While the term is often associated with the notion of laissez-faire and associated adherents, it was actually coined by United States president Herbert Hoover.
This kind of environment forced people to work in isolation from the larger community and may have altered attitudes at the frontier in favor of individualistic thought over collectivism.
[3] Through the mid-twentieth century, the concept was championed by Hoover's former Secretary of the Interior and long-time president of Stanford University, Ray Lyman Wilbur, who wrote: "It is common talk that every individual is entitled to economic security.
"[4] Martin Luther King Jr. notably remarked on the term in his speech "The Other America" on March 10, 1968: "This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor.
[7] Academics interviewed in the 2020 book Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequality, co-written by Noam Chomsky, largely found that the continued belief in this brand of individualism is a strong factor in American policies surrounding social spending and welfare.