Friday, April 13, 2012

Was Robert LeFevre the Inspiration for Bernardo de la Paz?

And other interesting speculations about Heinlein's libertarianism. I don't agree with everything the author says about Heinlein, but will await with great interest more information on the LeFevre/de la Paz question when  Volume II of William Patterson, Jr's. biography becomes available:

Both in his physical appearance — the wavy white hair, the dimples, the smiling voice — and in his ideas, Professor Bernardo de la Paz bears a striking resemblance to a real-life libertarian who flourished and enjoyed considerable influence within the libertarian movement during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s — Robert LeFevre. Now it so happens that Robert A. Heinlein and his third wife, Virginia Heinlein, lived in Colorado Springs throughout the 1950s and through the first half of the 1960s, the very period during which Robert LeFevre, a neighbor of theirs as it turns out, was serving as editorial page editor of the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph.

2 comments:

  1. That looks like Jeff Riggenbach's piece -- ok so far as it went, but it doesn't go far enough. That is, the model of "libertarian" Riggenbach appeals to is quite limited.

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