Karl Hess nasceu o 25 de maio de 1923 em Washington, Distrito de Columbia, EUA. Foi casado com Therese. Morreu o 22 de abril de 1994 em Charlottesville, Virgínia, EUA.
Libertarian intellectual who was an editor of Newsweek in his 20s, and later became a Republican speechwriter in the 1950s and '60s. He was simultaneously Barry Goldwater's principal writer and a member of Students for a Democratic Society. He later became an advocate of alternative technologies and energy resources.