Lawrence Reed

Reed was born and raised in Pennsylvania, United States.

Reed has cited the 1968 event between the Czechs and the Soviets known as the "Prague Spring" as the genesis for his interest in liberty, and has referred to the Czech cause as a "flowering of liberty". As a result of interactions with FEE in his teen years, Reed became exposed to the ideas of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and others from the Austrian school of economics.{{YouTube|xo2mp-F06uU|Motorhome Diaries interview}}{{Third-party inline|date=December 2024|reason=preferred for context and WP:DUEWEIGHT}}

Reed holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Grove City College (1975) and a Master of Arts degree in history from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (1978).

From 1977 to 1984, Reed taught economics at Midland, Michigan's Northwood University, serving as chairman of the Department of Economics from 1982 to 1984. While at Northwood, Reed designed the university's dual major in economics and business management and founded its annual "Freedom Seminar".

In 1982, he was the Republican candidate for U. S. Congress in Michigan's 10th district.{{Cite web |date=Nov 2, 1982 |title=Our Campaigns – MI District 10 Race |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=37108/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307224018/https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=37108/ |archive-date=March 7, 2022 |access-date=March 7, 2022 |website=www.ourcampaigns.com}}

Reed's interests in political and economic affairs have taken him as a freelance journalist to 78 countries on six continents since 1985.{{Third-party inline|date=December 2024|reason=needed for context and WP:DUEWEIGHT}} Over the past twenty-five years, he has reported on hyperinflation in South America, black markets from behind the Iron Curtain, reforms and repression in China and Cambodia, and civil war inside Nicaragua and Mozambique. Additionally, he spent time with the Contra rebels during the Nicaraguan civil war; and lived for two weeks with Mozambique rebel forces at their bush headquarters in 1991, while the country was engaged at the height of their guerrilla conflict. Among many foreign experiences, Reed visited Cambodia in 1989 with his late friend, Academy Award winner Haing S. Ngor.{{Third-party inline|date=December 2024|reason=needed for context and WP:DUEWEIGHT}}

In 1986, while traveling with the Polish anti-communist underground,Reed, Lawrence (October 1, 2009) [http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/ideas-and-consequences/a-tribute-to-the-polish-people/#hide A Tribute to the Polish People] The Freeman Online Reed was arrested and detained by border police.[http://www.mackinac.org/bio.aspx?ID=3&page=2 Mackinac Center for Public Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527000452/http://www.mackinac.org/bio.aspx?ID=3&page=2|date=May 27, 2011}} Profile, Larry Reed Reed's articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Baltimore Sun, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and USA Today, and others.Libertarian Party [http://www.vtlp.org/news/blog02.asp?ProdCode=471115102009 Putting Vermont Back on Track How the Power of Ideas Can Make Change Happen] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123003755/http://www.vtlp.org/news/blog02.asp?ProdCode=471115102009|date=January 23, 2010}}{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=The Future of Freedom |date=November 3, 2009 |title=Economic Liberty Lecture Series: Lawrence Reed |url=https://vimeo.com/7408559 |via=Vimeo}}{{Third-party inline|date=December 2024|reason=needed for context and WP:DUEWEIGHT}}

From 1987 to 2008, Reed served as the president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. According to The New York Times, under his leadership, the Mackinac Center emerged as one of the largest and most influential state-level policy institutes in the United States.{{Cite web |last=Deparle |first=Jason |date=November 17, 2006 |title=Right-of-Center Guru Goes Wide With the Gospel of Small Government |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/us/politics/rightofcenter-guru-goes-wide-with-the-gospel-of-small.html |access-date=November 28, 2024 |website=www.nytimes.com}} The concept of the Overton window was developed during the time that Reed was president of the Mackinac Center. The "Overton window" refers to the range of ideas which are considered culturally and politically fringe to mainstream, and when a subject matter moves along this spectrum it is considered to have changed its status along the "Overton window". According to the Mackinac Center, "The Overton Window was developed in the mid-1990s by the late Joseph P. Overton, who was senior vice president at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy at the time of his death in 2003."{{Cite web |title=The Overton Window |url=https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=Mackinac Center |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Astor |first=Maggie |title=How the Politically Unthinkable Can Become Mainstream |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/us/politics/overton-window-democrats.html |website=www.nytimes.com}}

Long active in Michigan policy, Reed was appointed in 1993 by the state's then-Governor John Engler (R) to the Headlee Amendment Blue Ribbon Commission. The commission was established as part of the state's 1978 "Headlee amendment" for the purpose of limiting local and state government spending.Reed, Lawrence (August 4, 2003) [http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=5574 The Headlee Amendment: Serving Michigan for 25 Years] The Mackinac Center for Public Policy It was officially abolished in 2004 by former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm.{{Cite web|url=https://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21975_21978-90921--,00.html|title=SOM Gov|website=www.michigan.gov}}

In 1994, Reed was named to the Secchia Commission on Total Quality Government, a task force charged by Governor Engler to streamline Michigan state government. Engler and many of his administration's officials frequently cited the work of the Mackinac Center as influential in shaping administration policies.{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Goenner |first=James N. |date=2011 |title=The Origination of Michigan's Charter School Policy: an Historical Analysis |publisher=Michigan State University |url=https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/872/datastream/OBJ/View/ |access-date=April 13, 2021 |archive-date=April 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413185421/https://d.lib.msu.edu/etd/872/datastream/OBJ/View/ |url-status=dead }}

During a 2003 address on the floor of the House of Representatives, Congressman Ron Paul paid tribute to Reed, acknowledging him as "one of America's leading advocates for liberty", and remarked that Reed's writings "reflect his unswerving commitment to limited government and the free market as the best way to promote human happiness."Paul, Ron (September 23, 2003) [https://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:X-VIYKn_7OEJ:0-www.gpo.gov.library.colby.edu/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2003-09-25/pdf/CREC-2003-09-25-pt1-PgE1900-4.pdf+Ron+Paul+Larry+Reed+50th+birthday&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgIa3ltOVOPrXEWlX7DIKCEznOieiMLAdCni3JJ_LNKl2Pt2kF1zzB5PT4pKLZl6093RSe1OqdFsq2CEbTPl60FQAlO_zRzMDwXCW5AK1zi32kR4DUa3HtpD5CrnAP1dX1BEAAk&sig=AFQjCNES_mzN58tcntb1n94cJ2W_D8AzyA Extension of Remarks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331191538/http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:X-VIYKn_7OEJ:0-www.gpo.gov.library.colby.edu/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2003-09-25/pdf/CREC-2003-09-25-pt1-PgE1900-4.pdf+Ron+Paul+Larry+Reed+50th+birthday&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgIa3ltOVOPrXEWlX7DIKCEznOieiMLAdCni3JJ_LNKl2Pt2kF1zzB5PT4pKLZl6093RSe1OqdFsq2CEbTPl60FQAlO_zRzMDwXCW5AK1zi32kR4DUa3HtpD5CrnAP1dX1BEAAk&sig=AFQjCNES_mzN58tcntb1n94cJ2W_D8AzyA|date=March 31, 2016}} Congressional Record{{Third-party inline|date=December 2024|reason=preferred for context and WP:DUEWEIGHT}}

In December 2007, the Washington, D.C.–based Heritage Foundation named Reed as a visiting senior fellow.

On September 1, 2008, Reed became president of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). FEE, founded in 1946 by Leonard Read, has been recognized as the first not-for-profit organization of its kind, familiarizing people with free-market economics.{{Third-party inline|date=December 2024|reason=preferred for context and WP:DUEWEIGHT}} As president, Reed hoped to reassert FEE's position as a "mothership" for the freedom movement at large. According to Reed, "FEE believes a free society is not only possible, it is imperative because there is no acceptable alternative for a civilized people. Our vision for the future is that through education, men and women will understand the moral, philosophic and economic principles that undergird a free society. They will appreciate the direct connection between those principles and their material and spiritual welfare. They will strive to pass those principles on from one generation to the next."{{Cite web|url=http://christianworldview.net/blog/index.php/archives/52|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113101536/http://christianworldview.net/blog/index.php/archives/52|url-status=dead|title=Understanding Economics – With Lawrence Reed|archivedate=November 13, 2009}}{{Third-party inline|date=December 2024|reason=preferred for context and WP:DUEWEIGHT}}

Reed identifies with the Austrian School of economics and has referred to competition as one of the highest and most beneficial forms of human cooperation.Reed, Lawrence (September 24, 2009) [http://www.fraserinstitute.org/education_programs/forstudents/ask_professor/Fraser_08270902.asp Ask The Professor Competition: Encouraging excellence in the marketplace] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091105114702/http://www.fraserinstitute.org/education_programs/forstudents/ask_professor/Fraser_08270902.asp |date=November 5, 2009 }} The Fraser Institute{{cite web |url=https://fee.org/resources/lawrence-w-reed-on-austrian-economics-fee-liberty-in-serbia-venezuela-and-more/ |title=Lawrence W. Reed on Austrian Economics, FEE, Liberty in Serbia, Venezuela, and More |last=Reed |first=Lawrence W. |date=2019-03-28 |website=fee.org |lang=en |access-date=2024-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524035915/https://fee.org/resources/lawrence-w-reed-on-austrian-economics-fee-liberty-in-serbia-venezuela-and-more/ |archive-date=May 24, 2024 |quote=Since my college days in the 1970s, I have identified strongly with the principles and methodology of the Austrian School of Economics. |url-status=live }}{{Third-party inline|date=December 2024|reason=needed for context and WP:DUEWEIGHT}}

Reed's 2012 book is A Republic – If We Can Keep It, is a collection of essays by Reed and historian Burton W. Folsom, Jr. that surveys the economic history of the United States and the modern world.[https://www.amazon.com/Republic--If-We-Can-Keep/dp/1572460318/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326678128&sr=1-1 A Republic – If We Can Keep It]

Another of Reed's books is Striking the Root: Essays on Liberty, a bundling of works on the topic of government use of force, previously published in FEE's magazine, The Freeman.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mackinac.org/S2007-16|title=Striking the Root|last=Reed|first=Lawrence W.|website=www.mackinac.org|language=en|access-date=May 6, 2019|archive-date=May 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506095254/https://www.mackinac.org/S2007-16|url-status=live}}

Reed's other books include Lessons from the Past: The Silver Panic of 1893, and Private Cures for Public Ills: The Promise of Privatization, both published by the Foundation for Economic Education, and When We Are Free, with Dale M. Haywood.

In 1981 he wrote the short Great Myths of the Great Depression, which criticized various conceptions about the American Great Depression.{{cite book |last1=Reed |first1=Lawrence W. |title=Myths of the Great Depression |url=https://fee.org/resources/great-myths-of-the-great-depression/ |year=2011 |orig-year=1981 |publisher=Mackinac Center; Foundation for Economic Education |location=Midland, MI |oclc=975944242 |access-date=February 9, 2024 |archive-date=February 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213050242/https://fee.org/resources/great-myths-of-the-great-depression/ |url-status=live }}

Reed was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Public Administration from Central Michigan University in 1994 and an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Northwood University in 2008. Reed is also the recipient of the Grove City College Distinguished Alumni Award.{{Cite web |title=Lawrence W. Reed |url=https://www.mackinac.org/about/board-of-scholars/3 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Mackinac Center |language=en}}

• Republic – If We Can Keep It (with Burton W. Folsom, Jr., CreateSpace, 2012) {{ISBN|1572460318}}
• Striking the Root: Essays on Liberty {{ISBN|1890624721}}
• Lessons from the Past: The Silver Panic of 1893 {{ISBN|0910614903}}
• Private Cures for Public Ills: The Promise of Privatization {{ISBN|1572460199}}
• When We Are Free, with Dale M. Haywood {{ISBN|0873590457}}
• {{cite book|last1=Reed|first1=Lawrence W.|title=Real heroes : inspiring true stories of courage, character, and conviction|date=2016|publisher=ISI Books|location=Wilmington, Delaware|isbn=978-1610171427|oclc=951506677}}

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