Vons Asinorum

Steve Horwitz

One of the really strange charges laid against Mises (and sometimes Hayek) is that their honorific "von"s were evidence of their disdain for the common person and that their preferred policies and institutions were really all about enhancing the power of the already powerful. In its most extreme version, it becomes evidence of complicity with fascism.  Of course this is nonsense, but it is worth noting that, at least in the early 1960s, Mises did NOT use the "von" when autographing books for friends.

I'm at Liberty Fund today and was perusing the Goodrich collection, and came across Enid Goodrich's copy of Human Action.  (Btw, Pierre's copy is there too, along with his copy of The Constitution of Liberty, both of which are heavily annotated and would make a wonderful research project for someone.)  Enid's copy is autographed by Mises, as shown below. Clearly Lu didn't think his "von" was so important that he had to use it when signing books. This suggests its relative importance in his self-conception and should be one more reason to dismiss the ridiculous arguments of crazy folks who find unwarranted significance in the "vons."

Comments

[Ross Crayon]

Now we can put to bed any rumors that Lu was a fascist, or the second shooter on the grassy knoll, since according to this inscription he was in Indianapolis on the day JFK was shot.

[Steve Horwitz]

You know, I did not even NOTICE that!

[Julie Novak]

The refutation of the notion that Mises and Hayek shared a disdain for the common person needn't even go down this track, as interesting as it is. One only need to point to black-and-white evidence of their own writings, in which they repeatedly point to the immense benefits of economic prosperity, and of civilisation founded upon the liberal order of open markets and an open society more broadly, for all humankind, including the poor.

[Mario Rizzo]

I have autographs from Mises and Hayek from around 1968. None of them use "von." And if they did, so what? If I had a "von" I would use it all over the place.

[Barkley Rosser]

Regarding this curious matter of the "vons," it seemst that through much of their careers, Hayek did not use it on publications, while (von) Mises did. The charge against Hayek on occasion is that he sometimes used it well into the 50s in private social correspondence, with this probably coming to an end about the time his first marriage did (although I could be mistaken on that), which might coincide with a change of his social circle from what it had been.

Now we have the opposite, with Ludwig late in life apparently not using the "von" in some private correspondence, or at least in signing books, while still using it for his published works.

[Mike Perry]

I though Austria banned the use of "von" after the end of World War I. Obviously, that would have no impact on either after they emigrated, but did they continue to use the von either professionally or personally between 1919 and leaving Austria?

[Barkley Rosser]

Mike,
Hayek used the "von" professionally during most of the 1920s for most of his publications, particularly those in German. He stopped using it pretty much after then, when he switched to mostly publishing in English. He apparently used it in some social settings until the 1950s, but after then did not use it at all.

Mises used his "von" for his publications pretty much throughout his career. There is some evidence, presented in the post here, that he did not always use it in social situations, or at least for signing books and such, at least later in his life.