Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Austrian theorist and author (d. 1999)
Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn (German: [ˈkyːnəlt lɛˈdiːn], born 31 July 1909 in Tobelbad, Styria, Austria-Hungary; died 26 May 1999 in Lans, Tyrol), was an Austrian political scientist and philosopher. He opposed the French Revolution as well as communism and Nazism. 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, and 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.Described as "A Walking Book of Knowledge", Kuehnelt-Leddihn had an encyclopedic knowledge of the humanities and was a polyglot, able to speak eight languages and read seventeen others.
His early books The Menace of the Herd and Liberty or Equality were influential within the American conservative movement. An associate of William F. Buckley Jr., his best-known writings appeared in National Review, where he was a columnist for 35 years.