David Nolan (libertarian)

David Fraser Nolan (/ˈnoʊlən/; November 23, 1943 – November 21, 2010) was an American activist and politician. He was one of the founders of the Libertarian Party of the United States, having hosted the meeting in 1971 at which the Party was founded. Nolan subsequently served the party in a number of roles including National Chair, editor of the party newsletter, chairman of the By-laws Committee, chairman of the Judicial Committee, and Chairman of the Platform Committee.
He is also known as the popularizer and as the inventor of the Nolan Chart which attempts to improve on the simplistic left versus right political taxonomy by separating the issues of economic freedom and social freedom and presenting them on a two-dimensional plane instead of the traditional line. As of 2012, it continues to be popular, distributed as "The World's Smallest Political Quiz".

Nolan was born on November 23, 1943, in Washington, D. C., and grew up in Maryland. During high school, he was influenced by Ayn Rand and Robert Heinlein and their libertarianism. He enrolled at MIT, graduating with a BS in political science in 1965.

While the traditional political "left-right" spectrum is a line, the Nolan Chart, created by David Nolan, is a plane, situating libertarianism in a wider gamut of political thought.

Nolan was a member of Young Americans for Freedom in 1969 when more than 300 libertarians organized to take control of the organization from conservatives. Many walked out after a physical confrontation sparked by the burning of a draft card in protest to a conservative proposal against draft resistance. While sympathizing with the radicals, Nolan remained with the organization.

Nolan at the 2008 Libertarian Party national convention

President Richard Nixon's 1971 imposition of wage and price controls, as well as his closing of the foreign gold window, were the final straws for Nolan and his group that had initiated a Committee the previous July Committee to Form a Libertarian Party and joined forces with a previous demonstration Libertarian Party project and non-partisan political efforts of the now International Society for Individual Liberty. The group organized among a number of libertarians, including The Society for Individual Liberty, which had been formed by dissident members of Young Americans for Freedom and European libertarians. They officially founded the Libertarian Party on December 11, 1971.

He ran unsuccessfully as a Libertarian for the United States House of Representatives in Arizona's 8th congressional district election, 2006 and received 1.9% of the vote. He also ran as the Libertarian candidate in the 2010 U.S. Senate election in Arizona, and received 63,000 votes, 4.7% of the total.

In 2009, Nolan publicly endorsed the Free State Project, an attempt to move 20,000 Libertarians to New Hampshire to experience "Liberty in their Lifetimes".

Nolan died of a stroke in Tucson, Arizona on November 21, 2010.