David Gordon: The Life and Times of Murray Rothbard

Jeff Deist: This week were joined by Mises Institute Senior Fellow Dr. David Gordon, the man who Rothbard claimed knows everything about everything. Our topic is the life and times of the late Dr. Murray Rothbard. David Gordon was both his friend and associate and if you are a Rothbard fan, youll really enjoy this weeks show. We discuss Rothbards life from an insiders perspective, touching on his experience founding the Cato Institute, his relationship with Mises and the areas where they disagreed, his time with Ayn Rand and her objectivist followers and much, much more. Stay tuned.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to Mises Weekends. Im Jeff Deist and Im very pleased to be joined this weekend by none other than our own David Gordon who is visiting us from Los Angeles, so hes in the studio here. Im face-to-face with him and David, thank you very much, its great to see you.

David Gordon: Great to see you too, Jeff. Thanks for inviting me.

JD: David, last weekend we spent some time with Guido Hlsmann, going inside the mind of Ludwig von Mises. This week, wed like to talk to you in a similar vein about Murray Rothbard. So tell us first and foremost about your relationship with Murray.

DG: I met Murray in 1979. Id actually read Man, Economy and State when it came out in 62 when I was in junior high and I didnt get to meet any of the major libertarians till 79. I met him in 79 when I attended a conference at the Cato Institute in Eugene, Oregon in June and he and I hit it off right away and I met also his great friends, Ronald Hamowy and Ralph Raico and right after that conference, thanks to Murrays influence, I was offered a job at the Cato Institute and I was there briefly. As you probably knew, Murray split with the Cato Institute and I went with him, but I always got along very well with Murray.

What impressed me the most about him was he had an endlessly curious mind. He was always absorbing new information and he would keep up with the latest books and of course, hes best known for his libertarianism and his work as an economist. He kept up with all sorts of subjects. He knew philosophy, history, trends in art and music, anything you wanted to talk to him about, he would have new ideas and know all the new books on it and he would be very fast in the way he talked and want you to have to keep up with him and sometimes hard to do it. Id always be on the phone with him, sometimes several times a week and I knew him for 17 years.

JD: So, did you ever spend any time in his New York apartment and did you know Joey Rothbard as well?

DG: Oh yes, well I knew Joey very well. She was very protective of Murray. They had met when they were both at Columbia. She was very, very smart, very well read. She knew American history very well.

JD: And of course, she was protective of him and then he ultimately found himself in hot water with the Ayn Rand circle over the fact that Joey was not rational enough for them in the sense that she was religious.

DG: Oh yes, yes. I remember she told me that one of the things they wanted her to do, they didnt want him to divorce her right away because she was religious, but they wanted her to listen to their stuff and they thought if she did, then she would convert to their views. Nathaniel Branden apparently had done a series of tapes on the existence of God and proofs of God and they wanted her to listen to them and she didnt do it. She said something like, why do I need to listen to these tapes? She was a quite devout Presbyterian. She kept up with that all of her life. There was a minister, I think Dr. Reed in the church in New York she thought very highly of.

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David Gordon: The Life and Times of Murray Rothbard