Roy Childs
Roy Alan Childs Jr. | |
---|---|
Miami, Florida | |
Occupation | Essayist, editor |
Language | English |
Citizenship | United States |
Period | 1967–1992 |
Subject | Politics |
Roy Alan Childs Jr.
Career
Childs edited the magazine Libertarian Review from 1977 until it folded in 1981. He was also a research fellow and later a policy analyst with the Cato Institute from 1982 to 1984. Childs's most visible public role was as lead book reviewer for Laissez Faire Books in which he produced a number of memorable short essays. He held this position from 1984 until his death.
Views
Childs counted among his early influences Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, Rose Wilder Lane and Robert LeFevre.
In his essay "An Open Letter to Ayn Rand", Childs rejected Objectivism as being true libertarianism, asserting that the establishment of government is in violation of self-ownership and the non-aggression principle.[2] In the 1960s, Childs endorsed anarcho-capitalism, but he later expressed doubts about anarchism.[3] In the 1960s, Ayn Rand wrote an essay entitled "America's Persecuted Minority: Big Business". Childs responded with an essay entitled "Big Business and the Rise of American Statism", writing: "To a large degree it has been and remains big businessmen who are the fountainheads of American statism".[4] In 1982, Childs gave a lecture at the Libertarian Party of New York convention on the origins and consequences of Ronald Reagan's foreign policy and stated his opposition to an interventionist foreign policy.[5]
Personal life
Childs was born in
For many years, Childs endured difficulties due to obesity. In later years when he lived in New York City, he sometimes weighed over 400 pounds and rarely left his apartment. Childs went to the Pritikin Center in Miami, Florida to take part in a weight loss program. While there, he fell and was taken to a local hospital, where he died on May 22, 1992, at the age of 43.[8][9]
Legacy
After his death, libertarian scholar Tom G. Palmer wrote: "Roy Childs was one of the finer members of a generation of radical thinkers who worked successfully to revive the tradition of classical liberalism [...] and who dared to launch a frontal challenge to the twentieth-century welfare state. [...] His writings exercised a powerful influence on a generation of young classical liberal thinkers".[10]
The Cato Institute named its in-house library which contained many volumes from his collection after Childs. His personal papers are in an archive at
Works
Childs wrote essays and book reviews which were collected posthumously into anthologies:
- OCLC 34131336. A paperback collection which includes an introduction by Thomas Szaszand a biographical sketch by Taylor.
- Childs, Roy A. Jr. (2012). Anarchism & Justice. Washington, D.C.: Libertarianism.org Press. ISBN 978-1-938048-73-9. An e-book collection with an introduction by George H. Smith.
References
- ^ Riggenbach 2011
- ^ "Open Letter to Ayn Rand". Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Ronn Neff – Roy Childs on Anarchism". thornwalker.com.
- ^ "The American Conservative » Libertarian Left". Archived from the original on 2011-02-04.
- ^ Roy A. Childs, Jr., on Ronald Reagan's Foreign Policy, April 5, 1982
- ^ Taylor 2008, p. 61
- ^ Taylor, Joan Kennedy. "Roy A. Childs: A Biographical Sketch". In Childs 1994, p. xiv
- ^ Taylor, Joan Kennedy. "Roy A. Childs: A Biographical Sketch". In Childs 1994, p. xviii
- ^ Mariotti 2013
- ^ Quoted in Taylor, Joan Kennedy. "Roy A. Childs: A Biographical Sketch". In Childs 1994, p. xviii
- ^ Taylor 2008, p. 62
- ^ "Roy A. Childs, Jr. Fund for Independent Scholars". Center for Independent Thought. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
Works cited
- Childs, Roy A. Jr. (1994). OCLC 34131336.
- Mariotti, Steve (July 2, 2013). "As DOMA Collapses, I Remember Libertarian Gay Activist Roy Childs". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
- Riggenbach, Jeff (January 21, 2011). "The Story of Roy A. Childs Jr. (1949–1992)". Mises Daily. Ludwig von Mises Institute.
- OCLC 750831024.
External links
- An Open Letter to Ayn Rand at the Wayback Machine (archived October 12, 2012), written by Roy Childs.
- Biography at the Wayback Machine (archived April 23, 2010)
- Roy Childs papers