Influenced by Friedrich Hayek’s 1944 antisocialist manifesto, The Road to Serfdom, he developed a strong libertarian streak—and saw the American West as its natural expression. Earning a B.A. at Stanford on the GI Bill, he spent a year at Harvard, studying politics and reinforcing his suspicion of East Coast know-it-alls and dislike of northern winters. The professors, he believed, were “liberal blatherers” who condescended to the rubes from the provinces.31
Yet he took govt aid *eye roll*
