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IT USUALLY BEGINS WITH AYN RAND 271
introduced to libertarianism through Murray Rothbard and cited both
Rothbard and Rand in his pathbreaking book. Typically understood as
a response to the egalitarianism of his Harvard colleague John Rawls,
Anarchy, State, and Utopia must also be recognized as the fullest intellectual
fl owering of the libertarian subculture. Even while attacking the
argument Rawls had propounded in A Theory of Justice, Nozick was
equally concerned with responding to Murray Rothbard and the ongoing
minarchist/anarchist debate. He intended to establish that a state
could be compatible with “solid libertarian moral principles.” Nozick
was an enthusiastic member of the Libertarian Party, appearing at the
1976 conference to argue on behalf of a VP candidate who had been
rejected due to his homosexuality. 66
This libertarian move into the mainstream eroded the distinction
between academic and popular libertarianism, and with it Rand’s reputation
among libertarians. The gap between academic and popular (or
“movement”) libertarianism fi rst developed in the 1940s, when organizations
such as the Foundation for Economic Education, the Volker Fund,
and the Mont Pelerin Society began concentrating their funding on professional
economists, to the exclusion of popular writers like Rand, Isabel
Paterson, and Rose Wilder Lane. As Rand developed Objectivism, professors
supported by libertarian organizations began to make their way into
academia, many becoming associated with the University of Chicago.
Rand’s claim to a comprehensive philosophy and her refusal to recognize
other libertarians besides Ludwig von Mises had kept many of her followers
ignorant of the strides libertarianism had made in the academy.
Accordingly the early libertarian movement was shaped largely by popularizers
like Rand, Robert LeFevre, and Murray Rothbard. Now grassroots
publications such as A Is A Newsletter began paying attention to the
latest publications from Chicago, and Friedman and other luminaries
likewise reached out to the movement. Friedman was viewed with suspicion
by many libertarians for his involvement in designing compulsory
tax withholding, but his son David, an anarchist, was active in several
organizations. Tipped off to the existence of a growing popular movement,
the elder Friedman addressed an SIL convention via telephone and
began promoting the group to his college audiences. 67
The barriers between movement libertarians and the broader intellectual
and political world were beginning to collapse. In 1973 a wave of
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