Uploaded May 2011 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
October 15, 2002
"In this interview, Milton Friedman, who was awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economics, describes the values, objectives, and beginnings of the Mont Pelerin Society. He explains what it was like to create a society dedicated to classical liberalism in a world where the prevailing economic views leaned towards central planning and collectivism. Since it was founded in 1947, this organization has grown and prospered; offering its members from around the world opportunities to exchange and discuss their ideas. Friedman also comments on the significant role Universidad Francisco Marroquín has played in promoting the ideals of free-market economics and the importance of protecting private property. This interview was conducted by Hoover Institution and presented at the Mont Pelerin Society meeting in London in 2002."
"Anyone who is persuaded in one evening (or even ten one-hour evenings) is not really persuaded. He can be converted by the next person of opposite views with whom he spends an evening. The only person who can truly persuade you is yourself. You must turn the issues over in your mind at leisure, consider the many arguments, let them simmer, and after a long time turn your preferences into convictions." - Friedman, Free to Choose
October 15, 2002
"In this interview, Milton Friedman, who was awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize in Economics, describes the values, objectives, and beginnings of the Mont Pelerin Society. He explains what it was like to create a society dedicated to classical liberalism in a world where the prevailing economic views leaned towards central planning and collectivism. Since it was founded in 1947, this organization has grown and prospered; offering its members from around the world opportunities to exchange and discuss their ideas. Friedman also comments on the significant role Universidad Francisco Marroquín has played in promoting the ideals of free-market economics and the importance of protecting private property. This interview was conducted by Hoover Institution and presented at the Mont Pelerin Society meeting in London in 2002."
"Anyone who is persuaded in one evening (or even ten one-hour evenings) is not really persuaded. He can be converted by the next person of opposite views with whom he spends an evening. The only person who can truly persuade you is yourself. You must turn the issues over in your mind at leisure, consider the many arguments, let them simmer, and after a long time turn your preferences into convictions." - Friedman, Free to Choose



![FDR on conservatives
Raymond Moley Interviewed
Following excerpt from FDRs Conservative 100 Days by GEORGE BITTLINGMAYER and THOMAS W. HAZLETT:
As Raymond Moley, an FDR adviser intimately involved in crafting the bank holiday and other 100 days policies, wrote in his book, After Seven Years, It cannot be emphasized too strongly that the policies which vanquished the bank crisis were thoroughly conservative . . . Those who conceived and executed them were intent upon rallying the confidence, first, of the conservative business and banking leaders of the country and, then, through them, of the public generally.
Moley stressed that the policy relied on conventional banking methods and eschewed any unusual or highly controversial measures. As FDR said in his first fireside chat, I hope you can see from this elemental recital of what your government is doing that there is nothing complex, or radical in the process.
Roosevelt initially tacked right on fiscal issues. On March 10, he asked Congress to slash the salaries of federal government employees by $100 million, with an additional $400 million sliced from veterans pensions. This stunning cut total annual federal expenditures then running at $4.6 billion came in a measure called A Bill to Maintain the Credit of the United States Government.
Moley said the psychological effect was electric. The bill [was] greeted with loud shouts of approval by all articulate conservatives. But I am confident that deep down in the consciousness of the average people of the country it found a similar response. Somehow or other . . . Hoover had always seemed to be an expensive President. FDR on conservatives](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hlmp-XkLQ90/mqdefault.jpg)






