Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
Born	31 July 1909 Tobelbad, Duchy of Styria, Austria-Hungary (now Haselsdorf-Tobelbad, Styria, Austria)
Died	26 May 1999 (1999-05-27) (aged 89) Lans, Tyrol, Austria
Spouse	Countess Christiane Gräfin von Goess
Children	3, including Gottfried
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Vienna University of Budapest (MA, PhD)
Influences	Plato Aristotle Aquinas Goethe Tocqueville Montalembert Burckhardt Taine Acton Mises Rüstow Jünger Röpke
Academic work
Era	20th-century
Discipline	Political philosophy Political science Intellectual history
School or tradition	Monarchism Liberal conservatism Conservative liberalism Elitism
Main interests	Monarchy · Comparative politics · History of political thought · Criticism of socialism · Criticism of democracy

Erik Maria Ritter^[a] von Kuehnelt-Leddihn^[b] (31 July 1909 – 26 May 1999) was an Austrian-American nobleman and polymath, whose areas of interest included philosophy, history, political science, economics, linguistics, art and theology. He opposed the ideas of the French Revolution, as well as those of communism and Nazism.^[1] Describing himself as a "conservative arch-liberal" or "extreme liberal", Kuehnelt-Leddihn often argued that majority rule in democracies is a threat to individual liberties. He declared himself a monarchist and an enemy of all forms of totalitarianism, although he also supported what he defined as "non-democratic republics", such as Switzerland and the early United States.^{[citation needed]} Kuehnelt-Leddihn cited the U.S. Founding Fathers, Tocqueville, Burckhardt, and Montalembert as the primary influences for his skepticism towards democracy.^[2]

Described as a "Walking Book of Knowledge" by William F. Buckley Jr., Kuehnelt-Leddihn had an encyclopedic knowledge of humanities and was a polyglot, able to speak eight languages and read seventeen others.^[3] His early books The Menace of the Herd (1943) and Liberty or Equality (1952) were influential within the American conservative movement. An associate of Buckley Jr., his best-known writings appeared in National Review, where he was a columnist for 35 years.

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