George Sokolsky
George Ephraim Sokolsky (1893–1962) was a prominent American commentator, radio broadcaster, and leading voice for American conservatism. He worked as a weekly radio broadcaster for the National Association of Manufacturers and wrote columns for several major newspapers, including the New York Herald Tribune, The New York Sun, and the New York Journal-American.
Born in Utica, New York, his father was a Russian-born rabbi. He earned a BA from Columbia University’s School of Journalism in 1917. While at Columbia, he became a leader among student radicals and helped welcome Leon Trotsky to New York in 1917. He went to Russia briefly to report on the February Revolution, but grew disillusioned after the Bolshevik takeover and left in March 1918 with Trotsky’s help. He fled to China with almost no money, to work for the Committee on Public Information in Shanghai.
In China he wrote for English-language papers and served as editor of the North China Star in Tientsin. He acted as an intermediary for various foreign and Chinese interests and became a close associate of Sun Yat-sen, writing for his Shanghai Gazette and befriending key figures in Chiang Kai-shek’s circle. Sokolsky spent about 14 years in China, which gave him deep knowledge of Asia and its politics.
Returning to the United States in 1935, Sokolsky aligned with the National Association of Manufacturers, promoting a view of American life centered on private enterprise and anti-collectivism. He began a political column for the New York Herald Tribune, then moved to The New York Sun in 1940 and to the New York Journal-American in 1950. He also toured the country as an “industrial consultant” for NAM, speaking against the New Deal and what he saw as government overreach.
In 1948 he became director of the American Jewish League Against Communism, a position he held until his death. He was a vocal supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy and a close friend of J. Edgar Hoover and Roy Cohn, helping to introduce McCarthy to Cohn and to G. David Schine, and he remained a leading voice in anti-Communist politics during the 1950s.
Sokolsky played a controversial role in the era’s Hollywood blacklist process as a “clearance man” who evaluated whether artists could be exonerated after accusations of political disloyalty. He was a frequent target of criticism and was labeled by Time magazine as a leading militant anti-Communist.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War, he urged a strong American response to Soviet actions. He was married to Rosalind Phang, who died in 1933. The FBI kept records on him from 1953 to 1974. Sokolsky died of a heart attack in Manhattan on December 12, 1962, at age 69. His funeral was held at Central Synagogue, with notable attendees including Herbert Hoover, Robert F. Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover, Douglas MacArthur, Barry Goldwater, and Robert Wagner.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:58 (CET).