Karl Hess (1923–1994) was a noted author and speechwriter (for Barry Goldwater, among others). Hess was a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, atheist, and libertarian activist. His career took him from the Republican Right to the New Left in the 1960s. He joined Students for a Democratic Society, worked with the Black Panther Party, and protested the Vietnam War. The IRS charged him with tax resistance, confiscated most of his property, and put a 100% lien on his future earnings. The documentary film Karl Hess: Toward Liberty won the Academy Award for best short documentary in 1981. Later in his life, he became known as a market anarchist and a folk hero among tax resisters.