My Welcome Letter to the Next President of FEE, Whoever That May Be
December 1, 2007
The Foundation of Economic Education launched the modern libertarian movement in 1946. Its founder, Leonard E. Read, was a great promoter. He died in 1983. He ran FEE without opposition the entire time.
I was a senior staff member, 1971-73. I saw that FEE was unlikely to respond to the new conditions of the 1970's. Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, was the wrong place to launch the next phase of recruiting articulate defenders of free market ideas. I left. That was one of my better moves.
I was on FEE's Board in the early 1990's. I had hoped for change, but change did not come.
FEE has never sold out to the mainstream, but it has been invisible for three decades. There was a time, four decades ago, when its address, Irvington-on-Hudson, was meaningful to tens of thousands of conservative activists. No longer.
When a founder dies, his organization usually founders, sometimes permanently. So it has been with FEE.
Numerous presidents have come and gone since 1983. The presidency of FEE is a legendary revolving door position. Rumor has it that the door recently sped up. I can neither confirm nor deny. But, just in case the rumor is true, I have composed a welcome letter for the new president. You can read it here: