Kinsley-Resigns Harper's Post To Pen New Republic's 'PRB'

Michael E. Kinsley '72, a former Crimson executive, resigned as editor of Harper's magazine yesterday to join The New Republic as the weekly journal's new "TRB" columnist.

Kinsley replaces Richard L. Strout '19, who for 40 years wrote the column, considered to be highly influential in national political circles.

The 85-year-old Strout, a former Crimson editor, retired last month to devote more time to his job as a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor.

Writing--That's All

Kinsley's decision to leave Harper's after less than two years to assume the writing post in September came as a surprise because of the seeming out in responsibility involved.

But Kinsley said yesterday the chance to pen TRB was "an opportunity that comes once every 40 years."

Friends also said Kinsley had wanted to move back to Washington, D.C. from New York and rid himself of a post which had caused him to have several widely publicized disagreements with the magazine's chairman, who once fired him for one day.

Under Kinsley's leadership. Harper's won a variety of honors, including a recent National Magazine Award for general excellence.

Martin Peretz, editor in chief of The New Republic, said yesterday that when Kinsley had left the magazine for the Harper's post, he had told him "whenever he wanted to come back, we'd always find a place for him."

Following Strout's resignation, Pereta said he approached Kinskey, "play to on the frestration that he had of not being able to cornment on politics in a timely way."

"He's the least status or hierarehially conscious person I know," he said, commenting on Kinsley's shift from editing to writing.

Peretz originally made Kinsley the managing editor of The New Republic in 1976, during the writer's third year at Harvard Law School.

Kinsley served as The New Republic's editor and senior editor--the title he will reassume--before leaving in 1981.