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/a-martin-peretz-apology/. 
  38. ^ http://www.tnr.com/blog/77761/atonement
  39. ^ "Peretz dropped as Harvard event speaker". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2010-09-21. http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/09/21/2740988/peretz-dropped-as-harvard-event-speaker. Retrieved 2010-09-22. 
  40. ^ Fallows, James (2010-09-25). "Peretz and the Power of Shaming". The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/peretz-and-the-power-of-shaming/63416/. Retrieved 2010-09-25. 
  41. ^ James Fallows A Harsh Thing I Should Have Said (Martin Peretz Dept) Updated The Atlantic 2010-09-12 Accessed 2011-07-29.
  42. ^ http://www.slate.com/id/2267273/pagenum/all/#p2
  43. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Glass_%28reporter%29
  44. ^ a b http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/311bcigd.asp

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