In the midst of the Great Depression, market advocates were acutely aware that the social philosophy of the free market inspired little support within either academic institutions or pop u lar politics. They sought to overcome their isolation by establishing networks of sympathizers who could work in conjunction to reexamine the philosophical foundations of their ideas and reconstruct the public pre sen ta tion of their arguments. … Many of these new or gan i za tion al forms emerged out of the membership of the Mont Pèlerin Society, a group founded by Friedrich Hayek in 1947 to provide an international gathering place for leading phi los o phers, economists, journalists, politicians, and philanthropists who supported the market mechanism.

Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, loc. 30