President Jimmy Carter signs legislation establishing the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy (SCIRP), a sixteen-member bipartisan body charged with conducting a comprehensive review of U.S. immigration policy and recommending reforms. Chaired by Father Theodore Hesburgh, president …
Jimmy CarterTheodore HesburghU.S. CongressAlan SimpsonRomano Mazzoliimmigrationpolicy-reformbipartisancommissionamnesty
In August 1978, the IRS proposes new rules tightening tax-exempt status requirements for private elementary and secondary schools under IRC 501(c)(3) and begins holding hearings to determine whether segregated Christian academies should be eligible for tax exemption. The announcement triggers the …
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)Paul WeyrichRichard ViguerieBob Jones UniversityChristian academiesirs-policyreligious-right-foundingpaul-weyrichsegregation-academiesconservative-mobilization
Congress passes and President Jimmy Carter signs the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), establishing that it is “the policy of the United States to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions …
U.S. CongressPresident Jimmy CarterBureau of Indian AffairsNative American tribesindigenous-rightsreligious-freedomsacred-sitesineffective-legislationsymbolic-policy
On August 7, 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared a federal health emergency at Love Canal, a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York built atop a toxic waste dump. The disaster exposed how Hooker Chemical Company had knowingly sold contaminated land for housing development while concealing the …
Hooker Chemical CompanyOccidental PetroleumNiagara Falls Board of EducationLois GibbsJimmy Carter+1 moreenvironmentalpollutioncorporate-coveruptoxic-wastepublic-health+1 more
After six cloture attempts fail to break a Senate filibuster, the Labor Law Reform Act of 1978 dies on June 22, marking the most significant corporate lobbying victory since Taft-Hartley and demonstrating that even with Democratic supermajorities and a Democratic president, business interests can …
Business RoundtableU.S. Chamber of CommerceNational Association of ManufacturersAFL-CIOU.S. Senate+1 morelaborlabor-lawfilibustercorporate-lobbyingbusiness-roundtable+1 more
On June 6, 1978, California voters approved Proposition 13 with nearly two-thirds support, fundamentally altering the state’s fiscal structure and launching a national tax revolt movement. The initiative, championed by Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann, added Article XIIIA to the California …
Howard JarvisPaul Ganntax-policyausterityneoliberalismprivatization
Justice Lewis Powell delivers majority opinion in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (435 U.S. 765), establishing for first time that corporations have First Amendment speech rights to influence ballot initiatives and political campaigns. Powell’s 5-4 decision strikes down Massachusetts …
Lewis F. Powell Jr.Supreme Court of the United StatesFirst National Bank of BostonFrancis X. Bellotti (Massachusetts Attorney General)Corporate Interestscorporate-speech-rightsfirst-amendmentbellotti-decisionpowell-memo-implementationcampaign-finance+1 more
Just three years after settling the landmark housing discrimination case with a court-supervised consent decree, the Department of Justice returned to federal court with new allegations: the Trump Organization had violated the settlement terms and continued systematic discrimination against Black …
Donald TrumpFred TrumpRoy Cohnracismhousing discriminationtrump familycivil rightsdoj
In 1978, William J. Casey and Antony Fisher established the International Center for Economic Policy Studies (ICEPS) in Manhattan, which would be renamed the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research in 1981. Casey, a neoconservative who would become Reagan’s CIA Director from 1981 to 1987, …
William J. CaseyAntony FisherCharles MurrayGeorge KellingJames Q. Wilsonthink-tank-infrastructureintelligence-domestic-policybroken-windows-policingwelfare-reformconservative-movement+1 more
President Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), requiring banks to meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods previously redlined by lenders. The law responds to decades of documented discriminatory lending that drained deposits …
President Jimmy CarterSenator William ProxmireAmerican Bankers AssociationFederal ReserveFDIC+1 moreregulatory-responsehousing-policybanking-regulationcivil-rightshousing
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the NLRB’s finding that J.P. Stevens & Company engaged in the “most flagrant and extensive violations” of labor law in the board’s history, confirming over 100 unfair labor practice findings against the textile giant. Stevens …
J.P. Stevens & CompanyAmalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers UnionNational Labor Relations BoardCorporate Campaign Inc.laborunion-bustingnlrbtextile-industrycorporate-power+1 more
Senior Exxon scientist James Black delivered a sobering message to company executives about carbon dioxide warming the planet, marking the beginning of documented internal knowledge at Exxon about climate change risks. Internal research from 1977-1982 created remarkably accurate climate models …
James BlackRoger CohenExxonMobilExxon CorporationHarvard Climate Research Teamclimate-denialregulatory-capturefossil-fuelscorporate-knowledgeenvironmental-capture+1 more
The U.S. Supreme Court decides Continental Television, Inc. v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., marking the first significant victory for Chicago School antitrust theory at the Supreme Court and signaling the beginning of judicial embrace of corporate-friendly antitrust doctrine. The decision reflects decades of …
U.S. Supreme CourtAaron DirectorChicago School of Economicsantitrust-abandonmentchicago-schooljudicial-capturecorporate-poweraaron-director
Edwin J. Feulner Jr., co-founder of the Heritage Foundation in 1973, assumed the presidency of the conservative think tank in 1977, beginning what would become a transformative 36-year tenure that built Heritage from a modest Capitol Hill operation with 9 staff members into the preeminent …
Edwin FeulnerHeritage FoundationPaul WeyrichRichard ScaifeJoseph Coors+3 moreheritage-foundationconservative-movementthink-tank-influenceinstitutional-capturedark-money+4 more
Following the Buckley v. Valeo decision, corporations rapidly established Political Action Committees to influence elections. The number of corporate PACs grew from 89 in 1974 to 1,206 by 1980 - a 1,254% increase. This represented a systematic corporate mobilization to capture political influence, …
Corporate AmericaBusiness RoundtableChamber of CommerceFECcorporate-pacscampaign-financesystematic-corruptioninstitutional-capture
President Gerald Ford signed the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act), requiring companies to notify the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Antitrust Division of large proposed mergers and wait 30 days before consummating transactions, giving regulators time to …
Gerald FordSenator Philip HartSenator Hugh ScottRepresentative Peter RodinoFederal Trade Commission+1 moreantitrustmerger-enforcementregulatory-frameworkcorporate-powerpremerger-notification
Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. authors the majority opinion in Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, establishing First Amendment protection for commercial speech by striking down state restrictions on prescription drug price advertising. This landmark decision creates …
Lewis F. Powell Jr.William BrennanWarren BurgerByron WhiteThurgood Marshall+1 morecommercial-speechfirst-amendmentcorporate-rightsjudicial-captureconstitutional-expansion
The Supreme Court rules in Hills v. Gautreaux that metropolitan-wide remedies are permissible for housing discrimination, distinguishing the case from its Milliken v. Bradley school desegregation decision that limited remedies to municipal boundaries. Justice Potter Stewart’s opinion finds …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice Potter StewartU.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentChicago Housing AuthorityLeadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communitiesinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policylegal-resistance
On January 30, 1976, the Supreme Court issued its landmark per curiam decision in Buckley v. Valeo, fundamentally transforming American campaign finance law by establishing that spending money on political campaigns constitutes protected speech under the First Amendment. The case challenged the …
Supreme CourtLewis F. Powell Jr.James BuckleyEugene McCarthyFrancis Valeo+1 morecampaign-financesupreme-courtinstitutional-capturejudicial-activism
During his 1976 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan regularly told the story of a Chicago ‘welfare queen’ to attack social programs using racially coded language. At a campaign speech in Gilford, New Hampshire, Reagan declared: ‘In Chicago, they found a woman who holds the record. …
Ronald ReaganLinda Taylorracial-politicsdog-whistle-politicswelfare-policyrepublican-partysocial-safety-net+1 more
Billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife emerges as the Heritage Foundation’s largest and most crucial donor, contributing $420,000 in 1976 alone - representing 42 percent of the foundation’s total $1 million annual budget. Scaife’s massive financial commitment transforms Heritage from a …
Richard Mellon ScaifeHeritage FoundationScaife Family Charitable TrustJoseph CoorsEdwin Meese IIIbillionaire-fundingthink-tank-expansionconservative-infrastructurepolitical-influencenarrative-control+2 more
At the National Press Club on October 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford gave a speech refusing to provide federal assistance to New York City, which was on the verge of bankruptcy after losing nearly 600,000 jobs and hundreds of thousands of residents fleeing to the suburbs or Sunbelt. The New York …
President Gerald Ford signed the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1975, extending the VRA’s special provisions for seven years and dramatically expanding its scope to protect language minorities—including Latino, Asian American, Native American, and Alaska Native voters. The amendments …
Gerald FordCongressBarbara JordanEdward RoybalMexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fundvoting-rightsfederal-legislationlanguage-minoritieslatino-rightsnative-american-rights+1 more
After nearly two years of aggressive legal combat, Donald Trump and his father Fred Trump signed a consent decree settling the Department of Justice’s landmark housing discrimination lawsuit. The settlement included the standard legal disclaimer that it was “in no way an admission” …
Donald TrumpFred TrumpRoy Cohnracismhousing discriminationtrump familycivil rightsdoj
Final Church Committee report reveals extensive details about Project MKULTRA, documenting systematic psychological manipulation techniques developed by CIA during Cold War. The investigation exposed how intelligence agencies conducted unethical human experimentation, including drug-based mind …
Senator Frank ChurchCIAIntelligence CommunityDonald Ewen CameronNSA+1 morepsychological-manipulationinstitutional-researchgovernment-operationsintelligence-abusehuman-rights+1 more
The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, led by Senator Frank Church, comprehensively investigated illegal activities by US intelligence agencies. The committee exposed widespread constitutional violations including NSA’s Project …
Frank ChurchCIANSAFBIintelligence-oversightcivil-libertiescongressional-investigationsurveillanceinstitutional-reform
On April 22, 1975, the Senate formally established the Church Committee to investigate systematic abuses by U.S. intelligence agencies. Led by Senator Frank Church, the committee exposed unprecedented violations of constitutional rights by the CIA, NSA, and FBI, including illegal surveillance of …
Senator Frank ChurchSenator John TowerU.S. SenateCIANSA+2 moreinstitutional-resistanceintelligence-oversightdemocratic-safeguardsconstitutional-rightsgovernment-accountability
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) commences operations with six commissioners appointed by President Gerald Ford, establishing the regulatory framework that will institutionalize and legitimize the explosion of corporate political action committees following the 1974 FECA amendments. Created as …
Federal Election Commission (FEC)President Gerald Fordfeccorporate-pacscampaign-financeregulatory-frameworkfeca
On February 21, 1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2.5 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up. All three men had been convicted of every count against them—a total of 14 felonies …
H.R. HaldemanJohn EhrlichmanJohn N. MitchellJohn Siricawatergateobstruction-of-justiceaccountabilityinstitutional-corruptionabuse-of-power
The U.S. Senate voted 82-to-4 on January 27, 1975 to form the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, chaired by Senator Frank Church of Idaho. Created after Seymour Hersh’s December 1974 NYT revelations about CIA assassination attempts, the …
Senator Frank ChurchChurch CommitteeMike MansfieldSeymour HershCIA+3 moreintelligence-privatizationchurch-committeesurveillance-abuseconstitutional-violationproject-shamrock+3 more
By the mid-1970s, Richard Viguerie had revolutionized conservative political fundraising through direct mail campaigns, building a massive donor network that would finance the New Right movement and create the infrastructure for corporate-funded “grassroots” activism. Dubbed the …
Richard VigueriePaul WeyrichHoward PhillipsMorton BlackwellTerry Dolan+1 morefundraising-infrastructuredirect-mailgrassroots-mobilizationnew-rightconservative-movement+1 more
Arthur Laffer, University of Chicago professor, sketches a curve on a napkin during dinner with Jude Wanniski (Wall Street Journal associate editor), Donald Rumsfeld, and Dick Cheney, creating the iconic diagram that will justify massive tax cuts for the wealthy and become the intellectual …
Arthur LafferJude WanniskiDonald RumsfeldDick Cheneysupply-side-economicslaffer-curvetax-policychicago-schooleconomic-ideology
Congress passes two major housing consumer protection laws in 1974: the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) prohibiting discrimination in lending based on sex and marital status (race added in 1976), and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) requiring disclosure of closing costs. …
U.S. CongressPresident Gerald FordAmerican Bankers AssociationMortgage Bankers AssociationFederal Reservefair-lendingconsumer-protectionhousing-policyindustry-lobbyinghousing
Congress enacts amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), legitimizing the role of corporations and business-related groups in federal elections and inadvertently triggering explosive growth in corporate political action committees that fundamentally shifts campaign finance in favor of …
U.S. CongressFederal Election Commission (FEC)campaign-financecorporate-pacsfecapowell-memopolitical-money
Court-ordered school desegregation begins in Boston amid massive white violence and resistance, shattering illusions that Northern cities differ from Southern segregation. Following Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr.’s June 1974 ruling in Morgan v. Hennigan that Boston School Committee …
Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr.Louise Day HicksRestore Our Alienated RightsBoston School Committeeinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policyeducation-policy
On Sunday, September 8, 1974—exactly one month after Nixon’s resignation—President Gerald Ford addressed the nation from the Oval Office to announce his decision to “grant a full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard …
President Gerald Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) into law on September 2, 1974, Labor Day, following near-unanimous passage in Congress (85-0 in the Senate, with only two House representatives opposed). The legislation responded to catastrophic pension failures like …
On the evening of August 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon addressed the nation and announced his intention to resign, effective at noon the following day. At noon on August 9, 1974, Nixon officially ended his term, departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn. Minutes later, …
Richard NixonGerald FordSpiro Agnewwatergatepresidential-accountabilityconstitutional-crisisinstitutional-corruption
Under order from the Supreme Court’s unanimous July 24 decision in United States v. Nixon, President Nixon released the tape recording of his June 23, 1972 conversation with Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman on August 5, 1974. The tape provided irrefutable proof that Nixon had ordered the CIA to …
Richard NixonH.R. HaldemanHouse Judiciary CommitteeRepublican Partywatergateobstruction-of-justiceabuse-of-powerinstitutional-corruptionaccountability-failure
On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommended that President Richard M. Nixon be impeached and removed from office, adopting Article I (Obstruction of Justice) by a vote of 27-11 at 7:07pm in Room 2141 of the Rayburn Office Building. The first article charged Nixon with engaging in a …
House Judiciary CommitteePeter RodinoRobert McCloryRichard Nixonwatergatecongressional-oversightobstruction-of-justiceabuse-of-powerimpeachment
On July 25, 1974, the Supreme Court issued its 5-4 ruling in Milliken v. Bradley, effectively ending meaningful school desegregation efforts across metropolitan America by prohibiting cross-district busing remedies to address urban-suburban segregation. The decision exempted wealthy white suburbs …
Chief Justice Warren BurgerJustice Thurgood MarshallU.S. Supreme CourtNAACP Legal Defense FundDetroit Public Schoolseducationsupreme-courtsegregationhousing-policyjudicial-capture+2 more
On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous 8-0 decision in United States v. Nixon, ordering President Richard Nixon to deliver sixty-four tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials related to the Watergate scandal to the federal district court. Chief Justice Warren Burger—a Nixon …
US Treasury Secretary William Simon negotiated a pivotal agreement with Saudi Arabia that established the petrodollar recycling system, fundamentally reshaping global monetary dynamics. Simon convinced Saudi Arabia to sell oil exclusively in US dollars and invest oil revenues in US Treasury bonds, …
William SimonAhmed Zaki YamaniRichard NixonKing FaisalHenry Kissinger+2 morepetrodollar-systemmonetary-policyoil-politicsfinancial-systeminternational-finance
On June 21, 1974, Charles Wendell “Chuck” Colson—Nixon’s Special Counsel and the official known as the President’s “hatchet man”—pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with attempts to discredit Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. Colson …
Chuck ColsonDaniel EllsbergE. Howard HuntJohn Ehrlichmanwatergateobstruction-of-justicewhistleblower-retaliationplea-bargainaccountability-failure
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Saudi Crown Prince Fahd signed a framework agreement in Washington DC establishing the US-Saudi Arabian Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation. This historic agreement created both economic and military commissions aimed at promoting Saudi investments in the …
Henry KissingerPrince Fahd bin AbdulazizRichard NixonSaudi ArabiaUnited States+1 morepetrodollar-systeminternational-agreementseconomic-policyoil-politicscold-war-geopolitics
In 1974, Richard Girnt Butler, a 55-year-old retired aeronautical engineer and Christian Identity adherent, uses proceeds from a profitable invention to purchase a 20-acre property near Hayden Lake, Idaho, establishing what will become the nerve center of the white supremacist movement in North …
Richard Girnt ButlerAryan NationsChurch of Jesus Christ ChristianChristian Posse ComitatusThe Order+1 morewhite-supremacydomestic-terrorismhate-groupspolitical-extremismchristian-identity
President Richard Nixon signed the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 into law on December 29, 1973, following Senate sponsorship by Edward Kennedy. The Act provided grants and loans to start or expand Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), removed certain state restrictions for federally …
Richard NixonJohn EhrlichmanEdward KennedyEdgar Kaiserhealthcare-profiteeringinstitutional-capturecorporate-profitprivatization
On December 28, 1973, President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) into law after it passed the Senate 92-0 and the House 355-4. The near-unanimous votes masked deep industry opposition that would fuel decades of efforts to weaken the law through administrative action, litigation, and …
Richard NixonAmerican Mining CongressNational Forest Products AssociationAmerican Farm Bureau FederationWestern States Petroleum Association+1 moreenvironmentalendangered-species-actregulatory-capturecorporate-lobbyingwildlife
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors formally adopts recommendations from a 40-member task force of business executives convened to review and implement Lewis Powell’s 1971 memo. The task force, comprised of executives from U.S. Steel, General Electric, ABC, General Motors, CBS, 3M, …
U.S. Chamber of CommerceEugene B. Sydnor Jr.Lewis F. Powell Jr.powell-memocorporate-strategyinstitutional-capturebusiness-coordination
On November 1, 1973, just twelve days after the Saturday Night Massacre, Solicitor General Robert Bork announced he had selected, and President Nixon approved, Leonidas “Leon” Jaworski to serve as the second special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. Jaworski, a prominent Texas …
Leon JaworskiRobert BorkRichard NixonArchibald Coxwatergatecongressional-oversightinstitutional-corruptionrule-of-law