Bill Kristol | |
|---|---|
 Kristol in 2011 | |
| Chief of Staff to the Vice President | |
| In office January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 | |
| Vice President | Dan Quayle |
| Preceded by | Craig Fuller |
| Succeeded by | Roy Neel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Kristol (1952-12-23)December 23, 1952 (age 72) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Independent (2021–present)[1][2] |
| Other political affiliations | Republican (1980–2020) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Matthew Continetti (son-in-law) |
| Education | Harvard University (BA,PhD) |
William Kristol (/ˈkrɪstəl/; born December 23, 1952) is an Americanneoconservative writer.[3] A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large[4] of the political magazineThe Weekly Standard. Kristol is now editor-at-large of the center-right publicationThe Bulwark and has been the host ofConversations with Bill Kristol, an interview web program, since 2014.[5][6]
Kristol played a leading role in the defeat of theClinton health care plan of 1993,[7] as well as for advocating the2003 invasion of Iraq.[8][9] He has been associated with a number of conservativethink tanks. He was chairman of the New Citizenship Project from 1997 to 2005. In 1997, he co-founded theProject for the New American Century (PNAC) withRobert Kagan. He is a member of the board of trustees for the free-marketManhattan Institute for Policy Research, a member of the Policy Advisory Board for theEthics and Public Policy Center, and a director of theForeign Policy Initiative. He is also one of the three board members ofKeep America Safe, a national-security think tank co-founded byLiz Cheney andDebra Burlingame, and serves on the boards of theEmergency Committee for Israel and of theSusan B. Anthony List (as of 2010).[10]
Kristol is a critic of presidentDonald Trump,[11] a supporter of theNever Trump movement, and a founder and director of Defending Democracy Together, an advocacy organization responsible for such projects asRepublicans for the Rule of Law and theRepublican Accountability Project.
William Kristol was born on December 23, 1952, in New York City into aJewish family, the son ofIrving Kristol andGertrude Himmelfarb. Irving Kristol was an editor and publisher who served as the managing editor ofCommentary magazine, founded the magazineThe Public Interest, and was described byJonah Goldberg as the "godfather ofneoconservatism".[12] Gertrude Himmelfarb was a prominent conservative historian, especially ofintellectual history in the U.S. and Great Britain. Kristol attendedCollegiate School for Boys inManhattan. He received a bachelor's degree atHarvard University and also a Ph.D. inpolitical science in 1979.[13][14]
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In the summer of 1970, Kristol was an intern at theWhite House.[15] In 1976, Kristol worked forDaniel Patrick Moynihan's United States Senate campaign, serving as deputy issues director during the Democratic primary. In 1988, he was the campaign manager forAlan Keyes's unsuccessfulMaryland Senatorial campaign againstPaul Sarbanes. After teachingpolitical philosophy and U.S. politics at theUniversity of Pennsylvania and Harvard'sKennedy School of Government, Kristol went to work in government in 1985, serving as chief of staff toUnited States secretary of educationWilliam Bennett during theReagan administration, and later, aschief of staff to the vice president underDan Quayle in theGeorge H. W. Bush administration.The New Republic dubbed Kristol "Dan Quayle's brain" when he was appointed the vice president's chief of staff.
Kristol served as chairman of the Project for the Republican Future from 1993 to 1994, and as the director of the Bradley Project at theBradley Foundation in Milwaukee in 1993. In 1993, he led conservative opposition to theClinton health care plan of 1993. In 2003, Kristol andLawrence F. Kaplan wroteThe War Over Iraq: America's Mission and Saddam's Tyranny, in which the authors analyzed theBush Doctrine and the history of Iraqi-U.S. relations. In the book, Kristol and Kaplan provided support and justifications for the2003 invasion of Iraq.[16] He also served as a foreign policy advisor for SenatorJohn McCain'spresidential campaign.[17]
After theRepublican sweep of both houses of Congress in 1994, Kristol established, along withJohn Podhoretz, the conservative news magazineThe Weekly Standard.Rupert Murdoch, chairman and managing director ofNews Corp., financed its creation. Beginning in 1996, Kristol was a panelist on theABC Sunday news programThis Week. Following declining ratings, his contract was not renewed three years later.[18]
Kristol was a columnist forTime in 2007.[19] The following year, he joinedThe New York Times as a columnist. Several days after he did so,Times public editorClark Hoyt called his hiring "a mistake," due to Kristol's assertion in 2006 that theTimes should potentially be prosecuted for having revealed information about theTerrorist Finance Tracking Program.[20] Kristol wrote a weekly opinion column forThe New York Times from January 7, 2008,[21] to January 26, 2009.
For ten years, Kristol was a regular panelist onFox News Sunday and often contributed to the nightly programSpecial Report with Bret Baier. In 2013, his contract withFox News expired, and he became a much sought after commentator on several networks.[22] It was announced onThis Week withGeorge Stephanopoulos on February 2, 2014, that Kristol would be a contributor forABC News and to that program.[23]
Since the summer of 2014, Kristol has also hosted an online interview program,Conversations with Bill Kristol, featuring guests from academic and public life.[6]Conversations with Bill Kristol is an American interview program hosted by political analyst and commentator Bill Kristol. The series features in-depth discussions with leading figures in public life, and spans topics from politics and political philosophy to history, foreign policy, economics, and culture. The show aims to foster substantive and thoughtful discourse on pivotal issues facing the nation.[24][25][26][27]
The series debuted in 2014. It is programming of the Foundation for Constitutional Government, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting the study of politics and political philosophy. Bill Kristol, the host, has long been recognized as a leading participant in and analyst of American politics. He was a founder of The Weekly Standard and is a founding director of Defending Democracy Together. Kristol has been a significant voice in American politics for decades.[24][28][29][30]
Each episode ofConversations with Bill Kristol features an interview. The program is longform, often more than an hour, which allows guests to share expertise and experiences, and to participate in thoughtful, reflective dialogue.[31] The series has hosted a diverse roster of guests, from scholars and journalists to political strategists and public intellectuals. Notable regular guests includingGarry Kasparov,Anne Applebaum,Harvey Mansfield, andLarry Summers have been featured to provide insights into their respective fields and to share their perspectives on a range issues.[24][31][32] The program is produced by Kristol and Andy Zwick. Episodes are released biweekly.[24]
Kristol was key to the defeat of the Clinton health care plan of 1993. In the first of what would become many strategy memos written for Republican policymakers, Kristol said the party should "kill", not amend, President Clinton's health care plan. A later memorandum used the phrase "There is no health care crisis", which Senate Minority LeaderBob Dole used in his response to Clinton's 1994State of the Union address.
Kristol was a leading proponent of theIraq War. In 1998, he joined other foreign policy analysts in sending a letter to President Clinton urging a stronger posture against Iraq.[33][34] Kristol argued thatSaddam Hussein posed a grave threat to the United States and its allies: "The only acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near term, this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy."[35] In 1998 he andRobert Kagan wrote a New York Times piece where they said "bombing Iraq isn't enough" and called on Clinton to invade the country.[36]
In the2000 presidential election, Kristol supportedJohn McCain. Answering a question from aPBS reporter about theRepublican primaries, he said, "No. I had nothing against Governor Bush. I was inclined to prefer McCain. The reason I was inclined to prefer McCain was his leadership on foreign policy."[37] After theBush administration developed its response to theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks, Kristol said: "We've just been present at a very unusual moment, the creation of a new American foreign policy."[37] Kristol ardently supported the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq. In 2003, he and Lawrence Kaplan wroteThe War Over Iraq, in which he described reasons for removing Saddam. Kristol rejected comparisons toVietnam and predicted a "two-month war, not an eight-year war" during a March 28C-SPAN appearance.[38]
As the military situation inIraq began to deteriorate in 2004, Kristol argued for an increase in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq. He also wrote an op-ed strongly criticizing United States secretary of defenseDonald Rumsfeld, saying he "breezily dodged responsibility" for planning mistakes made in the Iraq War, including insufficient troop levels.[39] In September 2006, he and fellow commentatorRich Lowry wrote, "There is no mystery as to what can make the crucial difference in the battle of Baghdad: American troops."[40] This was one of the early calls for what became theIraq War troop surge of 2007 four months later. In December 2008, Kristol wrote that the surge was "opposed at the time by the huge majority of foreign policy experts, pundits, and pontificators," but that "most of them – and the man most of them are happy won the election,Barack Obama – now acknowledge the surge's success."[41]
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Kristol was one of many conservatives to publicly oppose Bush's secondU.S. Supreme Court nominee,Harriet Miers. "I'm disappointed, depressed, and demoralized," he said of Miers. "It is very hard to avoid the conclusion that President Bush flinched from a fight on constitutional philosophy. Miers is undoubtedly a decent and competent person. But her selection will unavoidably be judged as reflecting a combination ofcronyism and capitulation on the part of the president." He was a vocal supporter of the2006 Lebanon War, stating that the war is "our war too", referring to theUnited States.[42] Kristol was an ardent promoter ofSarah Palin, advocating for her selection as the running mate ofJohn McCain in the2008 United States presidential election months before McCain chose her.[43][44] However, he later recanted his support for her, saying: "I'm perfectly willing to say that given what I now know about her, she would not have been a good vice president."[45][46]
In response toIran's nuclear program, Kristol has supported strongsanctions. In June 2006, at the height of the Lebanon War, he suggested: "We might consider countering this act of Iranian aggression with a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Why wait?"[47] In 2010, Kristol criticized the Obama administration and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman AdmiralMike Mullen for an unserious approach to Iran. He wrote: "The real question is what form of instability would be more dangerous – that caused by this Iranian government with nuclear weapons, or that caused by attacking this government's nuclear weapons program. It's time to have a serious debate about the choice between these two kinds of destabilization, instead of just refusing to confront the choice."[48]
In the 2010 affair surrounding thedisclosure of U.S. diplomatic cables, Kristol spoke strongly against the organization and suggested using "our various assets to harass, snatch, or neutralizeJulian Assange and his collaborators, wherever they are."[49] In March 2011, he wrote an editorial inThe Weekly Standard arguing that the United States' military interventions in Muslim countries (including theGulf War, theKosovo War, theWar in Afghanistan, and theIraq War) should not be classified as "invasions," but rather as "liberations."[50][51] Kristol backed PresidentBarack Obama's decision to intervene in theLibyan Civil War in 2011 and urged fellow conservatives to support the action.[52][53][54]
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Kristol vehemently opposed the nomination ofDonald Trump as the Republican candidate for president in 2016. He has continued to express animosity towards Trump's domestic and foreign policy aims, and dismay at conservative Republicans who have accommodated themselves to theTrump administration.[55]
In January 2019, Kristol criticized President Trump's planned withdrawal ofU.S. troops from Syria andfrom Afghanistan.[56] On December 21, Kristol and a group calling itselfRepublicans for the Rule of Law released an ad encouraging viewers to call their Senators to demand top Trump officials be forced to testify in hisimpeachment trial.[57]
In March 2020, Kristol endorsed former U.S. vice presidentJoe Biden for President of the United States.[58] Kristol is founding director ofRepublican Voters Against Trump, a project ofDefending Democracy Together, launched in May 2020.[59] On October 15, Kristol voted for the Democratic ticket. He stated: "Just filled out my early absentee ballot in VA for Joe Biden &Kamala Harris,Mark Warner, andJennifer Wexton. No regrets at all about this."[60]
Kristol did an interview withJewish Insider in 2021 where he said that he identifies as more of a former Republican.[61] Defending Democracy Together spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in January 2024 to supportNikki Haley and run advertisements against Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, theWashington Examiner reported.[62] After the incumbent U.S. vice presidentKamala Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee for U.S. President, Kristol endorsed her onThe Bulwark.
Since 1975, Kristol has been married to Susan Scheinberg, whom he met while they were both students at Harvard. Scheinberg holds aPh.D. inclassics. The couple has three children.[63] Their daughter, Anne, is married to writerMatthew Continetti, editor-in-chief ofThe Washington Free Beacon website. Their son, Joseph, served in theU.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan and worked for themanagement consulting companyMcKinsey & Company before taking a job aslegislative director for SenatorTom Cotton in 2018.[64][65] Kristol lives inMcLean, Virginia.[66]
Virginia doesn't have party registration, so I always use that as a way of avoiding the 'What party are you now in' question.
Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and the punditocracy's best-known neocon...;
William Kristol, the influential neo-conservative founder and editor of The Weekly Standard...;
with the influential neoconservative William Kristol declaring...;
After the fall of the Soviet Union, various neoconservative authors likeCharles Krauthammer, William Kristol andRobert Kagan suggested that the United States would use its margin of power to exert a kind of 'benevolent hegemony' over the rest of the world...;
Kristol is a leading neoconservative andThe Weekly Standard's list of contributing editors is a virtual who's who of the movement's leading thinkers and proselytisers
We were right to invade Iraq in 2003 to remove Saddam Hussein...
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| Preceded by | Chief of Staff to the Vice President 1989–1993 | Succeeded by |
