Jeff Riggenbach, one of the pioneer libertarians from the 1970s, died today at the age of seventy-four. The dominant theme of his work was opposition to war, and he was a great champion of Randolph Bourne, who famously said that “war is the health of the state.” He was drawn to the Mises Institute through our opposition to war.
He said about the Institute:
After 9-11…while most of the rest of the population of the United States, including much of the libertarian movement, became crazed by war fever, the Mises Institute stood resolute and unyielding in its devotion to the Rothbardian view of war, peace, and the State. Lew Rockwell’s online articles in particular were a welcome breath of sanity and sound analysis in a media environment that seemed at times like a madhouse. I began visiting the Mises.org website. I learned that the Ludwig von Mises Institute is one of the most important institutions of the modern libertarian movement, especially in its devotion to the task of keeping libertarians conversant with and dedicated to what Rothbard (and Benjamin Tucker before him) called the “plumb line”—the basic, underlying principles of libertarianism.
He wrote several outstanding books, including Why American History Is Not What They Say (2009), a study of revisionist interpretations of America’s wars. He wrote frequently for mises.org, LewRockwell.com, and antiwar.com
If you have listened to an audiobook on the mises.org site, you will be familiar with Jeff’s mellifluous voice. He worked for many years as a radio broadcaster, and no one who heard that voice will ever forget it.
We will miss him.
