Sol Levitas

{{short description|20th-century American magazine editor}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Sol Levitas | honorific_suffix = | image = Sol Levitas 1937.jpg | landscape =  | alt =  | caption = Levitas in 1937 | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pronunciation = | birth_name = Samuel Moisewitch Levitas | birth_date = 1894  | birth_place = Russian Empire | death_date = January 3, {{death year and age|1961|1894}}  | death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | death_cause = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Magazine editor | years_active = 1940-1950 | era = | employer = ''The New Leader'' | organization = | known_for = | notable_works =  | term = | predecessor = James Oneal | successor = Myron Kolatch | party = | movement = | opponents = | boards = | criminal_charge =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = | spouse = | partner =  | children = | parents =  | relatives = | family = | awards = | website =  }} '''Sol Levitas''' (1894–1961) was an American magazine editor, an "old-line Socialist" and "Russian refugee journalist" who served as managing editor of ''The New Leader'' (1940–1950) and "shaped the journal's character."<ref name=TIME> {{cite news | title = The Press: The New Leader Steps Out | publisher = TIME | url = http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,812346,00.html | date = 1 May 1950 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref><ref name=Tribute> {{cite news | first = Adolf A. | last = Berle | author-link = Adolf A. Berle | title = Tribute to Sol Levitas | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1961/01/14/archives/tribute-to-sol-levitas.html | date = 14 January 1961 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref><ref name=Mitchell> {{cite news | first = Sam | last = Roberts | title = Mitchel Levitas, Editor in Leading Posts at The Times, Dies at 89 | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/24/business/media/mitchel-levitas-editor-in-leading-posts-at-the-times-dies-at-89.html | date = 24 June 2019 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref><ref name=Columbia> {{citation | title = New Leader records, 1895-2011 bulk 1924-2006 | publisher = Columbia University | url = http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_6912690/index.html | date = 2007 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref>

==Background==

Sol Levitas was born Samuel Moisewitch Levitas in 1894 in the Russian Empire.<ref name=Mitchell/><ref name=Columbia/>

==Career==

Levitas became a Socialist at age 15, became a Menshevik and close friend of Alexander Kerensky. In 1916, he first visited Chicago but returned home after the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty in February 1917. After the Bolshevik Revolution, he was imprisoned several times. In 1923, dressed as a Red Army colonel, he fled to New York City. He joined the Socialist Party of America and wrote for the ''Jewish Daily Forward'' and the ''Leader''.<ref name=Mitchell/>

On January 19, 1924, the first issue of ''The New Leader'' hit newsstands. In 1930, Levitas became its business manager. In 1936, after years of infighting, editor James Oneal left Levitas in charge. In 1939, Levitas attacked the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In 1943, he criticized Upton Sinclair for signing a petition in support of the Soviet Union. In 1945, Levitas criticized all accommodation with the USSR (e.g., the Yalta Conference). By 1949, the magazine was in dire financial straits. In 1950, Levitas said that "friends" were contributing to the magazine and in 1957 said that amount with $15,000 per year.<ref name=Columbia/>

==Personal life and death==

Levitas married Esther Fera.<ref> {{cite news | title = Obituaries: Levitas-Esther (Fera) | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/10/classified/paid-notice-deaths-levine-maurice.html | date = 10 September 1997 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref> Their children were a daughter, Nora, and a son, Mitchel R. Levitas, ''New York Times'' editor and 1959 Nieman Fellow.<ref name=Mitchell/><ref> {{cite web | title = Mitchel R. Levitas, editor and reporter at New York Times for almost 40 years and a 1959 Nieman Fellow, dies at 89 | publisher = Harvard University | url = https://nieman.harvard.edu/news/2019/06/mitchel-r-levitas-editor-and-reporter-at-new-york-times-for-almost-40-years-and-a-1959-nieman-fellow-has-died/ | date = 25 June 2019 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref>

Levitas died age 66 on January 3, 1961, in New York City.<ref name=TIME/><ref name=Columbia/><ref> {{cite news | first = Michael T. | last = Kaufman | title = 500 Friends and Contributors Mark Anniversary of Journal of Ideas | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/15/archives/500-friends-and-contributors-mark-anniversary-of-journal-of-ideas.html | date = 15 November 1973 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref>

==Legacy==

In 1960, former US Assistant Secretary of State and member of FDR's "Brain Trust, Adolf A. Berle, wrote that Levitas made ''The New Leader'' "a wellspring of first-hand information on foreign affairs." He noted, "In particular, he wished to prevent the crystallization into accepted history of untrue myths propagated by propaganda services."<ref name=Tribute/>

In 1984, Sidney Hook and Arnold Beichman wrote that "what distinguished ''The New Leader'', under Sol Levitas, from other publications was that its writers consistently involved themselves with other questions of the day, what Mr. Glazer felicitously calls ''the large areas of the public realm,'' such as technology, nuclear arms, ethnic relations, trade unionism and other issues."<ref name=Mitchell/><ref> {{cite web | title = Letter: New York Intelligentsia | work = New York Times | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/25/books/l-new-york-intelligentsia-071773.html | date = 25 March 1984 | accessdate = 14 October 2019}}</ref>

==References==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levitas, Sol}} Category:1894 births Category:20th-century American writers Category:1960 deaths Category:Socialist Party of America politicians from New York (state)