Henry Stuart Hazlitt (; November 28, 1894 – July 9, 1993) was an American journalist, economist, and philosopher known for his advocacy of free markets and classical liberal principles. Over a career spanning more than seven decades, Hazlitt wrote extensively on business, economics, and public policy for prominent publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, The American Mercury, Newsweek, and The New York Times.Doherty, B., Radicals for Capitalism: a Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement (New York: PublicAffairs, 2007), pp. 33, 91–94, 97, 123, 156, 159, 162–167, 189, 198–199, 203, 213, 231, 238 and 279; Nash, G. H., The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 (New York: Basic Books, 1976) pp. 418–420. He is best known for his 1946 book, Economics in One Lesson, a work grounded in the Austrian school of economics and its belief in the importance of individual liberty in economic decision-making.
Hazlitt was a strong proponent of hard currency and a vocal critic of inflationary practices and government intervention in markets. As a defender of free enterprise, he drew on the ideas of economists such as Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, helping popularize their theories for a general audience. Beyond economics, Hazlitt contributed to debates on philosophy and ethics, advocating for what he argued were the moral underpinnings of a free society. He also served as an editorial board member of the libertarian journal The Freeman and was a founding member of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), one of the oldest free-market think tanks in the United States.
Throughout his life, Hazlitt's writing and commentary significantly influenced public understanding of economic policy, and his works continue to inspire advocates of liberty and limited government around the world.
Early life and education Henry Hazlitt was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He was a collateral descendant of the British essayist William Hazlitt,"Hall of Fame", Vanity Fair, February 1934, p. 37. but grew up in relative poverty, his father having died when Hazlitt was an infant. His early heroes were Herbert Spencer and William James, and his first ambition was for an academic career in psychology and philosophy. He attended New York's City College, but left after only a short time to support his twice-widowed mother.; Greaves, Bettina Bien, ; Rockwell, Llewellyn H.,
As he later wrote, his short time at college "had a greater influence than may at first sight be supposed, not as much from the knowledge gained there, as from the increased consciousness of the knowledge which I still had to gain and the consequent ambition to attain it."
Career Early accomplishments Hazlitt started his career at The Wall Street Journal as secretary to the managing editor when he was still a teenager, and his interest in the field of economics began while working there. His studies led him to The Common Sense of Political Economy by Philip Wicksteed which, he later said, was his first "tremendous influence" in the subject. Hazlitt published his first book, Thinking as a Science at age 21.Thinking as a Science He wrote the book because he realized—through his intense process of self-education—that it was more important to think clearly than to merely absorb information. As he explains in its opening pages:
Military service During World War I, he served in the Army Air Service. While residing in Brooklyn, he enlisted in New York City on February 11, 1918, and served with the Aviation Section of the Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps until July 9, 1918. He was then in Princeton, New Jersey, at the US School of Military Aeronautics until October 22, when he was sent to AS Camp Dick in Dallas, Texas, for a few weeks until November 7, and he was honorably discharged from service with the rank of private first class on December 12, 1918. He returned to New York, residing at Washington Square Park for many years.Greaves, Bettina Bien,
Editor and author In the early 1920s, he was financial editor of The New York Evening Mail, and during this period, Hazlitt reported his understanding of economics was further refined by frequent discussions with former Harvard economics professor Benjamin Anderson, who was then working for Chase National Bank in Manhattan. Later, when the publisher W. W. Norton suggested he write an official biography of their author Bertrand Russell, Hazlitt spent "a good deal of time," as he described it, with the famous philosopher.Hazlitt, Henry. "Reflections at 70" . Henry Hazlitt: An Appreciation. Foundation for Economic Education, 1989. (pp. 6–9) Lord Russell "so admired the young journalist's talent" that he had agreed with Norton's proposal, but the project ended after nearly two years of work when Russell declared his intention to write it on his own as an autobiography instead.
During the interwar decades, a vibrant period in the history of American literature, Hazlitt served as literary editor of The New York Sun (1925–1929), and as literary editor of the left-leaning journal, The Nation (1930–1933). In connection with his work for The Nation, Hazlitt also edited A Practical Program for America (1932), a compilation of Great Depression policy considerations. After a series of public debates with socialist Louis Fischer, Hazlitt and The Nation parted ways.Greaves, Bettina Bien, ; Rockwell, Llewellyn H.,
In 1933, Hazlitt published The Anatomy of Criticism, an extended "trialogue" examining the nature of literary criticism and appreciation, regarded by some to be an early refutation of literary deconstruction.While deconstruction per se was developed and popularized by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in the 1960s and '70s, the roots of deconstruction can be traced much earlier, e.g., to the francophone Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century. In the same year, he became H. L. Mencken's chosen successor as editor of the literary magazine, The American Mercury, which Mencken had founded with George Jean Nathan, as a result of which appointment Vanity Fair included Hazlitt among those hailed in its regular "Hall of Fame" photo feature. Due to increasing differences with the publisher, Alfred A. Knopf Sr., he served in that role for only a brief time, but Mencken wrote that Hazlitt was the "only competent critic of the arts that I have heard of who was at the same time a competent economist, of practical as well as theoretical training," adding that he "is one of the few economists in human history who could really write."
From 1934 to 1946, Hazlitt was the principal editorial writer on finance and economics for The New York Times, writing both a signed weekly column and most of the unsigned editorials on economics, producing a considerable volume of work. Following World War II, he came into conflict with Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, over the newly established Bretton Woods system which created the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Hazlitt opposed the Bretton Woods agreement, primarily fearing the risk of inflation. After agreeing not to write on the topic, he looked for another venue for his work, deciding on Newsweek magazine, for which he wrote a signed column, "Business Tides", from 1946 to 1966.
According to Hazlitt, the greatest influence on his writing in economics was the work of Ludwig von Mises, and he is credited with introducing the ideas of the Austrian School of economics to the English-speaking layman. In 1938, for example, he reviewed the recently published English translation of Mises's influential treatise Socialism for The New York Times, declaring it "a classic" and "the most devastating analysis of socialism yet penned."; Greaves, Bettina Bien, After the Jewish economist's emigration to the United States from National Socialist-dominated Europe in 1940, Hazlitt arranged for Mises to contribute editorials to The New York Times, and helped to secure for Mises a teaching position at New York University. Along with the efforts of his friends, Max Eastman and John Chamberlain, Hazlitt also helped introduce Hayek's The Road to Serfdom to the American reading public. His 1944 review in The New York Times caused Reader's Digest, where Eastman served as roving editor, to publish one of its trademark condensations, bringing the future Nobel laureate's work to a vast audience.Hulsmann, Jorg Guido, Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism, 2007, Ludwig von Mises Institute, , p. xi; Ludwig von Mises Institute, Henry Hazlitt: A Giant of Liberty, pp. 20–27 ; Greaves, Bettina Bien, ; Henry Hazlitt: an Appreciation, Foundation for Economic Education, 1989, pp. 8–9.
Author Tom Malone contends that Hazlitt distinguished himself from other economists largely by his skill as a writer:Unlike many other writers of his generation from the political right, Hazlitt never experienced a period when he was a socialist or communist, or a significant change in his classical liberal political views. He was the founding vice president of the Foundation for Economic Education, which also acquired his large personal library in the 1980s. Established by Leonard Read in 1946, FEE is considered to be the first "think tank" for free-market ideas. He was also one of the original members of the classical liberal Mont Pelerin Society in 1947.Greaves, Bettina Bien, ; Henry Hazlitt: an Appreciation, Foundation for Economic Education, 1989
With John Chamberlain (and Suzanne La Follette as managing editor), Hazlitt served as editor of the early free market publication The Freeman from 1950 to 1952, and as sole editor-in-chief from 1952 to 1953, and its contributors during his tenure there included Hayek, Mises, and Wilhelm Röpke, as well as the writers James Burnham, John Dos Passos, Max Eastman, John T. Flynn, Frank Meyer, Raymond Moley, Morrie Ryskind, and George Sokolsky.Chamberlain, John, A Life With the Printed Word, 1982, Regnery, p.138; Hamilton, Charles H., "The Freeman: the Early Years," The Freeman, Dec. 1984, vol. 34, iss. 12. Prior to his becoming editor, The Freeman had supported Senator Joseph McCarthy in his conflict with President Harry Truman on the issue of communism, "undiscriminatingly" according to some critics, but upon becoming editor, Hazlitt changed the magazine's policy to one of support for President Truman.Diggins, John P., Up From Communism, Columbia University Press, 1975, p. 217.
The Freeman is widely considered to be an important forerunner to the conservative National Review, founded by William F. Buckley, Jr., which from the start included many of the same contributing editors.Chamberlain, John, A Life with the Printed Word, pp. 141, 145–146. Hazlitt himself was on the masthead of National Review, either as a contributing editor or, later, as contributor, from its inception in 1955 until his death in 1993. Differences existed between the journals: The Freeman under Hazlitt was more secular and presented a wider range of foreign policy opinion than the later National Review.