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A position paper by Benjamin A. Rogge and Pierre F. Goodrich leads off Liberty Fund's collection advocating an educational system based strictly on private and voluntary institutions.

“We oppose state operation of educational programs at any level; we oppose state financing of such programs at any level, in any form (including tax relief); we oppose state coercion of participation in such programs, whether public or private/ We believe that education must, by its nature, be a part of the private sector of society, We can hardly put our position more plainly or more forcefully.”

Benjamin A. Rogge

Benjamin A. Rogge (1920–1980) was an American economist, college administrator, and libertarian writer, speaker and foundation advisor. Rogge co-authored an economics principles textbook with John Van Sickle. One strength of the text is the account that it gives of Joseph Schumpeter's process of creative destruction. Rogge helped organize a series of lectures by Milton Friedman at Wabash that were eventually developed into Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom book. Much later, Rogge participated in a brainstorming session for Friedman's Free to Choose television series. 

Liberty Fund was founded with money from Pierre Goodrich, who sought advice from Rogge during the Fund's early years. Rogge also was a frequent presenter at the seminars of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). FEE's founder, Leonard Read, thought of Rogge as Read's eventual successor, an outcome prevented by Read outliving Rogge. An extended (but somewhat grainy) video clip of a Rogge FEE lecture on "Competition and Monopoly" illustrates the dry wit that made him a popular speaker.

Rogge helped produce, and narrated, a documentary on Adam Smith that was funded by Liberty Fund. A collection of Rogge's speeches, often on topics in economics or education, was published under the title Can Capitalism Survive?

Wabash College, where he taught for many years, established a speaker series in his honor. Rogge's archives are mainly housed at the Hoover Institute on the campus of Stanford University. A posthumous collection of Rogge's speeches

Pierre F. Goodrich

Pierre F. Goodrich (1894-1973) - millionaire businessman and lawyer, was one of the early philanthropist supporters of the libertarian/free market cause in America.

His father, James Goodrich, served as governor of Indiana from 1917 to 1921 and as adviser to Presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover.

The Goodriches made their money by selling all their stocks in the overvalued market of 1929, and then buying it back at a much lower price during the Great Depression. They built an empire around a diverse base including mining and banking; Pierre Goodrich himself was President and main stockholder of the Indiana Telephone Corporation.

A friend of F.A. Hayek, Goodrich supported various libertarian causes throughout his life, including the Institute for Human Studies and the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, but he is best known for founding the Liberty Fund in 1960. Upon his death in 1973, Mr. Goodrich left most of his estate to the Foundation for the purpose of exploring the many dimensions of liberty. This interest is reflected in the name he chose for the Foundation. The Liberty Fund Board of Directors and staff are guided by his philosophy and instructions in developing specific programs.