By the time Friedman ascended to the society's presidency, its academic membership had become overwhelmingly oriented toward technical economics, and its public policy perspective was unambiguously libertarian. Noneconomists and social traditionalists were wary of participating in a group defi ned by positions and methodologies that diverged from their own. The nature of the problem became apparent to Friedman when he asked Irving Kristol to join the society for its twentyfi fthanniversary meeting in 1972. Kristol's po liti cal history did not accord with that of most members of the Mont Pèlerin Society. He had been a member of the Young People's Socialist League when he attended City College in the late 1930s, and more recently he had advocated aspects of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and had provided support to Hubert Humphrey's presidential ambitions.

Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, loc. 528