Irving Kristol: Cold War Liberal and Conservative

In 2002 the American public intellectual, Irving Kristol (1920-2009), was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for services to conservative thought. The award solidified his position as the so-called ‘Godfather of neoconservatism.’ However, Kristol began his political life as a Trotskyist. This thesis asks how, and why, a member of the American left in the 1930s became a committed conservative by the end of his life. In doing so, it uses Kristol as a lens through which to explore the wider political and intellectual transformations of the post-war United States. Despite an influential career in journalism and a fascinating intellectual trajectory, Kristol’s thought has received scant sustained historiographical analysis. Thus far, he has principally received notice in scholarship on the mid-century New York Intellectual group and broader discussions of the neoconservative persuasion. This thesis remedies this oversight by fusing intellectual history and biography to engage seriously with his thought. It investigates several key issues: the role of anti-communist public intellectuals during the Cold War; the conflict between the Old and New Left at mid-century; and the establishment of the neoconservative outlook in the 1970s and 1980s. Additionally, the project asks what Kristol’s later works can tell us about the nature of American capitalism. Ultimately, the thesis argues that Kristol’s transition from left to right was not linear. Kristol was an influential figure whose journalism, political connections, and think tank associations were crucial to furthering the rightward turn in late-twentieth century American politics. But this journey was a slow process, with different strands of his thought moving rightwards at different speeds. Moreover, this evolution underscores the essential links between post-war liberalism and conservatism during this era