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About
Midge Decter (born Midge Rosenthal on July 25, 1927, in Saint Paul, Minnesota; died May 9, 2022, in New York City) was a pioneering American neoconservative author, editor, and activist known for her critiques of liberal culture, feminism, and family values. Raised in a Jewish family, she attended the University of Minnesota, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and New York University without earning a degree. Her career began in 1950 as a secretary to the editor at Commentary magazine, where she contributed 69 articles over 55 years and held multiple editorial roles. She also worked at Midstream, Harper’s Bazaar (executive editor, 1969–1971), Saturday Review/World, Basic Books, and the Hudson Institute. Originally a liberal Democrat, she became a vocal critic of the women's liberation and gay rights movements, defending traditional gender roles and family structures. Decter authored influential books including The Liberated Woman and Other Americans (1970), The New Chastity and Other Arguments Against Women’s Liberation (1972), Liberal Parents, Radical Children (1975), An Old Wife’s Tale: My Seven Decades in Love and War (2001), and Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait (2003). She co-founded and co-chaired the Independent Women's Forum and served as executive director of the anti-communist Committee for the Free World from 1981 to 1990, which she co-founded alongside Donald Rumsfeld. Additionally, she served on the boards of The Heritage Foundation, Center for Security Policy, and Accuracy in Media, signed the Project for the New American Century’s Statement of Principles, and contributed to publications such as The Atlantic, National Review, and City Journal. Decter was married first to Moshe Decter (1948–1954) and later to Norman Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine, with whom she had four children, including John Podhoretz and Rachel Decter Abrams, making her mother-in-law to Elliott Abrams. She received the National Humanities Medal in 2003 and the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom in 2008. Her legacy is that of a key intellectual figure in conservative anti-communist and cultural critique circles.