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Episode 107: The Legacy of Roy A. Childs, Jr. (with George H. Smith)

881 views · Published 6 November 2015 · 58:53 · Indexed 24 October 2026

Channel: Libertarianism.org · 2015 · News & Politics

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George H. Smith joins us for a discussion on the life of his friend and colleague, Roy A. Childs, Jr.

Roy A. Childs, Jr. was an essayist, lecturer, and critic. He first came to prominence in the libertarian movement with his 1969 “Open Letter to Ayn Rand,” and he quickly established himself as a major thinker within the libertarian tradition.

George H. Smith talks about Roy’s ideas and personality as well as the people that influenced Roy’s thinking and the people that Roy in turn influenced during his lifetime.

Show Notes and Further Reading

Anarchism & Justice is a collection of Childs’s essays on moral philosophy and the role of the state.
http://www.libertarianism.org/books/anarchism-justice

Here is Smith’s five-part introduction to Anarchism & Justice.
http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/excursions/introducing-anarchism-justice-roy-childs-jr-part-1

Here is the text of Childs’s “Open Letter to Ayn Rand.”
http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/objectivism-state-open-letter-ayn-rand

Smith mentions Childs’s essay “Big Business and the Rise of American Statism.” It is available here in four parts.
http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/big-business-rise-american-statism-preface

Here’s Childs giving a lecture on the ethics of liberty at a Cato summer seminar in 1983.
http://www.libertarianism.org/media/video-collection/roy-childs-jr-ethics-liberty

Here’s an audio clip of Childs giving a fiery speech to open the Libertarian Party’s 1979 Presidential Nominating Convention.
http://www.libertarianism.org/media/video-collection/roy-childs-jr-tyranny-is-here-submission-is-crime

This is a link to all of Libertarianism.org’s content by or about Childs.
http://www.libertarianism.org/explore?searchquery=%22Roy+A.+Childs%2C+Jr.%22

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