{{short description|American libertarian author, editor, and political consultant (born 1944)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Lew Rockwell | image = Lew Rockwell by Gage Skidmore.jpg | image_size = 300px | caption = Lew Rockwell at a Mises Institute event in 2015. | office = Chairman of the Mises Institute | term_start = October 1982 | birth_name = Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1944|7|1}} | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | spouse = Mardelle Rockwell | education = Tufts University (BA) | website = {{URL|www.lewrockwell.com}} }} {{anarcho-capitalism sidebar}}{{Libertarianism US|intellectuals}}{{Third-party|date=May 2023}} '''Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr.''' (born July 1, 1944) is an American author, editor, and political consultant. A libertarian and a self-professed anarcho-capitalist,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/about/ |title=About |publisher=LewRockwell.com |access-date=2015-04-20 |archive-date=2015-04-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419030203/https://www.lewrockwell.com/about/ |url-status=live }}</ref> he founded and is the chairman of the Mises Institute, a non-profit promoting the Austrian School of economics.
After graduating from university, Rockwell had jobs at the conservative Arlington House Publishers, the radical-right John Birch Society, and the traditionalist Hillsdale College.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Doherty |first=Brian |title=Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement |publisher=PublicAffairs |year=2009 |isbn=9780786731886 |location=United States}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> Reading the works of Murray Rothbard, who became his mentor, led Rockwell to become an ardent believer in Austrian economics and what he calls "libertarian anarchism". Rockwell was chief of staff to Congressman Ron Paul from 1978 to 1982, and was a founding officer and former vice president at Ron Paul & Associates. Rockwell partnered with Rothbard in 1982 to found the Mises Institute in Alabama, where {{As of|2025|lc=yes}}, Rockwell still serves as chairman.<ref name="mises.org">{{cite web |title=Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. |url=https://mises.org/profile/llewellyn-h-rockwell-jr |website=mises.org |date=20 June 2014 |publisher=Mises Institute |access-date=23 March 2024 |ref=mises.org |archive-date=20 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141120232157/https://mises.org/profile/llewellyn-h-rockwell-jr |url-status=live }}</ref>
Rockwell's website, LewRockwell.com, was launched in 1999. The website features articles about political philosophy, economics, and contemporary politics. The website's motto is "anti-war, anti-state, pro-market".
==Life and career== Rockwell was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1944. After college,{{Specify|date=October 2023}} Rockwell worked at Arlington House Publishers{{When|date=October 2023}} and became acquainted with the works of Ludwig von Mises.<ref name="auto">Doherty, Brian. [https://mises.org/daily/2274 "Libertarianism and the Old Right"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022181604/http://mises.org/daily/2274/ |date=2014-10-22 }}, ''Mises.org''. 1999. Orig. published by ''SpintechMag.org''. May 12, 1999.</ref>
A former lifetime member of the radical-right John Birch Society, Rockwell worked in its Member's Monthly Message Department before resigning amid disputes with the society's leaders.{{When|date=October 2023}}<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Dallek |first=Matthew |title=Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right |publisher=Basic Books |year=2023 |location=United States }}</ref> In the mid-1970s, Rockwell worked at the traditionalist Hillsdale College in fundraising and public relations.<ref name="auto" /><ref name=":2" />
Rockwell met the anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard in 1975 and credits Rothbard with convincing him to abandon minarchism and reject the state completely.<ref name=":8" /><ref name="auto" /> In 1985, Rockwell was named a contributing editor to ''Conservative Digest''.<ref>Berlet, Chip. ''The Write Stuff: U. S. Serial Print Culture from Conservatives out to Neonazis,'' ''Library Trends'' – Volume 56, Number 3, Winter 2008, pp. 570–600.</ref> Rockwell also served as Vice President of the Center for Libertarian Studies in Burlingame, California,{{When|date=October 2023}} which published the ''Rothbard-Rockwell Report''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Weisberg |first=J. |date=1991 |title=Hunter Gatherers |volume=205, n. 10 |pages=14–16 |magazine=New Republic}}</ref> Rockwell was closely associated with Rothbard until Rothbard's death in 1995.
=== Work for Ron Paul (1978–) === {{Further|Ron Paul}} Rockwell was Ron Paul's congressional chief of staff from 1978 to 1982<ref>Berlau, John. ''[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n5_v13/ai_19092301 Now playing right field – Rep. Ron Paul – Interview] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527223733/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n5_v13/ai_19092301 |date=May 27, 2005 }}'' Insight on the News. February 10, 1997.</ref><ref>Hayes, Christopher, The Nation, ''[http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071224/hayes Ron Paul's Roots] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100306171953/http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071224/hayes |date=2010-03-06 }}'', December 6, 2007, retrieved January 14, 2008</ref> and was a consultant to Paul's 1988 Libertarian Party campaign for President of the United States.<ref>"Campaign staffs announced", [http://lp.org LPNEWS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428034415/http://lp.org/ |date=2021-04-28 }}, May/June 1987, 10</ref> He was vice-chair of the exploratory committee for Paul's run for the 1992 Republican Party nomination for president.<ref>Burton Blumert, "Ron Paul for President Exploratory Committee" fundraising letter, October 1, 1991.</ref>
===Ron Paul newsletters=== {{Further|Ron Paul newsletters}}
Rockwell was a founding officer and former vice president at Ron Paul & Associates,<ref name=Reason01-08>{{cite web |url=http://reason.com/archives/2008/01/16/who-wrote-ron-pauls-newsletter |title=Who Wrote Ron Paul's Newsletters? |publisher=Reason.com |date=January 16, 2008 |access-date=2013-04-30 |archive-date=2009-10-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026184333/http://reason.com/archives/2008/01/16/who-wrote-ron-pauls-newsletter |url-status=live }}</ref> which was one of the publishers of a variety of political and investment-oriented newsletters bearing Paul's name.<ref name=":1">The newsletters had various names: ''Dr. Ron Paul's Freedom Report'' ({{OCLC |38365640 |15124395}}), ''The Ron Paul Survival Report'' ({{OCLC |27301727}}), the ''Ron Paul Investment Letter'' ({{OCLC |27301651}}), and the ''Ron Paul Political Report'' ({{OCLC |31695178}}).</ref><ref name= ChickAWM>{{cite news |last=Kirchick |first=James |author-link=James Kirchick |title=Angry White Man: The Bigoted Past of Ron Paul |url=http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/angry-white-man |access-date=February 17, 2012 |newspaper=The New Republic |date=January 8, 2008 |archive-date=December 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111229200926/http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/angry-white-man |url-status=live }}</ref>
In January 2008, during Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign, James Kirchick of ''The New Republic'' uncovered a collection of Ron Paul newsletters that contained "decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays."<ref name= ChickAWM/><ref name=Collection>{{cite magazine |title=TNR Exclusive: A Collection of Ron Paul's Most Incendiary Newsletters |magazine=The New Republic |date=December 23, 2011 |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/politics/98883/ron-paul-incendiary-newsletters-exclusive |access-date=2012-01-13 |archive-date=2015-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105123622/http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/98883/ron-paul-incendiary-newsletters-exclusive |url-status=live }}</ref> For instance, one issue approved of the slogan "Sodomy = Death" and said homosexuals suffering from HIV/AIDS "enjoy the pity and attention that comes with being sick".<ref name= ChickAWM/>
Most of the articles contained no bylines.<ref name= ChickAWM/> Numerous sources alleged that Rockwell had ghostwritten the controversial newsletters;<ref name=NYT2011>Jim Rutenberg and Serge F. Kovaleski, [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/politics/ron-paul-disowns-extremists-views-but-doesnt-disavow-the-support.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& Paul Disowns Extremists’ Views but Doesn’t Disavow the Support] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008142928/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/politics/ron-paul-disowns-extremists-views-but-doesnt-disavow-the-support.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |date=2020-10-08 }}, ''The New York Times'', December 25, 2011.</ref> Rockwell is listed as "contributing editor" on physical copies of some newsletters<ref name = WashPost12-11>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/ron-paul-and-the-racist-newsletters-fact-checker-biography/2011/12/21/gIQAKNiwBP_blog.html |title=Ron Paul and the racist newsletters (Fact Checker biography) |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 27, 2011 |access-date=2013-04-30 |first=Josh |last=Hicks |archive-date=2013-05-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503170325/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/ron-paul-and-the-racist-newsletters-fact-checker-biography/2011/12/21/gIQAKNiwBP_blog.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tnr.com/sites/default/files/masthead.pdf |title=Masthead of a 1987 Ron Paul Investment Letter |access-date=2013-01-21 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121051947/http://www.tnr.com/sites/default/files/masthead.pdf |archive-date=January 21, 2013 }}</ref> and listed as sole Editor of the May 1988 "Ron Paul investment Newsletter".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tnr.com/sites/default/files/InvestmentLetterMay1988.pdf |title=May 1988 "Ron Paul investment Newsletter" |access-date=2013-01-21 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121052119/http://www.tnr.com/sites/default/files/InvestmentLetterMay1988.pdf |archive-date=January 21, 2013 }}</ref> ''Reason'' magazine reported that "a half-dozen longtime libertarian activists – including some still close to Paul" had identified Rockwell as the "chief ghostwriter" of the newsletters,<ref name=Reason01-08/> as did former Ron Paul Chief of Staff (1981–1985) John W. Robbins.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/18/likely-author-of-shocking_n_82139.html |title=Likely Author of Shocking Ron Paul Letters Exposed |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |date=January 18, 2008 |access-date=2013-04-30 |first=Will |last=Thomas |archive-date=2013-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920230807/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/18/likely-author-of-shocking_n_82139.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Rockwell admitted to Kirchick that he was "involved in the promotion" of the newsletters and wrote the subscription letters but denied ghostwriting the articles. He said there were "seven or eight freelancers involved at various stages" of the newsletter's history and indicated another individual who had "left in unfortunate circumstances" and "is now long gone", but whom he did not identify, was in charge of editing and publishing the newsletters.<ref name=":4">{{cite magazine |last=Kirchick |first=James |url=https://newrepublic.com/blog/the-plank/who-wrote-ron-pauls-newsletters |title=Who Wrote Ron Paul's Newsletters? |magazine=New Republic |date=10 January 2008 |access-date=2013-04-30 |archive-date=2013-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505081611/http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/the-plank/who-wrote-ron-pauls-newsletters |url-status=live }}</ref> Rockwell has described discussion of the newsletters scandal as "hysterical smears aimed at political enemies."<ref>{{cite web |last=Rockwell |first=Llewellyn |date=January 8, 2008 |title=The New 'Republic' |url=http://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/the-new-republic/ |work=LewRockwell.com |access-date=August 12, 2023 |archive-date=August 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230812080003/https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/the-new-republic/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Ron Paul himself repudiated the newsletters' content and said he was not involved in the daily operations of the newsletters or saw much of their content until years later.<ref name=NYT2011/> In 2011, Paul's spokesperson Jesse Benton said that Paul had "taken moral responsibility because they appeared under his name and slipped through under his watch".<ref>Jackie Kucinich, [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2011-12-21/ron-paul-racist-newsletters/52147878/1 Paul's story changes on racial comments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200825101726/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2011-12-21/ron-paul-racist-newsletters/52147878/1 |date=2020-08-25 }}, USA TODAY, December 21, 2011.</ref>
=== Mises Institute (1982–) === {{Further|Mises Institute}} In 1982, Rockwell founded the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, and is chairman of the board.<ref>[https://www.mises.org/about.aspx About the Mises Institute page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202063910/http://mises.org/about.aspx |date=2012-02-02 }} at [http://mises.org Ludwig von Mises Institute] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319003723/http://mises.org/ |date=2009-03-19 }} website.</ref>
The Mises Institute published Rockwell's ''Speaking of Liberty'', an anthology of editorials which were originally published on his website, along with transcripts from some of his speaking engagements. The institute hosted conferences on secession;<ref name=":5" /> Rockwell wrote before a 1995 conference, "We'll explore what causes [secession] and how to promote it."<ref name="ChickAWM" />
[[File:Blumert Rockwell Gordon Rothbard.jpg|thumb|left|Burton Blumert, Rockwell, economist and philosopher David Gordon, and Murray Rothbard]]
===Paleolibertarianism (1980s–2000s)=== {{Further|Paleolibertarianism}} Rothbard, Rockwell and others described their views as paleolibertarian to describe their cultural conservatism fused with their otherwise anti-statist beliefs.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Hawley |first=George |title=Right-wing critics of American conservatism |date=2016 |publisher=University Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-2193-4 |location=Lawrence |pages=164–171 |oclc=925410917}}</ref><ref>Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. "The Case for Paleo-libertarianism" in ''Liberty'' magazine, January 1990, 34–38.</ref> They forged a "paleo alliance" between paleolibertarians and paleoconservatives in the form of the John Randolph Club in 1989, which allied the Mises Institute and the paleoconservative Rockford Institute.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":122">{{Cite journal |last1=Olsen |first1=Niklas |last2=Slobodian |first2=Quinn |date=April 2022 |title=Locating Ludwig von Mises: Introduction |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/855166 |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |language=en |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=257–267 |doi=10.1353/jhi.2022.0012 |issn=1086-3222 |pmid=35603613 |s2cid=248987154 |access-date=2023-10-09 |archive-date=2022-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531140710/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/855166 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In a 2007 interview, Rockwell revealed he no longer considered himself a "paleolibertarian" and was "happy with the term libertarian." He explained "the term paleolibertarian became confused because of its association with paleoconservative, so it came to mean some sort of socially conservative libertarian, which wasn't the point at all..."<ref>Kenny Johnsson, [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/liberal-post-interview.html Do You Consider Yourself a Libertarian?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804094434/https://www.lewrockwell.com/2007/05/lew-rockwell/do-you-consider-yourself-a-libertarian/ |date=2019-08-04 }}, interview with Lew Rockwell, May 25, 2007.</ref>
===LewRockwell.com (1999–)=== Rockwell's website, LewRockwell.com, formed in 1999, features articles and blog entries by various columnists and writers.<ref name=":8" /> Its motto is "anti-war, anti-state, pro-market".<ref>[http://archive.lewrockwell.com/about/ About LewRockwell.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515101553/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/about/ |date=2022-05-15 }}; [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/columnists.html Columnists] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314081718/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/columnists.html |date=2022-03-14 }} listing; [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/blog The LRC Blog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313192829/http://archive.lewrockwell.com/blog/ |date=2014-03-13 }} at LewRockwell.com website.</ref> There also is a weekly podcast called ''The Lew Rockwell Show''.<ref>[http://archive.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/ Lew Rockwell Show] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515101531/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/ |date=2022-05-15 }}.</ref> {{As of|2017|March}}, it was in the top 10,000 websites in the United States.<ref>[http://www.alexa.com/search?q=lewrockwell.com&r=home_home&p=bigtop Alexa analyctics for LewRockwell.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818195536/https://www.alexa.com/search?q=lewrockwell.com&r=home_home&p=bigtop |date=2022-08-18 }}, ''accessed May 5, 2013.''</ref> LewRockwell.com publishes articles questioning United States participation in World War II, opposing "economic fascism" and supporting Austrian economics and secessionism.<ref>For example: Rogers, Mike. [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rogers/rogers178.html "Dying For the Emperor? No Way."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314082410/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/rogers/rogers178.html |date=2022-03-14 }} ''LewRockwell.com''. October 12, 2005; Gonella, Jason. [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig3/gonella4.html "The Decline and Fall of the United States Empire."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324072649/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/orig3/gonella4.html |date=2022-03-24 }} ''LewRockwell.com''. December 9, 2004; DiLorenzo, Thomas J. "Economic Fascism" ''LewRockwell.com''. November 23, 2004.</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=May 2023}} The website is primarily home to right-libertarian authors, although left-wing anti-war writers have been featured.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LewRockwell.com |url=https://www.lewrockwell.com/ |access-date=2021-04-09 |website=LewRockwell |language=en |archive-date=2015-06-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618044952/http://archive.lewrockwell.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Third-party inline|date=May 2023}} The academic Tanni Haas wrote in his 2011 book on political bloggers that of the 20 figures he interviewed, "none have more radical views" than Rockwell, whose avowed goal was to "do everything he can to undermine the state".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haas |first=Tanni |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1cg4jqm |title=Making it in the Political Blogosphere |date=2011-11-08 |publisher=The Lutterworth Press |isbn=978-0-7188-4015-0 |pages=92|doi=10.2307/j.ctt1cg4jqm }}</ref> Rockwell and his website have also promoted neo-Confederate views.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |title=Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2009 |editor-last=Sebesta |editor-first=Edward H. |location=United States |pages=33–34 |editor-last2=Hague |editor-first2=Euan |editor-last3=Beirich |editor-first3=Heidi}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Weiner |first=Rachel |date=July 10, 2013 |title=The libertarian war over the Civil War |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/07/10/the-libertarian-war-over-the-civil-war/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=Summer 2000 |title=The Neo-Confederates |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2000/neo-confederates |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222010852/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2000/neo-confederates |archive-date=February 22, 2016 |access-date=August 29, 2018 |work=Intelligence Report |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |issue=99}}</ref>
Brian Doherty of ''Reason'' wrote that the site's "Mises Institute-associated writers" tend to emphasize the domestic and international fallout from government action.<ref>{{cite web|last=Doherty|first=Brian|title=Libertarianism in an Age of Economic Crisis: Why being truculent, oppositional, and hard to pigeonhole are not signs of ideological death|url=http://reason.com/archives/2009/02/16/libertarianism-in-an-age-of-ec|work=Reason|author-link=Brian Doherty (journalist)|date=February 16, 2009|access-date=August 30, 2017|archive-date=August 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830152651/http://reason.com/archives/2009/02/16/libertarianism-in-an-age-of-ec|url-status=live}}</ref> Conservative writer Jonah Goldberg of ''National Review'' wrote that the site regularly hosts invective against icons of American mainstream conservatism, including ''National Review'', ''The Weekly Standard'', neoconservatives, and William F. Buckley Jr.<ref name=Goldberg>{{cite journal|last=Goldberg|first=Jonah|title=Farewell, Lew Rockwell. The final word|journal=National Review|date=March 7, 2001|url=http://old.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment030701b.shtml|author-link=Jonah Goldberg|quote=The site also features regular screeds about how Abraham Lincoln was a murderous war criminal, how the American military is a hotbed of criminal imperialism and murderous warmongering, and why Southern secession not only was honorable and noble but how it still is a viable option.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928032704/http://old.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment030701b.shtml|archive-date=September 28, 2013|df=mdy-all}} In this article, Goldberg was responding to criticisms of another article he had written about the website.</ref> A writer in ''The American Conservative'' described the site as paleolibertarian and "an indispensable source" of news on Ron Paul.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Antle III|first=W. James|title=The Paleocon Dilemma… The Ron Paul campaign illustrates the choices facing the antiwar Right|journal=The American Conservative|date=January 14, 2008|url=http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-paleocon-dilemma/|quote=[A] decade ago...Rockwell hoped to mobilize grassroots conservatives on behalf of anti-statism, during the Bush era he has detected a whiff of 'red-state fascism' among the Republican base. Other [LRC] writers prefer terms like 'neoconofascist'.|access-date=August 30, 2017|archive-date=August 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830152542/http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-paleocon-dilemma/|url-status=live}}</ref> The site published ''InfoWars'' articles by the conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson from 2011 to 2016.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Finlayson |first=Alan |date=February 2022 |title=YouTube and Political Ideologies: Technology, Populism and Rhetorical Form |journal=Political Studies |language=en |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=62–80 |doi=10.1177/0032321720934630 |s2cid=225642501 |issn=0032-3217 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The site has been criticized for presenting articles which advocate HIV/AIDS denialism, the view that HIV does not cause AIDS,<ref name=":0">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_mtDBCDwxugC&q=Lew+Rockwell|title=Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy|last1=Kalichman|first1=Seth|last2=Nattrass|first2=Nicoli|publisher=Springer|year=2008|isbn=978-0-387-79475-4|location=New York, London|pages=49–53, 142, 182, 191|oclc=390487079}} * For the 2006 LRC conference, see: [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/1970/01/burton-s-blumert/come-to-the-lrc-conference LewRockwell.com 2006 conference schedule] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515101714/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/1970/01/burton-s-blumert/come-to-the-lrc-conference/ |date=2022-05-15 }} * For Harvey Bialy's LRC response to Farber, Celia (March 2006). "Out of Control: AIDS and the Corruption of Medical Science". ''Harper's'', vol. 312, no. 1870, pp. 37–52, {{OCLC|100240598}}; {{ISSN|0017-789X}}; see: [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/2006/06/harvey-bialy-phd/the-us-government-responds-to-the-aids-denialist-writing-in-the-marchharpers "The US Government Responds to the 'AIDS Denialist' Writing in the March ''Harper’s''"] * For Rebecca Culshaw's LRC article, see: [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/2006/03/rebecca-v-culshaw/why-i-quit-hiv "Why I Quit HIV"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515101627/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/2006/03/rebecca-v-culshaw/why-i-quit-hiv/ |date=2022-05-15 }}, LewRockwell.com, March 3, 2006.</ref> and the view that vaccines cause autism.<ref>Gorski, David (June 22, 2009). [http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/cranks-quacks-and-peer-review/ "Cranks, quacks, and peer-review."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408141939/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cranks-quacks-and-peer-review/ |date=2022-04-08 }} Science-based medicine. Author is Assistant Professor of Medicine (Surgery) at Wayne State University (holding an M.D. and Ph.D. in Cellular Biology from Case Western University)</ref>
===Other activities and views=== [[File:Lew Rockwell by Gage Skidmore.jpg|right|thumb|Lew Rockwell speaking at an event hosted by the Mises Institute]] Rockwell's paleolibertarian ideology, like Rothbard's in his later years, combines a right-libertarian theory of anarcho-capitalism based on natural rights with the cultural conservative values and concerns of paleoconservatism, and he identifies strongly with the modern Rothbardian tradition of Austrian economics. In politics, he advocates federalist or Anti-Federalist policies as means to achieve increasing degrees of freedom from central government and secession for the same political decentralist reasons. Rockwell has called environmentalism "an ideology as pitiless and Messianic as Marxism."<ref>Rockwell, L. H., Jr. (1990). "An anti-environmentalist manifesto." ''From The Right'', Quarterly II, 1(6), 1. (newsletter of Patrick J. Buchanan), p. 1; Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/anti-enviro.html Rockwell's Anti-Environmentalist Manifesto] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515101623/https://archive.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/anti-enviro.html |date=2022-05-15 }}, May 1, 2000 version published by Lewrockwell.com</ref>{{npsn|date=February 2021}} In his book ''Left, Right, and The State'', he advocated for legalization of drunk driving.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-02-12 |title=The Left, the Right, and the State |url=https://mises.org/library/book/left-right-and-state |access-date=2026-04-19 |website=mises.org |page=14, 15, 16, 17 |language=en}}</ref>
Rockwell is Catholic.<ref>{{cite web |author=Matthews, Steve |date=January 7, 2018 |title=Anti-Protestant: Lew Rockwell's Ongoing Attack on the Reformation |url=https://luxlucet.me/2018/01/07/anti-protestant-lew-rockwells-ongoing-attack-on-the-reformation/ |accessdate=September 24, 2023 |work=Lux Lucet |archive-date=October 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009100132/https://luxlucet.me/2018/01/07/anti-protestant-lew-rockwells-ongoing-attack-on-the-reformation/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Books ==
===Author=== * ''Speaking of Liberty'' (2003; online [https://www.mises.org/etexts/sol.pdf e-book]) {{ISBN|0-945466-38-2}} * ''The Left, The Right, and The State'' (2008; online [https://www.mises.org/books/leftright.pdf e-book]) {{ISBN|978-1-933550-20-6}} * ''Against the State: An Anarcho-Capitalist Manifesto'' (2014) {{ISBN|0990463109}} * ''Fascism vs. Capitalism'' (2013) {{ISBN|1494399806}} * ''Against The Left: A Rothbardian Libertarianism'' (2019) {{ISBN|978-0-9904631-5-3}}
===Editor=== * ''Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard'' (with Walter Block) (1986; online [https://www.mises.org/books/maneconomyliberty.pdf e-book]) {{ISBN|99911-786-2-7}} * ''The Free Market Reader'' (1988; online [https://www.mises.org/books/freemarketreader.pdf e-book]){{ISBN|0-945466-02-1}} * ''The Economics of Liberty'' (1990; online [https://www.mises.org/books/economicsofliberty.pdf e-book]) {{ISBN|0-945466-08-0}} * ''The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School'' (1992; online [https://mises.org/books/goldstandard.pdf e-book]), {{ISBN|0-945466-11-0}} * ''Murray N. Rothbard: In Memoriam'' (1995; online [https://mises.org/books/memoriam.pdf e-book]) {{ISBN|0-945466-19-6}} * ''The Irrepressible Rothbard'' (2000; online [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/ir/Contents.html e-book] – Rockwell's [https://web.archive.org/web/20110519155444/http://students.uis.edu/araut01s/ir-intro.html introduction]) {{ISBN|1-883959-02-0}}
==Further reading== * Goldberg, Jonah. [http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment030701b.shtml "Farewell, Lew Rockwell: The final word."] ''National Review Online''. March 7, 2001.
== See also == {{Portal|Libertarianism}} * Anarcho-capitalism * Hans-Hermann Hoppe * Libertarianism in the United States * Ludwig von Mises * Milton Friedman * Mises Institute * Ron Paul * Thomas Sowell * Tom Woods
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{wikiquote}} * {{official|https://www.lewrockwell.com/}} * {{IMDb name|8034678}} * {{C-SPAN|32368}}
{{Anarcho-capitalism}} {{Authority control}}
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