During the years surrounding World War II, the leading market advocates in the United States had generally remained distant from public discussion and wary of pop u lar audiences. In their occasional public appearances Hayek and Mises were received as exotic specimens from the Viennese intellectual world. Wilhelm Röpke was too sensitive to engage in dispute with fellow intellectuals— much less general audiences— without descending into an introverted gloom. The only thing Frank Knight abhorred more than an audience of his fellow academics was one of nonacademics, and he correspondingly refused to share his ideas outside a university environment.

Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, loc. 496