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This thread is about the claim that Rawls joined the Mont Pelerin Society. Below I repost a thread from May about research done in March. The following thread then adds more posts further supporting the conclusions from May. @rodrikdani /1
THREAD FROM MAY
I have written on both Rawls and Hayek, so I was interested in this connection. I went down to the Hoover archives in March on (as it happens) the last day before they closed for COVID. Here’s what I found. /2
I have written on both Rawls and Hayek, so I was interested in this connection. I went down to the Hoover archives in March on (as it happens) the last day before they closed for COVID. Here’s what I found. /2
Let me first note that I only saw Mont Pelerin Society Box 18 and the Milton Friedman Box 87, folders 2 and 5. I did not get access to MPS Box 44 or 19 (which @katforrester cites in her book). So this research is not yet complete; below is based only on what I’ve found so far. /3
The takeaway from what I found: Offer and Soederberg appear to make a claim that goes beyond the archival evidence that they cite in their book. /4
Although there is evidence that Rawls was on the membership roll of the MPS, I found no evidence that Rawls ‘withdrew from the society.’ In fact, I found no evidence that Rawls ever had any contact with the MPS (or even that ever he knew that he was on the membership roll). /5
More detail: Rawls is listed in an MPS booklet, in ‘List of Members, March 1970’ along with his Harvard departmental address. As @zeithistoriker says Rawls is also listed as having been removed from the membership roll of the MPS on December 1, 1971. This in a 1977 MPS booklet /6
Offer and Soederberg say that Rawls ‘withdrew from the society,’ but this is not supported by the evidence they cite. The document that they cite only says that Rawls was removed from the roll, not that he withdrew. /7
How then did Rawls get onto the membership roll? I found no evidence on this. Given that he was proposed by Milton Friedman in 1968, did he ever pay dues? I found no evidence that he did. I also found that sometimes the leadership of the MPS would pay the dues of someone else. /8
(For example, in 1970 ‘MF’—probably Milton Friedman—paid the dues of Aaron Director.) So it’s possible that if dues were ever paid for Rawls, they were paid by someone besides Rawls. /9
Rawls is not listed as a member in the January 1968 (or February 1973) membership lists, nor in any of the undated membership lists found in the folder that contained the March 1970 list cited above. /10
For the 1968 MPS meeting in Aviemore, Rawls is not on the list of members or guests. /11
For the 1970 meeting in Berlin, Rawls is not on the ‘delinquent membership list (includes 1970-71 billing).’ /12
For the 1971 ‘regional’ (USA) meeting in Rockford IL, there is no membership list, but neither is there any mention of Rawls. /13
For the Montreux meeting in 1972, the ‘members attending’ and ‘guests invited’ and ‘guests’ lists do not include Rawls. /14
There is an undated paper saying that Rawls (along with Nozick & James Buchanan & two others) will be invited to present a paper on “Contract Theory and Imperative” at the Amsterdam regional meeting in April 1977. There is no record of any reply from Rawls or any paper given /15
The folders that I saw contained letters from various people (like Bertrand de Jouvenel and Vermont Royster in 1972) explaining why they were withdrawing from the MPS. So there is evidence that letters of withdrawal were preserved. I found no such letter from Rawls. /16
In general, in these folders there is a lot of correspondence over whom to invite to the meetings, who will be speaking, who will get travel money, etc. I did not find Rawls’s name mentioned. /17
I’ll go back down to the archives when they reopen, to check through the boxes listed above. In the meantime, if anyone has any more information on Rawls and the MPS I’d be grateful if you could be in touch. /18
[continued in next thread]
