Richard Mellon Scaife, the billionaire heir to the Mellon banking and aluminum fortune who became the most important financial architect of the modern conservative movement, died on July 4, 2014, one day after his 82nd birthday, after a battle with cancer. Scaife’s death marked the end of a …
Richard ScaifeSarah Scaife FoundationCarthage FoundationAllegheny FoundationHeritage Foundation+5 moredark-moneyconservative-movementheritage-foundationfederalist-societystate-policy-network+5 more
Comprehensive organizational analysis reveals Hoover Institution as unique conservative think tank exploiting Stanford University affiliation for academic credibility while advancing corporate-conservative agenda. Founded in 1919 by Herbert Hoover as library, the institution transformed into policy …
Hoover InstitutionHerbert HooverStanford UniversityRonald ReaganGeorge Shultz+4 moreorganizational-profileacademic-credibilitythink-tank-infrastructurereagan-administrationconservative-economics+2 more
Comprehensive organizational analysis reveals Cato Institute as mechanism for laundering corporate deregulation agenda as ’libertarian principle.’ Founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch with $500,000 initial funding from Koch Industries, Cato packages opposition …
Cato InstituteCharles KochEd CraneMurray RothbardPeter Ferrara+3 moreorganizational-profilelibertarian-covercorporate-deregulationkoch-networksocial-security-privatization+3 more
In 1986, the Madison Group was established as an informal confederation of state-level think tanks and their supporters, named after the Madison Hotel in Washington, DC where they first met. This network, which would be formalized as the State Policy Network (SPN) in 1992, represented the extension …
Thomas A. RoeAmerican Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)Heritage FoundationSouth Carolina Policy CouncilHeartland Institutethink-tank-infrastructurestate-capturealec-coordinationpowell-memo-implementationcoordinated-networks
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
Comprehensive organizational analysis reveals the Heritage Foundation’s structure as a systematic corporate capture mechanism. Founded by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner, and funded with Joseph Coors’ $250,000 seed money, Heritage grew from startup to $100M+ annual revenue by 2010s, reaching …
Heritage FoundationPaul WeyrichEdwin FeulnerJoseph CoorsRichard Mellon Scaife+3 moreorganizational-profilethink-tank-infrastructurecorporate-capturerevolving-doordark-money+2 more