By 1987, the Heritage Foundation’s annual budget had reached $14.3 million, representing a doubling from $7.1 million in 1981 and demonstrating the massive scale of corporate investment in conservative policy infrastructure. The foundation would reach $14.6 million by 1988, establishing …
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 CouncilHeritage FoundationSouth Carolina Policy CouncilHeartland Institutethink-tank-infrastructurestate-capturealec-coordinationpowell-memo-implementationcoordinated-networks
In 1985, the Bradley Foundation underwent a dramatic transformation when Rockwell International Corporation acquired the Allen-Bradley Company, expanding the foundation’s assets from $14 million to over $290 million - a more than 20-fold increase. This windfall enabled systematic, coordinated …
Michael S. JoyceLynde and Harry Bradley FoundationHeritage FoundationFederalist SocietyAmerican Enterprise Institute+2 morefoundation-fundingthink-tank-infrastructureconservative-movementcoordinated-fundingpowell-memo-implementation
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
In 1977, Charles Koch (chairman and CEO of Koch Industries), Ed Crane, and Murray Rothbard founded the Cato Institute, establishing a libertarian think tank that would become central to promoting deregulation, privatization, and reduced government oversight across all sectors of American society. …
Charles KochEd CraneMurray RothbardKoch Industriesthink-tank-infrastructurekoch-networklibertarian-movementderegulationprivatization+1 more
By 1977, the American Enterprise Institute’s budget had surged to approximately $10 million, representing more than a 12-fold increase from its 1970 budget of $800,000. This dramatic expansion transformed AEI from a modest research organization into a major policy influence machine, …
American Enterprise InstituteWilliam Baroody Sr.Gerald FordHoward Pew Freedom TrustJohn M. Olin Foundation+1 morethink-tank-infrastructurepowell-memo-implementationcorporate-fundingpolicy-launderingconservative-movement