From The Collected Works of , compiled and edited by Robert Leeson and Charles G. Palm.

“Foreword” by Milton Friedman In Essays on Hayek, edited by Fritz Machlup, pp.xxi-xxiv. Hillsdale, Michigan: Hillsdale College Press, 1976. © NYU Press

Friedrich Hayek’s influence has been tremendous. His work is incorporated in the body of technical economic theory; has had a major influence on economic history, political philosophy and political science; has affected students of the law, of scientific methodology, and even of psychology. But from the particular perspective of the present book, all of these are secondary to Hayek’s influence in strengthening the moral and intellectual support for a free society.

Over the years, I have again and again asked fellow believers in a free society how they managed to escape the contagion of their collectivist intellectual environment. No name has been mentioned more often as the source of enlightenment and understanding than ’s. I cannot say that for myself, since I was influenced in this direction by my teachers at the University of before I had come to know Hayek or his work. But I, like the others, owe him a great debt. From the time I first read some of his works, and even more from the time in the mid-1940s that I first met Friedrich Hayek, his powerful mind, his moral courage, his lucid and always principled exposition have helped to broaden and deepen my understanding of the meaning and the requisites of a free society.

Like many others, I too, owe a great indirect debt to Hayek for the role he played in establishing the Mont Pelerin Society. I was fortunate enough to be in at the birth, at the founding meeting held in 1947 at Mont Pelerin, Switzerland. It was a great occasion, the bringing together on that mountaintop of a goodly company from all of the world, differing in many details, but all aware of the threat to freedom and all determined to do what they could, as intellectuals and as citizens, to stem and reverse the tide.

We cannot say that we have succeeded, but throughout the 28 years since its founding, the Mont Pelerin Society has veritably been a spiritual fountain of youth, to which we could all repair once a year or so to renew our spirits and faith among a growing company of fellow believers; the one time a year when a generally beleaguered minority could stop looking over their shoulders and let themselves go in a thoroughly supportive environment.

Hayek not only was the person most responsible for founding the Society; he was also the person more responsible than any other for its continued vitality and existence. It was therefore highly appropriate that a special regional meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society, held at Hillsdale College, Michigan, August 24–28, 1975, should be devoted entirely to various aspects of Hayek’s work. Hayek himself, for understandable and commendable reasons, chose not to be present, but his beneficent spirit dominated the proceedings.

I am honored at being asked to write a brief introduction to this collection of the papers presented at that special meeting. The papers range widely, as they must to cover Hayek’s contributions. George Roche, in a paper given at the opening session, sets the stage with a penetrating discussion of the implications of Hayek’s work for the “moral and spiritual From The Collected Works of Milton Friedman, compiled and edited by Robert Leeson and Charles G. Palm.

underpinnings of the free society.” He stresses the importance of Hayek’s “spontaneous order” for the formation of values as well as for the organization of economic activity and calls for a fusion of the many strands of thought – from libertarianism to traditional conservatism – that have animated believers in freedom. Fritz Machlup surveys Hayek’s contributions to economics proper in his typical perceptive, encyclopedic, and lucid fashion. Arthur Shenfield introduces the reader elegantly to Hayek’s forays into methodology, and into the source of some of the threats to freedom that have been generated by writings labeled “social science.” Max Hartwell considers the role that historians have played in portraying a distorted picture of the achievements and problems of capitalism. That irrepressible Renaissance man, William F. Buckley, Jr., takes Hayek’s famous polemic, The Road to Serfdom, as a starting point for an examination of the appeal of socialism to the intellectuals, not neglecting the contribution of businessmen to the undermining of a free society. Gottfried Dietze ranges over Hayek’s contributions to the analysis of the political structure requisite to a free society, with special stress on Hayek’s profound distinction between an imposed order and an order that develops without conscious intention out of the voluntary interaction of individuals. And as a final pièce de résistance, Shirley Letwin gives a subtle and sophisticated survey of the achievement of Hayek that managed to evoke perhaps a more spirited exchange of views than any other paper.

All in all, it was a true intellectual feast. Unfortunately, it has been possible to include only the main courses here. The side dishes and dessert, which added so much to the enjoyment of those of us who were fortunate enough to be present consisted of the opening greetings by the current and immediate past presidents of the Mont Pelerin Society, Gaston Leduc and Arthur Shenfield, discussion of the main papers by panel members, comment and vigorous controversy from the floor, and remarks by chairmen of the several sessions. Many of these were of course not from prepared papers and it has been beyond the financial resources available to have them all transcribed, edited, and reviewed for publication.

The very least I can do, however, is to repeat here the program of main sessions so as to list the names of those persons who served as chairmen and formal discussants at the various sessions. I hope the readers will regard my rubbing in their loss in that way as offset by the acknowledgment which the participants so richly deserve for their contribution:

Opening Address:

George C. Roche III: The Relevance of Friedrich A. Hayek

Chairman: Milton Friedman,

Fritz Machlup, Hayek’s Contribution to Economics

Discussants: Fred R. Glahe, University of Colorado

Arthur Kemp, Claremont Graduate School

Gerald P. O’Driscoll, Jr., Iowa State University

2 From The Collected Works of Milton Friedman, compiled and edited by Robert Leeson and Charles G. Palm.

Chairman: Ralph Harris, Institute of Economic Affairs

Arthur Shenfield, Scientism and the Study of Society

Discussants: John A. Davenport, Journalist and Lecturer

Paul Gottfried, Rockford College

William N. Havender, University of California, Berkeley

Chairman: B. A. Rogge, Wabash College

Ronald Max Hartwell, Capitalism and the Historians

Discussants: Ole Jacob Hoff, Author, Norway

William H. Hutt, University of Dallas

Larry Wimmer, Brigham Young University

Chairman: John A. Howard, Rockford College

William F. Buckley Jr., The Road to Serfdom:

The Intellectuals and Socialism

Discussants: Jean-Pierre Hamilius, Esch/Alzette College, Luxembourg

Henry Regnery, Henry Regnery Company

Stephen J. Tonsor, University of Michigan

Chairman: Alberto Benegas Lynch,

Center for Studies on Liberty, Buenos Aires

Gottfried Dietze, Hayek on the Rule of Law

Discussants: Danny J. Boggs, Lawyer, Bowling Green, Kentucky

Rhodes Boyson, Member of Parliament,

Robert L. Cunningham, University of San Francisco

3 From The Collected Works of Milton Friedman, compiled and edited by Robert Leeson and Charles G. Palm.

Chairman: Leonard E. Read,

The Foundation for Economic Education

Shirley Robin Letwin, The Achievement of Friedrich A. Hayek

Discussants: Manuel F. Ayau, Francisco Marroquin University

Israel M. Kirzner, New York University

Antonio Martino, University of Rome

There is appended to the papers an appreciation of Hayek by Authur Shenfield, and to Fritz Machlup’s paper, a comprehensive bibliography of Hayek’s scholarly publications.

I know I speak for all of the participants at the Hillsdale meeting, as well as those who contributed in other ways to that successful occasion, when I express the hope that this book will help to spread to a still wider group Friedrich Hayek’s influence and example, especially to the young who are still forming their philosophy, who would suffer the main consequences of the loss of freedom, and who must play the major role in preventing that outcome.

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