Heritage Foundation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Heritage Foundation is a public policy research institute based in Washington, D.C., in the United States.
Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." Its operations have transformed the traditional concept of the "think tank" and have had a significant impact on the domestic and foreign policies of the United States government.
Founded in 1973, Heritage's initial funding came from political conservative Joseph Coors, co-owner of the Coors Brewing Company. Coors funding was later augmented by financial support from billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. Conservative activist Paul Weyrich was its first head. Since 1977, Heritage's president has been Edwin Feulner, Jr., previously the staff director of the House Republican Study Committee and a former staff assistant to U.S. Congressman Phil Crane.
Until 2001, the Heritage Foundation published Policy Review, a public policy journal, which was then acquired by the Hoover Institution.
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[edit] History and major initiatives
[edit] Mandate for Leadership
The Heritage Foundation is known for the wide-ranging and influential nature of its work. Its 1981 book of policy analysis, Mandate for Leadership, revolutionized the character of public policy advice-giving. At 1,000-plus pages, it offered specific recommendations on policy, budget and administrative action for all Cabinet departments and many agencies to be staffed by political appointees in the incoming conservative administration of President Ronald Reagan.
[edit] Cold War and foreign policy involvement
In the 1980s and early 1990s, the Heritage Foundation was a key architect and advocate of the "Reagan Doctrine", under which the United States government supported anti-Communist resistance movements in such places as Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia and Nicaragua and generally supported global anti-communism during the Cold War.
Heritage foreign policy analysts also provided policy guidance to these rebel forces and to dissidents in Eastern bloc nations and Soviet republics.
The foundation was instrumental in advancing President Ronald Reagan's belief that the former Soviet Union was an "evil empire" and that its defeat, not its mere containment, was a realistic foreign policy objective. Heritage also played a key role in building support for Reagan's plans to build an orbital ballistic missile shield, known as the "Strategic Defense Initiative".
Internationally, and in partnership with the Wall Street Journal, Heritage publishes the annual Index of Economic Freedom, which measures a country's freedom in terms of property rights and freedom from government regulation. The factors used to calculate the Index score are corruption in government, barriers to international trade, income tax and corporate tax rates, government expenditures, rule of law and the ability to enforce contracts, regulatory burdens, banking restrictions, labor regulations, and black market activities. Deficiencies lower the score on Heritage's Index.
Since the end of the Cold War, Heritage has continued to be an active voice in foreign affairs and has been generally supportive of President George W. Bush's foreign policies.
[edit] Free market domestic policies
In domestic policy, Heritage is a proponent of supply-side economics, which holds that reductions in the marginal rate of taxation can spur economic growth.
In 1994, Heritage advised Newt Gingrich and other conservatives on the development of the "Contract with America", which was credited with helping produce a Republican majority in Congress. The "Contract" was a pact of principles that directly challenged both the political status-quo in Washington and many of the ideas at the heart of the Clinton administration at the time. As such, while Heritage is officially non-partisan, it often is credited with supplying many of the ideas that ultimately proved hugely influential in ending the Democrats' control of Congress. But it also has worked with Democrats on policy matters over the years, including former U.S. Senator John Breaux and other "blue dog" Democrats.
[edit] Policy influence
Unlike traditional think tanks, which tend to house scholars and politicians-in-exile who produce large books, Heritage tends to employ public policy analysts who produce comparatively shorter policy papers intended to pass what Heritage calls "the briefcase test" for busy politicians to read on the run. Heritage also pioneered the "marketing" of policy ideas by astute packaging and public relations, now a staple feature of Washington think tank activity. The result is that many consider Heritage the most influential think tank in the United States.
Now more than 30 years old, Heritage has earned a major place among Washington think tanks. Similar think tanks include the American Enterprise Institute and the libertarian Cato Institute. Heritage's liberal counterparts include the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. In keeping with its emphasis on political accessibility, Heritage maintains its eight-story headquarters on Capitol Hill, a short walk from the United States Congress; most other Washington think tanks maintain offices a further distance from Capitol Hill.
Many Heritage Foundation personnel have held, or gone on to hold, influential roles in American business and government, including Richard V. Allen, L. Paul Bremer, Elaine Chao, Lawrence Di Rita, Michael Johns, John F. Lehman, Edwin Meese, Steve Ritchie and others[1].
[edit] Financial support and lobbying
Though it boasts considerable clout on Capitol Hill, the Heritage Foundation does not lobby. Like all other policy advocacy groups, left and right, this allows Heritage to retain tax-exempt status as an educational institute under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. In 2005 Heritage raised $29.7 million in corporate and individual donations. Core funding comes from conservative foundations and individual donors: In 1995, 31 checks accounted for $8.5 million; another 123 donors supplied $2.6 million.
In 2006, Heritage retained the law firm of Foley & Lardner to lobby and to prepare foundation officials on how to deal with Congress on the issue of banning private funding of congressional travel, meals and lodging. The organization usually doesn't lobby on policy issues because it is legally prohibited under its 501(c)(3) status. However, Heritage is allowed to do so on legislation that directly affects the foundation [2].
[edit] Major donors
In 1973, beer baron Joseph Coors contributed a quarter-million dollars to launch The Heritage Foundation. Since then, money has come from the founders of Amway Corp. and right-leaning foundations like the Bradley, Olin and Scaife foundations. Billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife and other wealthy philanthropists also have been generous Heritage Foundation donors.
[edit] Corporate support
Heritage has received a long and steady flow of support from nearly 100 major corporations, including Chase Manhattan Bank, Dow Chemical Company, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Mobil, Procter & Gamble, and GlaxoSmithKline[3].
[edit] Foreign support and relations
Heritage's 1995 annual report acknowledges a $400,000 grant from the Korean conglomerate Samsung. Another donor, the Korea Foundation, which conduits money from the South Korean government, has given Heritage almost $1 million in the past three years.
The Hong Kong consulting firm Belle Haven Consultants, which has paid millions of dollars to Washington lobbying firms such as Alexander Strategy Group on behalf of Malaysian interests, was founded in 1997 by Edwin Feulner and Heritage's Asian specialist Ken Sheffer. Belle Haven employed Feulner's wife, Linda, and is based in the same office as Heritage's Hong Kong office[4].
In 2006 the Foundation established the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom[5], based on a grant from the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, to promote United States/United Kingdom cooperation and to advance the translatlantic alliance between the two countries. Lady Thatcher has since been named Patron of the Heritage Foundation, her only official association with any U.S.-based group. In addition, Heritage has a Moscow office staffed by Yevgeny Volk.
[edit] Criticism
The Heritage Foundation ranked 8th in the 2006 book 101 People Who Are Really Screwing America (ISBN 1-56025-875-6), by author Jack Huberman.
[edit] External links
- Heritage Foundation - Heritage Foundation Official Web Site.
- Heritage Foundation Policy Blog - Heritage Foundation Official Blog.
- Index of Economic Freedom - Heritage Foundation Official Web Site for its Index of Economic Freedom project.
- Heritage Foundation at SourceWatch
- Heritage Foundation profile at NNDB.
- Policy Experts: The Inside Guide to Public Policy Experts and Organizations - List of policy experts by topic and location published by the Heritage Foundation.
- The Power of Ideas: The Heritage Foundation at 25 Years - Book on the Heritage Foundation's history (1973-1998).
- RightWeb profile of the Heritage Foundation.
- Interhemispheric Resource Center profile of the Heritage Foundation
- Foundation grants given to the Heritage Foundation, 1985-2004, Media Transparency.
- Profile of the Heritage Foundation, People For the American Way.
- "Heritage Hypocrisy", Robyn Gearey, The American Prospect, September 1, 1996.
- "Happy Birthday, Heritage Foundation", Jacob Weisberg, Slate, January 9, 1998.
- "Is the Heritage Foundation credible?", Bill Berkowitz, Institute for Public Accuracy, March 17, 1999.
- "The Heritage Foundation Soars", Bill Berkowitz, Z magazine, June 2001.
- "Heritage Foundation Hawks: The Lights are Always On at America's Elite Conservative Think Tank", Bill Berkowitz, Working for Change, October 22, 2001.
- "Heritage Foundation Ascends Mount Policy: One-stop Ideological Shopping Supplies the Hill in Spades", Bill Berkowitz, Working for Change, June 7, 2002.
