Timeline of libertarianism in the United States
From Timelines
This is a timeline of libertarianism in the United States.
Contents
Big picture
| Time period | Development summary | More details |
|---|
Full timeline
| Year | Month and date | Event type | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Milton Friedman accepts an offer to teach at the University of Chicago. | ||
| 1946 | March 7 | The Foundation for Economic Education, a libertarian think tank, is founded. | |
| 1947 | The Mont Pelerin Society is formed. "The society advocates freedom of expression, free market economic policies, the political values of an open society." Some of its founders are prominent libertarians. | ||
| 1949 | October 1 | George Mason University (GMU) is established. The GMU economics department would become known for its concentration of free-market-oriented thinkers.[1] | |
| 1950 | October 2 | The first issue of The Freeman, a libertarian magazine, is published. | |
| 1950s | The term "Chicago school of economics" is coined during this period. | ||
| 1950s–1960s | Ayn Rand's group of close confidants, known as the Collective, meets during this period. | ||
| 1957 | Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged is published. The book "contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction". | ||
| 1960 | Liberty Fund, a libertarian non-profit foundation, is established. | ||
| 1961 | Thomas Szasz's The Myth of Mental Illness is published. The book "criticizes psychiatry and argues against the concept of mental illness". | ||
| 1961 | The Institute for Humane Studies, a libertarian non-profit organization, is founded. | ||
| 1962 | Milton Friedman's book Capitalism and Freedom is published. "Friedman argues for economic freedom as a precondition for political freedom. He defines 'liberal' in European Enlightenment terms, contrasting with an American usage that he believes has been corrupted since the Great Depression. His views are especially popular among American conservatives and libertarians." | ||
| 1966 | The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, a libertarian science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, is published. The book popularizes the "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" adage. | ||
| 1966 | Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand (with additional essays by others) is published. | ||
| 1968 | May | The first issue of Reason, a libertarian monthly magazine, is published. | |
| 1970 | The Market for Liberty, an anarcho-capitalist book by Linda and Morris Tannehill, is published. | ||
| 1971 | December 11 | The United States Libertarian Party (LP) officially forms. | |
| 1972 | Libertarian Review, a libertarian magazine, is established. It would be published until 1981. | ||
| 1973 | David D. Friedman's The Machinery of Freedom is published. | ||
| 1973 | Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty is published. The book argues for anarcho-capitalism. | ||
| 1973 | September 11 | The 1973 Chilean coup d'état takes place. The coup leads to rule of Augusto Pinochet, whose military government implements free-market-oriented policies under the influence of the Chicago Boys. | |
| 1974 | Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia is published. The book argues in favor of a minimal state. | ||
| 1974 | Fall | The Reason Papers is founded.[2] Reason Papers' describes itself as "a forum for inquiry and debate across a wide spectrum of views rather than the instrument of any one ideology, party, or camp" and "is not edited for conformity with any particular philosophical or ideological perspective, is neither aligned with nor endorses any other institution or organization, and receives no funding from any outside source". However, it is hosted by the Mises Institute.[3] | |
| 1974 | December | The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, is founded as the Charles Koch Foundation. | |
| 1976 | The Center for Libertarian Studies, a "libertarian and anarcho-capitalist oriented educational organization", is founded by Murray Rothbard. | ||
| 1977 | Spring | The Journal of Libertarian Studies is established. | |
| 1977 | November 21 | The first issue of Inquiry, a libertarian magazine, is published. | |
| 1978 | The Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, is founded. | ||
| 1978 | Ron Paul newsletters begin to be published. | ||
| 1979 | The Prometheus Award, an award for libertarian science fiction, is first established. | ||
| 1979 | October 16 | J. Neil Schulman's dystopian novel Alongside Night is published. It contains the first portrayal of counter-economics in a book. | |
| 1980 | The Mercatus Center, a "non-profit free-market-oriented research, education, and outreach think tank", is established at George Mason University. | ||
| 1980 | October | Samuel Edward Konkin III's New Libertarian Manifesto is published. It is the first explanation of Konkin's agorism. | |
| 1982 | Murray Rothbard's The Ethics of Liberty is published. | ||
| 1982 | The Ludwig von Mises Institute is founded. "Through its publications, the Institute promotes anarcho-capitalist political theory and a form of heterodox economics known as praxeology". | ||
| 1984 | March 9 | The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a non-profit libertarian think tank, is founded. | |
| 1984 | November | Charles Murray's book Losing Ground is published. The book is "about the effectiveness of welfare state policies in the United States between 1950 and 1980". The book, while less explicitly libertarian than some of his later work, tries to show that "by most available measures, the late 1960s wave of income transfer programs […] did not improve the lives of the poor, and in most cases made them worse off".[4] | |
| 1985 | The Ayn Rand Institute is founded to promote Objectivism. | ||
| 1985 | The Independence Institute, a libertarian think tank based in Denver, Colorado, is founded. | ||
| 1986 | The Independent Institute, a libertarian think tank based in Oakland, California, is founded. | ||
| 1990 | Bruce L. Benson's The Enterprise of Law is published. | ||
| 1991 | The Institute for Justice (IJ), a "non-profit libertarian public interest law firm", is founded. IJ is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. | ||
| 1998 | April 2 | Randy Barnett's The Structure of Liberty is published. The book "offers a libertarian theory of law and politics". | |
| 1999 | The Library of Economics and Liberty (Econlib) is launched.[5] | ||
| 2001 | September 1 | The Free State Project is formed. | |
| 2003 | January | EconLog launches with Arnold Kling as the sole blogger.[6] | |
| 2008 | July 24 | Students for Liberty, a libertarian non-profit organization, is founded. | |
| 2009 | January 22 | Libertarian Papers, a "peer-reviewed journal of libertarian scholarship", is established. Its self-described purpose is "to advance scholarly research in disciplines of particular interest to the libertarian community, broadly conceived".[7] | |
| 2013 | January | Philosopher Michael Huemer's book The Problem of Political Authority is published. The book first argues for philosophical anarchism starting from "widely shared moral premises", then argues for the viability of anarcho-capitalism.[8] | |
| 2015 | The Niskanen Center, a "think tank that advocates for environmentalism, immigration reform, civil liberties, and a national defense policy based on libertarian principles", is founded. It is based in Washington, D.C. | ||
| 2016 | February 3 | The Free State Project announces that 20,000 people had signed its statement of intent to move, triggering the move (within five years) to New Hampshire. |
Meta information on the timeline
How the timeline was built
The initial version of the timeline was written by Issa Rice.
Funding information for this timeline is available.
What the timeline is still missing
Timeline update strategy
See also
External links
References
- ↑ Boettke, Peter; Tabarrok, Alexander (March 28, 2006). "The real secret of George Mason University.". Slate Magazine. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
- ↑ "Archives". Reason Papers. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ↑ "A Journal of Interdisciplinary Normative Studies". Reason Papers. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ↑ Brian Doherty (2007). Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement. PublicAffairs.
- ↑ Based on the copyright notice. The earliest Wayback Machine snapshot is from 2000.
- ↑ "About Econlib". Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
- ↑ "Aims and Scope". Libertarian Papers. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ↑ Bryan Caplan (January 17, 2013). "The Problem of Political Authority by Michael Huemer". EconLog. Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
