Karl Hess
| Karl Hess | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Carl Hess III May 25, 1923 Washington, D.C. |
| Died | April 22, 1994 (aged 70) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | speechwriter, author, welder |
| Years active | 1939(?)-1994 |
| Employer | Mutual Broadcasting System, The Washington Daily News, Newsweek, American Enterprise Institute, The Libertarian Forum |
| Known for | Free-market anarchism |
| Political party | Libertarian Party |
| Spouse(s) | Therese (second wife) |
| Children | Karl Hess Jr. |
Karl Hess (May 25, 1923 – April 22, 1994) was an American speechwriter and author. He was also a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, atheist, and libertarian activist. His career included stints on the Republican right and the New Left before embracing free-market anarchism. Later in life, he summed up his role in the economy by remarking "I am by occupation a free marketer (crafts and ideas, woodworking, welding, and writing)."
Hess was born Carl Hess III in Washington, D.C. and moved to the Philippines as a child. His parents were of German and Spanish ancestry. When his mother discovered his father's marital infidelity, she divorced her wealthy husband and returned (with Karl) to Washington. She refused alimony or child support and took a job as a telephone operator, raising her son in very modest circumstances.
Karl's mother encouraged curiosity and direct learning. She often insisted that Karl figure things out for himself, or increase his knowledge through reading. Karl, believing (as his mother did) that public education was a waste of time, rarely attended school; to evade truancy officers, he registered at every elementary school in town and gradually withdrew from each one, making it impossible for the authorities to know exactly where he was supposed to be. He had developed great reverence for libraries; this became very basic to his personal philosophy, and in his autobiography he wrote: "Literacy is the basic tool in the workshop of the entire world."
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