Hayek responded to Luhnow with shocking tragic news: Henry Simons was dead; he had committed suicide on June 19. Hayek lamented: "I have just had the sad news that Henry Simons has suddenly died in Chicago. He was so much the intellectual centre of the group I had in mind and the attraction which made Director willing to go to Chicago that I cannot yet see what the consequences of it will be." Hayek continued, "I had become very fond of him. I wish I knew somebody to replace him. But if my scheme collapses as a result I really don't know where to turn." Given the precise timing, it is difficult not to imagine some connection between Simons's suicide and the Director snafu. It thus seemed that the whole plot to pave the American Road had hit an insuperable obstacle.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 749