I walk into the HOPE Center one morning this spring, and there at the back table are Leonidas Montes, a 2013-14 HOPE Center fellow, and Bruce Caldwell, the director of the Center. Spread across the table are dozens of newspaper clippings, each of a story pertaining to Friedrich Hayek’s two visits to Chile (in 1977 and in 1981). The two are poring over the stories, trying to piece together Hayek’s itinerary and accounts of his visits.
“Two scholars hard at work,” I say as I unlock my office.
Leonidas—or Leon, as he likes to be called—looks up at me. He gestures at the items on the table. “This is what make the HOPE Center special,” he says. “You can’t get this kind of collaboration anywhere else.”
Leon and Bruce are working on a project about Hayek’s visits to Chile, which is Leon’s home country and where he is dean of the School of Government at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, in Santiago. What happened on those visits? Why did Hayek go there? Did he have an influence?
“We want to write the real and definitive story about Hayek’s visits to Chile,” Leon says.
To that end, earlier this spring he went back to Chile for a week to interview people who were with Hayek during his visits.
But even without the opportunity to collaborate with Bruce, I get the feeling that Leon’s tenure as a HOPE Center fellow would still be positive.
“The quality of life in North Carolina is fantastic,” he says. “The atmosphere is friendly, people are relaxed, and the library at Duke is second to none. All the research material I need is here.”
And he likes the food too—especially the barbecue. He has discovered Allen and Son, which is one of the few North Carolina barbecue restaurants that still cook solely over wood coals.
“They have a hot barbecue sauce that is simply wonderful,” he says. “And of course the hushpuppies. I can’t get enough of them. They’re new to my family and me.” Then he says, “As is sweet tea.”
“Like it?” I ask.
“Love it” he responds.
Leon says that his HOPE Center fellowship gives him a rare opportunity to focus on his research. In addition to being a dean at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, he just finished a three-year stint as Chairman of the Board of TVN, Chile’s public broadcasting network. So his professional and civic life – he writes regular columns for newspaper - has been full of responsibilities lately that have pulled him away from his research interests.
Leon’s fellowship will end this spring. But he starts a sabbatical in May, which means that his stay in North Carolina into 2015 could extended.
“So, who knows? My project with Bruce will need more research than we at first thought. If you have room, I may spend my whole sabbatical here”, he responds laughing.
Allen and Son better keep those wood coals burning and those hushpuppies coming.
--Paul Dudenhefer