A Tough-Minded and Humane Man
Abstract
Having read Ben Zycher’s wonderful tribute to Bill Niskanen, I realize that I did not know Bill nearly as well as Ben did. I saw Bill about once a year on visits to Washington, when I dropped in on him at the Cato Institute. Thus, my tribute is less to his personality and more to his intellect and accomplishments. As anyone who has read much of his work knows, Bill’s writing reveals not only a first-rate intellect, but also an attractive personality and character. Part of that personality was a keen and somewhat self-deprecating sense of humor.