Midge Dexter was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1927.

Her life traced the movement of Cold War anti-communist liberals, who, over time, became more conservative,

and discovering just how far the progressive tides had

pulled the Democratic Party, she eventually decided that there comes a time in every thinking

person's political maturation, when one must simply join the side you're actually on. She,

along with her husband, Norman Pahoritz, were among those renegade New York intellectuals

who became neoconservatives.

She wrote essays and books, edited magazines, mentored generations of writers, and insisted that

critical engagement with American manners and habits and society be waged on the grounds

of gratitude for the blessings of America. She was subtle and clear and society be waged on the grounds of gratitude for the blessings of America.

She was subtle and clear and courageous, and together with the Pahoritz family and the countless

many who have benefited from her character, we mourn her passing away last week at the age of 94.

Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. My guest this week is Midge Dexter's

son, the editor of commentary, John Podhoritz. In the midst of his morning, and reflecting on the

circumstances and social and intellectual environment into which their late mother and wife was born,

John and his family asked where such a mind, such a personality, such a force of will, could come from.

John's answer to this question was published on Commentary's website as a son's eulogy for Midge Dexter on May 12, 2022.

You see, she was not molded in the sort of environment, talkative, contentious, intellectual,

that she and her husband Norman created for

their family. In 1975, she published one of her books, Liberal Parents, Radical Children,

which focused on the question of intergenerational influence, how the sensibilities of the

elder generation came to affect the young, sometimes affecting children in ways that

...