Although Patrick Gunkel’s father, Douglas Gunkel, was a professional accountant and political operator in the Chicago area, Gunkel himself does not seem to have had much interest in following politics in his earlier years.
He did oppose the U.S. war in Vietnam and even fled to Canada in order to avoid military service, but there’s no sense—either in his earliest writings, or in his later recollections about that period in his life—that he was aligned with a political party or followed political news closely.
This seems to have changed through his affiliation with the Hudson Institute, however; by the mid to late 1970s, Gunkel was an avowed libertarian.
Originally coalescing as an intellectual trend with a strong focus on economic freedom and individual rights, libertarianism became an organized political movement in 1971 with the establishment of the Libertarian Party. The party was founded in a Colorado living room by David Nolan, an MIT graduate who is best known for replacing the unidimensional left-right political spectrum line with a two-dimensional grid called the Nolan Chart—ancestor of today’s “political compass” and all those online quizess that describe your political stance based on your answers to a series of questions.
As an intellectual trend with social, political, ethical, and economic ramifications, libertarianism aligned well with Gunkel’s outlook.
Much like his mentor Herman Kahn, Gunkel was an avid proponent of free thought, intellectual play, and new systems of belief. Libertarianism was also a popular belief emerging in science fiction circles at the time.
In an August 1, 1976, New York Times editorial, entitled “Mr. Reagan’s Choice for Vice President,” Gunkel publicly professed his conversion to libertarianism.
He argued that Ronald Reagan’s controversial choice of his more liberal Vice Presidential running mate Richard Schweiker was intended to reflect the growing importance of libertarian beliefs.
“Libertarian beliefs and values are exemplified in the fiction and nonfiction of the American writer, Ayn Rand, notably in “Atlas Shrugged” (1957),” Gunkel wrote.
The editorial is, quite frankly, not very good.
Its argument is clumsy, and it seems to misunderstand some aspects of political primary elections.
However, Gunkel’s misunderstanding of politics and the growing movement appears to have been so significant that his editorial prompted none other than author Ayn Rand herself to reply on August 11.
In a response called “Ayn Rand Explains,” Rand tore Gunkel a new one for confusing her philosophy with libertarianism.
“Mr. Patrick Gunkel used my name and my works to imply that I support his ideas, which are the exact of opposite of mine,” she wrote.
“Neither I nor “Atlas Shrugged” nor my philosophy has any connection with the so-called ‘Libertarian’ movement… the ‘Libertarian’ movement is a random collection of emotional hippies-of-the-right who seek to play at policies without philosophy or consistency.”
Rand also savages Ronald Reagan: “Since he denies the right to abortion, he cannot be a defender of any rights.”
I could be wrong, but I feel that Rand’s editorial response to Gunkel represents an important historical artifact. It captures Rand’s political ideas in plain language.
Gunkel’s misreading of libertarianism also drew a response from Leonard Rubin, the head of New York’s Libertarian Party, on August 25, who pointed out that libertarians had their own candidates for President and Vice President.
“While strong in California we are far from a local phenomena, and we are not supporters of Mr. Reagan, and we are certainly not given to dumping principles for political expediency, all of which Mr. Gunkel suggests, more or less, that we are.”
The editorial places Gunkel in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, i.e., the headquarters of the Hudson Institute.
Gunkel had just finished his work on the Hudson Institute’s report The Next 200 Years: A Scenario for America & the World.
His contract was going to expire at the end of the year, and it’s not clear what work he was doing for Hudson at the time.
Ironically, this editorial is probably the single most high-profile and visible publication Gunkel ever had, although it was certainly not his most influential one.
By the late 1980s, Gunkel seems to have distanced himself from libertarianism as a political movement, though he still identified with it philosophically.1
As described in my prior post about Austin writer Billy Porterfield, the supposed libertarian paradise of Austin, Texas, turned out to be just another place where Gunkel had to follow the rules.
(1) Based on primary source evidence I’ve reviewed.