American backers viewed European members as useful despite ideological gaps

Evidence

Yet despite his lingering uncertainty, Crane was not willing to give up on the Society. At the end of 1948, he sent a copy of Hayek’s article, “The Intellectuals and Socialism,” to his close friend and fellow activist, the Sun Oil executive J. Howard Pew. “I am a member of this Mont Pelerin Society,” Crane wrote to Pew. “We will get some things of value from the foreigners, even though they cannot understand our American idea of liberty.” — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1453

Categorization

• XREF: Crane’s condescension about ‘foreigners’ not understanding ‘our American idea of liberty’ foreshadows the persistent tension in the Mont Pèlerin network between American libertarian and European ordoliberal factions — connects to later analytic separations between the two traditions. — connects to: Americans believed their nation was exempt from European history’s burdens — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 474; Europeans projected their own aspirations and fears onto America. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 635
• SEED: The transnational friction inside the MPS — American funders distrusting European social-democratic-tinted liberalism while still funding their meetings — is a good angle for an essay on the Americanization of the neoliberal network over the 1950s.

Broader Connections

• Europeans projected their own aspirations and fears onto America. #expands (0.78) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 635
• Americans believed their nation was exempt from European history’s burdens #qualifies (0.72) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 474