Editing Murray Rothbard (section)

=== Historical revisionism ===
Rothbard embraced "[[historical revisionism]]" as an antidote to what he perceived to be the dominant influence exerted by corrupt "court intellectuals" over mainstream historical narratives.<ref name=":7" /><ref name="Enemy" />{{rp|pages=15, 62, 141}}<ref name=":0">Rothbard, Murray (February 1976). [https://mises.org/daily/1541/ "The Case for Revisionism."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914001700/https://mises.org/daily/1541/ |date=September 14, 2014 }} Mises.org</ref> His friend [[Harry Elmer Barnes]], the Holocaust-denying historian, used similar language, "court historians".<ref name=":7" /> Rothbard wrote that these mainstream intellectuals distorted the historical record in favor of "the state" in exchange for "wealth, power, and prestige" from the state.<ref name="Enemy" />{{rp|page=15}} Rothbard characterized the revisionist task as "penetrating the fog of lies and deception of the State and its Court Intellectuals, and to present to the public the true history".<ref name=":0" />

Rothbard worked with antisemitic writers in developing an isolationist revisionist history of [[World War II]].<ref name=":7" /> He was influenced by and called a champion of Barnes.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":16"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Raimondo |first=Justin |title=An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-61592-239-0 |location=Amherst, NY |pages=15, 62, 141 |oclc=43541222 |author-link=Justin Raimondo}} Raimondo describes Rothbard as a "champion of Henry Elmer Barnes, the dean of world-war revisionism".</ref> Rothbard favorably cited Barnes' view that "the murder of Germans and Japanese was the overriding aim of World War II".{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} In an obituary for Barnes, Rothbard wrote: "Our entry into World War II was the crucial act in foisting a permanent militarization upon the economy and society, in bringing to the country a permanent garrison state, an overweening military–industrial complex, a permanent system of conscription. It was the crucial act in creating a mixed economy run by Big Government, a system of [[state monopoly capitalism]] run by the central government in collaboration with Big Business and Big Unionism."<ref name="Barnes RIP">{{cite web |last=Rothbard |first=Murray N. |year=2007 |title=Harry Elmer Barnes, RIP |url=http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard165.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017030255/http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard165.html |archive-date=October 17, 2012 |access-date=April 3, 2009 |publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institute |orig-year=1968}} Article originally appeared in ''[[Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought]]''.</ref> Besides broadly supporting his historical views, Rothbard promoted Barnes as an influence for future revisionists.<ref name=":1">Rothbard, Murray (1968). 
[https://web.archive.org/web/20180903114940/https://www.lewrockwell.com/1970/01/murray-n-rothbard/cold-war-myths/ "Harry Elmer Barnes as Revisionist of the Cold War."] In: ''Harry Elmer Barnes: Learned Crusader'', edited by A.E. Goddard. Colorado Springs: Ralph Myles. Archived from [https://www.lewrockwell.com/1970/01/murray-n-rothbard/cold-war-myths/ the original.]</ref>

Rothbard's endorsement of World War II revisionism and his association with Barnes and other Holocaust deniers have drawn criticism. [[Kevin D. Williamson]] wrote an opinion piece published by ''[[National Review]]'' which condemned Rothbard for "making common cause with the 'revisionist' historians of the [[Third Reich]]", a term he used to describe American Holocaust deniers associated with Rothbard, such as [[James J. Martin (historian)|James J. Martin]] of the [[Institute for Historical Review]]. The piece also characterized "Rothbard and his faction" as being "culpably indulgent" of [[Holocaust denial]], the view which "specifically denies that the Holocaust actually happened or holds that it was in some way exaggerated".<ref name=":17">[[Kevin D. Williamson|Williamson, Kevin D]]. (January 23, 2012). [http://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/293707/courting-cranks/page/0/3?cb=1 "Courting the Cranks."]''[[National Review]]'', January 2013 ed., p. 4 {{Subscription required}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020023729/http://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/articles/293707/courting-cranks/page/0/3?cb=1 |date=October 20, 2017 }}</ref> In an article for Rothbard's 50th birthday, Rothbard's friend and [[Buffalo State College]] historian [[Ralph Raico]] stated that Rothbard "is the main reason that revisionism has become a crucial part of the whole libertarian position".<ref>{{cite web|last=Raico|first=Ralph|title=Rothbard at his Semi-Centennial|url=https://mises.org/daily/4436/Murray-Rothbard-at-His-Semicentennial|publisher=Mises Institute|access-date=November 15, 2013|date=May 23, 2010|archive-date=November 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110032255/http://mises.org/daily/4436/Murray-Rothbard-at-His-Semicentennial|url-status=live}}</ref>