David Nolan founded the Libertarian Party in 1971. He 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.
Nolan was born in Washington, D.C and spent his earliest years growing up in Maryland. During high school, he read much science fiction and came upon the works of Robert Heinlein, an author whose libertarianism shaped his own ideology. He continued further to read the works of Ayn Rand. Becoming a libertarian, he entered MIT. He originally declared his major as architecture, but switched his major to politics.
Nolan is also known as the inventor of the Nolan Chart which obsoleted the simple left vs. right political taxonomy by separating the issues of economic freedom and social freedom. For this, he is included in the reference book 2000 Leading Intellectuals of the 20th Century.
He received a degree in political science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
