This panel builds on two previous strains of historical scholarship. First, historians of twentieth century American libertarianism and conservatism have long grappled with the tensions inherent in each political philosophy and the fusionist efforts to reconcile ideological contradictions. Intellectual histories have, for example, grappled with the fusionist political philosophy developed at the National Review in the 1950s; movement histories have shown how the New Right united elite and grassroots efforts throughout the 1970s and 80s; and biographies have traced the complex syntheses of libertarian ideas as promoted by individual figures such as Ayn Rand. By building on this scholarship, our panel will illuminate new dimensions and syntheses formed within ideologies and across institutions and groups.

Second, a newer, growing body of scholarship has focused on the role of media technologies in the conservative and libertarian movements. Scholars have productively grappled with the role of media institutions and technologies in promoting right-wing ideas among broad publics; building community among like minded people; and mobilizing grassroots activists. Here, we add to this discussion by analyzing the role of media institutions and technologies in uniting diverse ideas, people, and modes of legitimacy within libertarianism.

Jennifer Burns’s paper examines how the PBS television series Free to Choose enabled the economist Milton Friedman to forge a connection between his scholarship and his public persona, thus maintaining academic legitimacy while reaching a broader libertarian audience. Whitney McIntosh’s and Becca Lewis’s papers each explore magazines that promoted libertarianism. McIntosh illuminates the history of Reason Magazine from 1969 to 1995 and shows how the publication provided a “big tent” of libertarianism which united a range of libertarian views and provided a bridge to a broader American audience. Lewis highlights the quarterly Forbes insert called “ASAP” which, from 1992 to 2002, fused futurist libertarianism and traditionalist social conservatism, and which brought together tech founders, venture capitalists, and libertarian policy experts. Jacob Bruggeman’s paper examines an early libertarian cyber-institution, the American Information Exchange, which sought to unite similar groups of technologists, capitalists, policymakers, and computer hacking cultures with the philosophies of the libertarian economist Friedrich Hayek.

In our contemporary moment, the historical exploration of libertarianism is as crucial as ever, and as libertarian ideas are promoted through tech CEOs like Elon Musk, new interpretations from historians can become productive purveyors of nuance where tweets increasingly prevail. This panel will help provide this nuance and help us better understand crucial historical developments in media, technology, and libertarianism alike.