Magazine of Quality

The first issue of Commentary, a monthly magazine, sold only 4,341 copies, although its articles, all literate and some brilliant, were written by such stars as George Orwell. By last week, five years later, Commentary had begun to be known as one of the best magazines in the U.S. It now has 20,196 circulation and a wide influence. Among its readers in 66 countries, none scan it more closely than those in the State Department. Again & again the department has picked up articles for distribution around the world, either because they have so ably stated the position of the democratic world, or so clearly exposed the fallacies of totalitarianism. The latest selection: the lead article in the current Commentary, "The New Nazis of Germany--the Totalitarians of the Eastern Zone."

The Idea & the Man. Commentary is the joint creation of Editor Elliot E. Cohen and the American Jewish Committee, one of the oldest U.S. civil-rights organizations. The committee, which foots Commentary's bills, wanted a magazine that would exemplify the intellectual dignity of Judaism, and it picked Editor Cohen as the man for the job.

Iowa-born and Alabama-raised, Editor Cohen, 51, was brilliant enough to graduate from Yale at 19 and become managing editor of a small bimonthly, the Menorah Journal, at 24. While editing it for seven years, he showed a sharp eye for new talent, printed the first work of Lionel Trilling, Tess Slesinger, Albert Halper, Meyer Levin and a dozen other writers.

The idea of Commentary, says Editor Cohen, was "not to tell people what to think but to give them the material to think with." It is "libertarian," but against the "liberal cliches and stereotypes which pass as a substitute for thinking." One cliche Commentary most strongly opposed from the beginning: that there was a vast difference between the totalitarianism of the Russians and the Nazis.

50,000? Under Cohen's editorial hand, Commentary has devoted a sizable part of its space to Jewish problems. It has printed articles for & against Zionism, though some readers have called it anti-Zionist. Others have even accused it of being too calm about anti-Semitism because it didn't join the popular hoorah over such tracts as the novel Gentleman's Agreement and the movie Crossfire.

Although Commentary is still losing money ($104,000 last year), the committee thinks the magazine's climbing prestige well worth the cost. Editor Cohen would like to see his circulation rise to 50,000. Says he: "We think of ourselves as trying to be the best possible teacher talking to the best possible student . . . Education is slow, but what is faster?"

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