Ideas on Liberty

DR. PAUL L. POIROT died at the age of ninety in 2006, and with his passing I lost one of my closest and best friends. Paul Poirot is remembered by most people as the thirty-year editor of The Freeman, the monthly journal published by the Foundation for Economic Education since 1956. But Paul Poirot was much more than just an editor to those of us who worked closely with him over the decades.

Dr. Poirot was an uncompromising proponent of the ideal concept of a free society and the Austrian economic theory perspective upon which an unhampered market process is founded. As Leonard Read, the founding president of FEE, liked to put it, “Paul doesn’t leak!” And certainly Paul Poirot and his journal, The Freeman, never wavered from advancing the cause of individual liberty and the essential absolutes of private property and monetary freedom required for the achievement of a free market order.

Outwardly, Paul Poirot was a reticent man, but in his actions and professional efforts he was the most tenacious, competent, and organized man I’ve ever known. We became very close friends over almost a half century of his life, especially during the many years when our offices at FEE were across the hall from one other. He was my mentor and confident in all things during that era, and I count my blessings for the remarkable association we enjoyed together.

Among the essays in this festschrift for Dr. Poirot is Gary North’s, “Jeremiah’s Job.” I cannot read that essay without thinking of Paul Poirot’s determination and dedication through his editorial efforts with The Freeman. He devoted his intellectual skills for over thirty years consistently pursuing “Jeremiah’s Job.” And he did it knowing we were engaging in a rear-guard, losing action at that time!

A personal aside: One day back in the mid-1970’s I mentioned how bleak our economic outlook seemed by our shrinking cohorts of principled devotees to the ideal concept of a free society, the banner under which FEE was founded in 1946. I was discouraged. Paul’s immediate response was, “We have, indeed, lost much of our constituency.” Whereupon, he immediately wrote one of his best essays, “He Gains Most Who Serves Best,” for The Freeman. Now, that’s tenacity and commitment!

Of course Leonard Read, FEE’s founding president, is properly recognized as the guiding force for establishing FEE as a principled free market institution advancing the ideal concept of a free society, but it was The Freeman under the sole direction of Paul Poirot which provided the monthly message making the case for individual liberty and the private property order. Dr. Poirot was a master at transforming a promising essay by a new author into a highly readable and informative article. I know, since he took my first published effort in 1961, “Pithole,” and gave it a meaningful conclusion which provided it the ending it needed. He quietly did this for hundreds of submitted essays, and only a few of us who worked with him were ever aware of the positive changes he added to those essays.

Paul Poirot was a master of the language. His letters were a delight to receive. His proficiency shown through in the pages of his journal, and made it a pleasure to indulge in the philosophical ideas contained therein. Paul Poirot was the “quiet force” which made this happen over the years. While Paul was the epitome of the perfect gentleman and blessed with a kind and thoughtful temperament, he was completely intolerant toward any deviation or compromise of the philosophy of individual freedom. He could spot philosophical flaws immediately, and such an essay would be gently rejected. While Leonard Read was the “founding rock” at FEE in those years, it was Paul Poirot who saw to it that “founding rock” never got compromised.

Both Paul and I shared an operational awareness that he handled much better than I. Many years ago Victor Milione of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute observed the difficulty for free market organizations to survive when they refused to become political, something FEE had avoided doing in its early days. Vic pointed out that people were becoming more interested in their immediate political plight than the intellectual pursuit of an ideal concept of a free society. To Paul Poirot’s great credit as editor of The Freeman, he never yielded to any pressures to become political, even though many of FEE’s board and supporters did. Paul Poirot wisely ignored this ominous change and pursued “Jeremiah’s Job” as he always had. He was a truly principled and tenacious man!

The readings which follow reflect the legacy of Paul Poirot in his life-long pursuit of the philosophy of freedom. Almost all of the authors were long-time friends and associates of him, and all would agree Paul was an exceptional man. Beth Hoffman and I compiled this festschrift in honor of Dr. Poirot upon his retirement in 1987, and it was one of the most pleasant endeavors we ever undertook. The essays are original, outstanding, and worth reading. I’m deeply indebted to both Gary North and Lew Rockwell at the Mises Institute for making this book available in print again.

—ROBERT G. ANDERSON

July, 2012