Karl Hess (May 25, 1923 – April 22, 1994) was an American national-level speechwriter and author. He was also a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, atheist, and libertarian activist. His career included stints on the Republican right and the New Left before embracing free-market anarchism. Later in life, he summed up his role in the economy by remarking “I am by occupation a free marketer (crafts and ideas, woodworking, welding, and writing).”