Harold Luhnow

Harold W. Luhnow (September 25, 1895 – August 1978) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and political activist. He is most well known for his management of the influential William Volker Fund during the period between 1947 and 1964 in the United States. Luhnow and a dedicated group of staffers directed the Fund to support libertarian and conservative intellectuals and academics.

Luhnow was a second-generation German-American born in Chicago, Illinois in 1895. He graduated from Kansas State University with degrees in agriculture and animal husbandry, and served in the U.S. Army before moving to Kansas City, Missouri in 1919. In Kansas City, Luhnow began working for his uncle, William Volker, a home furnishing manufacturer. Luhnow slowly worked his way through the ranks of the William Volker & Co. until he became president in 1937 following his uncle's retirement. During this period, Luhnow also increasingly took control of his uncle's charitable operations by directing more and more of the monies of the William Volker Fund to libertarian and conservative causes.

During the 1930s, Luhnow became an active opponent of Kansas City's Pendergast political machine, and was exposed to libertarian thought through fellow reformer Loren Miller. Miller introduced Luhnow to intellectual heavyweights and public figures who shared the businessmen’s hostility to machine politics. Luhnow began reading F.A. Hayek's influential book The Road to Serfdom and developed into a classical liberal. As his familiarity with and commitment to liberal economic ideas grew, Luhnow began using more and more of his influence over his uncle's charitable fund to give sizable contributions to libertarian and conservative causes.

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