Spencer Heath Archive

Item 3105

Typed letter to Heath, c/o Mrs. Heath MacCallum, Waterford, Virginia, from Alvin Lowi, Jr., 4018 Merrill Street, Torrance, California

July 1, 1962

 

Dear Mr. Heath,

 

You can’t imagine how delighted I was to hear from Spencer last Friday that you had improved so much and had undergone surgery with good prospects for correcting the problem that took such a monstrous toll from your creative energies. Please accept my most enthusiastic wish for a speedy and successful recovery. The zest of innovation lost a considerable amount of flavor when you departed earshot.

 

Your withdrawal from the course and abrupt departure for the East was a very great disappointment to me personally and a tragic loss to the budding renaissance of liberalism. Of course, the decline of your health was, in the final analysis, the most sorrowing thing though it should not have been a surprise. Those of us who know you and have enjoyed contact with your personality and intellect have tended to lose sight of your calendar age.

 

I presume you knew there were over 50 people prepared to take your course last March and most of them were in attendance at the first session knowing that you had been forced to cancel. I have recently made a copy of the tape of this meeting to send you. Joseph, Spencer and I took the oppor­tunity of your absence to commemorate as well as we could some of your ideas and the magnificent contribution you have made to the establishment of a proper social science and to human freedom. Spencer will be receiving it in a few days and I hope he will he able to play it for you soon.

 

I was very pleased to learn that Spencer is preparing a manuscript for a new hook giving exposition to “Spencer Heath’s Ideas on the Theological Implications of Economics.” Ideologically speaking, this will be a great contribution. Religion is, after all, a very divisive force in the social world and until I had heard you expound on the subject I had written it off as an obstacle to be surmounted only by enduring great semantic difficulties. Billy Robbins is also very much interested in this problem and contemplates doing some writing on the subject soon himself. Your pioneering has given inspiration to us all.

 

When Spencer was here last, I explained our program to him and he seemed to appreciate the graphical illustration of the concept. This conception was originally suggested to me by Joseph Galambos and you will notice some Spencer Heath there also. Joseph’s ideas are oftentimes, I freely acknow­ledge, the precursors of my own, and, increasingly now, so are yours. I don’t believe we ever discussed the details of this program at any length so you may be interested in the figure I drew for Spencer as follows:

 

/This schematic did not scan well but can

be found in the while Originals envelope./

 

True, we have a great deal of creative work ahead before each aspect of this program is fully effective, but I have strong convictions this is the right track. Also, I’m proud to acknowledge the great extent to which you have influenced the formulation and crystallization of this approach.

 

The Free Enterprise Institute has entered a new era. The Read and von Mises courses have just been completed and were a fine success. The strength of our program was tested repeatedly through the questions asked by those taking the course. Inevitably, I suppose, the classical epistemology of Von Mises would be compared with the natural science we are advocating. On net balance, the result was superb — the classical approach with its reliance on political action, taxes and bureaucracy was accorded its due respect and was relegated to its proper place in the history of social science. The major conclusions we have been advocating were strengthened and, I believe, elevated in stature. At least Mr. Read departed with a great deal to think about and anticipating more to come.  It was quite an experience for all who partici­pated including the lecturers. It is a great pity you could not have shared this rewarding experience. You would have witnessed a measurable growth in the acceptance of some of the major aspects of your philosophy. I believe we are well on our way, carrying with us most faithfully your visions of the “emerging society” and the “natural science of society.”

 

I earnestly hope this letter finds you very much improved in health and with a renewed interest in ideas, the ageless sustenance of life. My wife and family join me in sending our most affectionate regards.

Your devoted friend and aspiring intellectual collaborator,

 

/s/ Alvin

Alvin Lowi, Jr.