In 1987, David Horowitz, a political activist, author, and founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, sat down with Bob Chitester to talk about his transformation from far left to far right. Born into a family that were members of the Communist Party USA, he spent his youth attending marches and communist summer camps. In the mid-’80s, Horowitz had a final reckoning with his years of doubts about his affiliation with the left and became a conservative. “The best intentions can lead to the worst results,” he wrote in “The Village Voice” in 1986. “I had believed in the left because of the good it had promised; I had learned to judge it by the evil it had done.” Listen to The PRC Forum: David Horowitz.

This is the third and final hour of a three-part exchange between the late Friedrich von Hayek, economist and Nobel laureate, and the late Leo Rosten, author and social scientist. In this segment, von Hayek evaluates economic trends and comments on the direction in which he believed we were heading at the time. Additionally, von Hayek talks about his very brief foray into psychology, writing a book called “The Sensory Order.” Though not well received, it taught him a great deal on the methodology of science. He later wrote that the theory of complex phenomena is equally the product of his economics and psychology work. Listen to Friedrich von Hayek and Leo Rosten Part III.

This is the second hour of a three-part exchange between the late Friedrich von Hayek, economist and Nobel laureate, and the late Leo Rosten, author and social scientist. It encompasses von Hayek’s theories and the many people and events which shaped his thoughts and career. Von Hayek spends some time discussing John Maynard Keynes and he reveals that though they shared space in the field of economics and were good friends, they eventually stopped discussing economics because their philosophies were quite different. Listen to Friedrich von Hayek and Leo Rosten Part II to learn more.

Originally recorded in 1978, this is the first session of a lively and occasionally controversial three-part interview of the late Friedrich von Hayek, economist and Nobel laureate, by the late Leo Rosten, author and social scientist. It is a wide-ranging discussion of von Hayek’s life and work, primarily in the areas of philosophy of science, political philosophy, the free will problem, and epistemology. Hayek created a furor with his book The Road to Serfdom. The book came out at a time when he was a lone voice speaking about the terrible dangers inherent in good and well-intentioned people turning powers over to government – even good government. Listen to Friedrich von Hayek and Leo Rosten Part I to learn more.

Originally recorded in 2000, Ronald W. Jones is Xerox Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Rochester, and James Gwartney holds the Gus A. Stavros Eminent Scholar Chair at Florida State University. Gwartney is also a member of the Fraser Institute and is part of the team that puts together the Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report. In this podcast, these two illustrious economists have a lengthy conversation about the concepts of economic freedom and prosperity. Though originally recorded twenty years ago, these concepts are timeless. Does wealth equal economic freedom? Listen in to Economic Freedom and Prosperity to find out.

In 1998, Bob Chitester sat down with the now late Dr. Christian de Duve, 1974 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, to talk about his background, what led him to choose his research path, and his desire to seek the truth. At some point, de Duve concluded that one of the ways to seek truth was through understanding life. However, as he tells Chitester, “You shouldn’t get away with the idea that I spent all my life thinking about the great mysteries. I forgot about the great mysteries as soon as I started doing laboratory work because then I became involved with small local mysteries…” Chitester digs deeply into de Duve’s thought process and history to learn what led him to his discoveries and, ultimately, the Nobel Prize. Listen in to A Conversation with Dr. Christian de Duve and Robert Chitester.

Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz is one of only two people to have held four different Cabinet posts. As Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989, he was instrumental in shaping the administration’s foreign policy. Listen in as Secretary Shultz and Bob Chitester talk about Shultz’s background and the kind of upbringing and education that led to his illustrious career. A Conversation with George P. Shultz and Bob Chitester was originally recorded in 2006.

George Shultz, former Secretary of State, and Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union, were responsible for the initial meetings that led to melting the ice of the Cold War. In this conversation, the two diplomats talk about their first meeting and the impressions each had on the other. Their candid exchanges made it possible for the United States and the Soviet Union to begin the process of communication. You can sense the beginnings of a mutual respect. “This is a different man. This is an agile mind… you can have a conversation with this man. He’s terrific.” This was George Shultz’s first impression of Gorbachev, and what it led to is discussed in The Art of Listening, originally recorded in 2009.

Richard Strier, author and winner of the Warren-Brooks Prize for Literary Criticism, talks with the late Richard Stern, author and professor of literature, about their memories, observations, and perspectives. Stern credits life experiences for giving texture and animation to his work and early influence from his family life on his strong preference for a concise and “boiled down” writing style. Share in “Things into Fiction” between two literary giants, originally recorded in ­­­­­­­­­­2003.

“How do we get new economic ideas? One of the fascinating questions that always bothers me, and many economists, right, is how do you get an Albert Einstein?” James Heckman posed this question to the late Robert Fogel in this discussion about Empirical Economics, originally recorded in 2001. The two Nobel prize winners talk about some of the history of economics and how changes in scientific knowledge embody the new technologies and the motor and engine of economic growth.