Reason was founded in 1968 by Lanny Friedlander (1947–2011), a student at
Boston University, as a more-or-less monthly
mimeographed publication. In 1970, Robert W. Poole Jr., Manuel S. Klausner, and
Tibor R. Machan bought it and set it on a more regular publishing schedule. In 1978, Poole, Klausner, and Machan created the associated
Reason Foundation, in order to expand the magazine's ideas into policy research.
Virginia Postrel was editor-in-chief of the magazine from July 1989 to January 2000. She founded the magazine's website in 1995.
Nick Gillespie became editor-in-chief in 2000. In June 2004, subscribers to
Reason magazine received a personalized issue that had their name, and a
satellite photo of their home or workplace on the cover. The concept was to demonstrate the power of public databases, as well as the customized printing capabilities of Xeikon's printer, according to then editor-in-chief Nick Gillespie. The move was seen by David Carr of
The New York Times as "the ultimate in customized publishing" as well as "a remarkable demonstration of the growing number of ways databases can be harnessed." ,
Nick Gillespie,
Matt Welch Katherine Mangu-Ward became the magazine's editor-in-chief in June 2016, with Welch moving to an editor-at-large position. Nick Gillespie is the other editor-at-large of
Reason. ==Hit & Run==