Leonard E. Read

Leonard E. Read (1898-1983) founded the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946, one of the first American think tanks devoted to free-market economics.

A devout Christian, Read opposed the "social gospel" fashionable during the New Deal. Read sought to persuade ministers to promote free market principles, and led the Foundation for Economic Education for nearly 40 years in promoting free enterprise.

Read authored many works, the most famous being his essay entitled "I, Pencil."