About Paul Matzko

Paul Matzko is a historian specializing in the intersection of politics and religion in twentieth century America. He previously taught at Pennsylvania State University and Princeton University; he is currently the Assistant Editor for Tech and Innovation at the Cato Institute and host of a podcast about the future called "Building Tomorrow."

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The Radio Right: How a Band of Broadcasters Took on the Federal Government and Built the Modern Conservative Movement Apr 1, 2020

by Paul Matzko

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In the past few years, trust in traditional media has reached new lows. Many Americans disbelieve what they hear from the "mainstream media," and have turned to getting information from media echo chambers which are reflective of a single party or ideology. In this book, Paul Matzko reveals that this is not the first such moment in modern American history.

The Radio Right tells the story of the 1960s far Right, who were frustrated by what they perceived to be liberal bias in the national media, particularly the media's sycophantic relationship with the John F. Kennedy administration. These people turned for news and commentary to a resurgent form of ultra-conservative mass media: radio. As networks shifted their resources to television, radio increasingly became the preserve of cash-strapped, independent station owners who were willing to air the hundreds of new right-wing programs that sprang up in the late 1950s and 1960s. By the early 1960s, millions of Americans listened each week to conservative broadcasters, the most prominent of which were clergy or lay broadcasters from across the religious spectrum, including Carl McIntire, Billy James Hargis, and Clarence Manion. Though divided by theology, these speakers were united by their distrust of political and theological liberalism and their antipathy towards JFK. The political influence of the new Radio Right quickly became apparent as the broadcasters attacked the Kennedy administration's policies and encouraged grassroots conservative activism on a massive scale.

Matzko relates how, by 1963, Kennedy was so alarmed by the rise of the Radio Right that he ordered the Internal Revenue Service and Federal Communications Commission to target conservative broadcasters with tax audits and enhanced regulatory scrutiny via the Fairness Doctrine. Right-wing broadcasters lost hundreds of stations and millions of listeners. Not until the deregulation of the airwaves under the Carter and Reagan administrations would right-wing radio regain its former prominence. The Radio Right provides the essential pre-history for the last four decades of conservative activism, as well as the historical context for current issues of political bias and censorship in the media.

Other Formats: Hardcover

Visions of Liberty Apr 7, 2020

by Aaron Ross Powell , Paul Matzko , David Boaz , Michael D. Tanner , Neal P. McCluskey , Michael F. Cannon , Trevor Burrus , Terence Kealey , Patrick J. Michaels , Clark Neily , Patrick G. Eddington , Daniel J. Ikenson , Alex Nowrasteh , John Glaser , George Selgin , Diego Zuluaga , Will Duffield , Matthew Feeney , Anthony Comegna , Gene Healy , Jason Kuznicki

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Noted scholars and advocates of liberty offer inspiring visions of a more libertarian world.

Regardless of our political commitments, we all want the world to be better. We want people everywhere to be healthier, happier, safer, and more prosperous than ever before. Political liberty―the freedom to live our lives as we want while affording others the right to do the same, free from the heavy hand of the state―is the best way to achieve that goal.

Visions of Liberty is more than just an introduction to the broad scope of political liberty. It will leave you with a strong sense―a clear vision―of what the application of genuine libertarian policies looks like in practice.

Our contributors take different approaches. Some look to the past, pointing out how things worked before government got involved. Others look forward, offering future histories that describe how things could play out if we make certain choices. But each of them shares the fi rm belief that when freed from the meddlesome and coercive hand of the state, people can do amazing things. Liberty unleashes our drive for ingenuity and sense of compassion. This radical vision of a world that might be is truly worth striving for.

Other Formats: Paperback

The Lively Experiment: Religious Toleration in America from Roger Williams to the Present Mar 19, 2015

by Chris Beneke , Christopher S. Grenda , Jon Butler , Teresa M Bejan , James B. Bennett , Jacob Betz , Steven Green , Evan Haefeli , Cristine T. Hutchison-Jones , Christopher C. Jones , Susanna Linsley , Paul E. Matzko , David Mislin , Andrew Murphy , Keith Pacholl , Nicholas Pellegrino , Shawn F. Peters , Scott Sowerby , Denise A. Spellberg , Ronit Stahl , Evelyn Sterne , Kip A. Wedel

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$37.00

Beginning with the legacy of Roger Williams, who in 1633 founded the first colony not restricted to people of one faith, The Lively Experiment chronicles how Americans have continually demolished traditional prejudices while at the same time erecting new walls between belief systems. The chapters gathered here reveal how Americans are sensitively attuned to irony and contradiction, to unanticipated eruptions of bigotry and unheralded acts of decency, and to the disruption caused by new movements and the reassurance supplied by old divisions. The authors examine the way ethnicity, race, and imperialism have been woven into the fabric of interreligious relations and highlight how currents of tolerance and intolerance have rippled in multiple directions. Nearly four hundred years after Roger Williams' Rhode Island colony, the "lively experiment" of religious tolerance remains a core tenet of the American way of life. This volume honors this boisterous tradition by offering the first comprehensive account of America’s vibrant and often tumultuous history of interreligious relations.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

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