Max Lerner (December 20, 1902 – June 5, 1992) was aRussia-bornAmerican journalist and educator known for his syndicatedcolumn.
Maxwell Alan Lerner was born on December 20, 1902, inMinsk, then in theRussian Empire, the son of Bessie (née Podel) and Benjamin Lerner. HisRussian-Jewish family emigrated to theUnited States in 1907, where his father sold milk door to door.[1] Lerner earned aB.A. fromYale University in 1923. He briefly studied law there before enrolling atWashington University in St. Louis, where he received anM.A. in 1925. He earned aPh.D. from theWashington, D.C.–based Robert Brookings Graduate School of Economics and Government (a progenitor of theBrookings Institution think tank that was academically affiliated with Washington University)[2] in 1927.[3]
After receiving his doctorate, Lerner began work as an editor for theEncyclopaedia of the Social Sciences (1927–1932),The Nation (1936–1938), andPM (1943–1948). Following the sale ofPM, he continued as a contributor to its short-lived successor, theNew York Star, until its dissolution in 1949.
His column for theNew York Post debuted in 1949. It earned him a place on themaster list of Nixon political opponents. During most of his career he was considered aliberal. In his later years, however, he was seen as something of a conservative since he expressed support forMargaret Thatcher and theReagan administration.[4]
He taught atSarah Lawrence College,Harvard University,Williams College,United States International University, theUniversity of Notre Dame, andBrandeis University. Lerner also was a close friend of film starElizabeth Taylor during her marriage toEddie Fisher.[5]
Lerner was a strong advocate of theNew Deal.[4]
Lerner was a staunch opponent of discrimination againstAfrican Americans but supported the wartimeJapanese American internment and backed anAmerican Civil Liberties Union resolution on the issue to "subordinate civil liberties to wartime considerations and political loyalties."[6]
Lerner married Anita Marburg in 1928, and they divorced in 1940. He married Edna Albers in 1941.[1] Lerner died on June 5, 1992.
Lerner's granddaughter is actressBetsy Russell.
Lerner's most influential book wasAmerica as a Civilization: Life and Thought in the United States Today (1957).[6]
His bookThe Unfinished Country is a collection of more than 200 of his daily columns, which were written for theNew York Post over the span of more than a decade. The book contains one of his better-known quotes: "The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt." His 1990 book,Wrestling with the Angel, was about his long struggle with illness.[1]
