Inquiry Magazine was founded in 1977 as part of the Cato Institute, in an effort by libertarian donor Charles Koch and Cato president Ed Crane to build public policy institutions for the libertarian movement.

[5][6] At different points in its history, its editorial staffers included Frank Browning, Jonathan Marshall, Mark Paul, Ralph Raico, and Jack Shafer.

In the early 1980s, Koch and Crane grew dissatisfied with the publishing efforts they supported, which included Inquiry Magazine and the Libertarian Review.

Established along with Cato, Inquiry was initially a journal of investigative reporting and libertarian-oriented opinion.

[9] It featured regular columns by Nat Hentoff on civil liberties and Thomas Szasz on psychiatry, foreign reporting by Penny Lernoux, and CIA exposes by such writers as David Wise and Fred Landis.