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The Heritage Foundation

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The Heritage Foundation
FormationFebruary 16, 1973
TypeConservative think tank
Headquarters214 Massachusetts Ave, NE
Location
  • Washington, D.C.
President
Jim DeMint
Chairman
Thomas A. Saunders III
Budget
$80 million (2010)[1]
Websitewww.heritage.org

The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. 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".[2]

The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies drew significantly from Heritage's policy study Mandate for Leadership.[3] Heritage has since continued to have a significant influence in U.S. public policy making, and is considered to be one of the most influential conservative research organizations in the United States.[4]

History and major initiatives

Early years

Edwin Feulner

The Heritage Foundation was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner and Joseph Coors.[5] Growing out of discontent with Richard Nixon's embrace of the "liberal consensus" and the nonpolemical, cautious nature of existing think tanks,[6] Weyrich and Feulner sought to create an organization that would supply policymakers with concise, timely position papers. With $200,000 from Coors, the Analysis and Research Association was created in 1970. New supporters and board members joined, including petroleum executive Edward Noble and Richard Mellon Scaife. Eventually, the organization split into a public interest law center and a separate public policy foundation, the latter of which was incorporated as The Heritage Foundation on February 16, 1973. Weyrich was its first president. Later, under president Frank J. Walton, the Heritage Foundation introduced using direct mail fundraising and Heritage's annual income grew to $1 million per year in 1976.[7]

Reagan administration

In January 1981 Heritage published the Mandate for Leadership, a comprehensive report aimed at reducing the size of the federal government containing more than 2,000 specific suggestions to move the federal government in a conservative direction. The report was well received by the White House, and several of its authors went on to take positions in the Reagan administration.[8] Approximately 60% of the 2,000 proposals were implemented or initiated by the end of Reagan’s first year in office.[8][9] However, it should be noted that federal spending nearly doubled during Reagan's eight years in office. See Reaganomics#Overview. Heritage also advocated the development of a new ballistic missile defense system for the United States. Reagan adopted this as his top defense priority in 1983, calling it the Strategic Defense Initiative.[8] By mid-decade, The Heritage Foundation had emerged as a key organization in the national conservative movement, publishing influential reports on domestic and defense issues, as well as pieces by prominent conservative figures, such as Bob Dole and Pat Robertson.[10] In 1986, Time called Heritage "the foremost of the new breed of advocacy tanks".[11] During the Reagan and Bush administrations the Heritage Foundation served as the presidents' brain trust on foreign policy.[12]

George H. W. Bush administration

The Heritage Foundation remained an influential voice on domestic and foreign policy issues during President George H. W. Bush’s administration. It was a leading proponent of Operation Desert Storm against Iraq, and according to Frank Starr, head of the Baltimore Sun’s Washington bureau, the foundation’s studies, "laid much of the groundwork for Bush administration thinking" about post-Soviet foreign policy.[13] In domestic policy, the Bush administration agreed with six of the ten budget reforms contained in Mandate for Leadership III and included them in their 1990 budget proposal. Heritage also became involved in the culture wars of the 1990s with the publication of “The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators” by William Bennett. The Index documented how crime, illegitimacy, divorce, teenage suicide, drug use and fourteen other social indicators had become measurably worse since the 1960s.[14]

Clinton administration

Heritage continued to grow throughout the 1990s and its journal, Policy Review, hit an all-time-high circulation of 23,000. Heritage was an opponent of the Clinton health care plan of 1993. It was also a leading advocate for welfare reform; many of Heritage analyst Robert Rector’s recommendations on welfare were adopted in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. In 1995, Heritage published the first Index of Economic Freedom, co-authored by policy analyst Bryan T. Johnson and Thomas P. Sheehy. In 1997, the Index became a joint project between the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.[14]

In 1994, Heritage advised Newt Gingrich and other conservatives on the development of the "Contract with America", which was credited with helping to 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.

Obama administration

In December 2012, an announcement was made that Senator Jim DeMint would resign from the Senate to head the Heritage Foundation.[15] Pundits have predicted his tenure may mark a sharper edge for the Foundation.[16] On May 10, 2013, Jason Richwine, who co-authored the think tank's controversial report on the costs of amnesty, resigned his position following intensive media attention on his Harvard PhD thesis from 2009 and its argument that Hispanics have significantly lower IQs than people of other races.[17]

In July 2013, following disputes over the farm bill, the Republican Study Committee of 172 conservative U.S. House members reversed a decades-old policy barring Heritage Foundation employees from attending its weekly meeting in the Capitol, but continues cooperation through "regular joint events and briefings".[18]

Policy influence

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Gary Roughead speaks at The Heritage Foundation.

Heritage has hosted many influential foreign and domestic political leaders since its founding, including Congressmen, U.S. Senators, foreign heads of state, and U.S. Presidents. On November 1, 2007, President George W. Bush visited Heritage to defend his appointment of Michael Mukasey to succeed Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General of the United States; Mukasey's nomination faced opposition in the U.S. Senate over the nominee's refusal to label the interrogation tactic of waterboarding as illegal.[19] Mukasey was confirmed and became Attorney General eight days later.

The health insurance mandate in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is an idea hatched in 1989 by Stuart M. Butler at Heritage in a publication titled "Assuring Affordable Health Care for All Americans".[20] This was also the model for Mitt Romney's health care plan in Massachusetts. [21]

In October 2011, The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) announced they would co-host the Republican Party presidential candidates' debate on foreign policy and national defense. The event took place at Constitution Hall on November 22, 2011,[22] and was the first presidential debate to be sponsored by either Heritage or AEI.[23][24]

The Heritage Foundation was ranked fifth in Foreign Policy magazine's 2009 list of the nation's most influential think tanks.[25]

Several Heritage Foundation personnel have served, or gone on to serve, in senior governmental roles, including: Richard V. Allen, L. Paul Bremer, Elaine Chao, Lawrence Di Rita, Michael Johns, John Lehman, Edwin Meese, Steve Ritchie, and others.[26]

Publications

Heritage's 1981 book of policy analysis, Mandate for Leadership, was a landmark in advocacy for limited government. At 1,000-plus pages, Mandate for Leadership offered specific recommendations on policy, budget and administrative action for all Cabinet departments.

Until 2001, the Heritage Foundation published Policy Review, a public policy journal, which was then acquired by the Hoover Institution. From 1995 to 2005, the Heritage Foundation ran Townhall.com, a conservative website that was subsequently acquired by Camarillo, California-based Salem Communications.[27] In 2005, the Foundation published The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, a clause-by-clause analysis of the United States Constitution.

Once per year Heritage publishes its Budget Chart Book using visual graphs and charts to demonstrate the growth of federal spending, revenue, debt and deficits, and entitlement programs.[28] The chart relies on 42 visual images to convey its data, which Heritage makes available to the public for free distribution.[29]

Policy analysts and fellows of the Heritage Foundation frequently publish books, both through Heritage and other non-fiction imprints. Among independent publications, in 2010 the Intercollegiate Studies Institute published We Still Hold These Truths by director of American Studies Matthew Spalding.[30]

Indices

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. The Heritage Foundation also publishes The Insider, a quarterly magazine about public policy.

In 2002, Heritage began publishing its annual Index of Dependence report on the growth of federal government programs that constrain private sector or local government alternatives and impact the dependence of individuals on the federal government. It examines programs in five broad categories: housing; health care and welfare; retirement; higher education; and rural and agricultural services.[31] The report has found that each year the number of Americans who pay nothing in federal personal income taxes continues to increase, while there is a simultaneous increase in the number who rely on government services.[32] The 2010 report found that Americans’ dependence on government grew by 13.6% in 2009 during the worst U.S. economic crisis since the Great Depression. According to Heritage, this is the biggest increase since 1976 and the fifth largest going back to 1962, when the foundation began tracking dependence.[31] The report stated that in the previous eight years, the index of government dependence has grown by almost 33%.[33]

Digital communications

The Heritage Foundation publishes a blog, The Foundry, with reporting provided by Heritage staff and fellows. News stories originally published by The Foundry have been reported by media outlets,[34] including reporting on a 15-cent Christmas Tree tax proposed by the Obama administration. Following a Heritage blog post by David Addington that was critical of the tax, the story was reported by ABC News, and according to Fox News, this criticism in the media led to a delay in the implementation of the tax.[35]

Since 2006, the Foundation has hosted "The Bloggers Briefing", a meeting of conservative and independent bloggers organized by Robert Bluey.[36] According to Bluey, the meetings were launched to provide conservative bloggers with greater understanding of conservative policy debates and a forum to discuss ideas, as there was then no regular meeting of people involved in the conservative blogosphere.[36] Guest speakers at the meetings have included Jon Huntsman, John Boehner and Robert Novak,[37][38] and the briefings are video recorded and live streamed on the Internet.[36]

In June 2011, Heritage launched "Scribe", an investigative journalism feature by Robert Bluey for its blog, The Foundry. At the time of its launch, Bluey stated that Scribe would feature "long-form investigative stories" focusing on important policy issues, video report, analysis and breaking news.[39] Scribe is part of a trend of "think tank journalism"[40][41] using the knowledge of Heritage policy experts to inform investigative stories.[42]

According to The Next Web, the Foundation "has strong followings on most major platforms – from YouTube to Twitter to Facebook".[36] Rory Cooper, the Foundation's communications director, stated that the organization uses social media platforms such as Facebook for issue-based campaigns to provide individuals and the media with information directly from the Foundation.[36]

Other media

In 2009, Heritage produced 33 Minutes, a one-hour documentary film about the foreign policy challenges facing the United States, titled after the time required for a long-range nuclear ballistic missile to be fired from any distant hostile nation and deliver its payload to any American city. The film interviews numerous foreign policy experts, including former Assistant Secretary of State Kim Holmes, professor and journalist James Carafano, weapons scientist Ken Alibek, former White House Chief of Staff Edwin Meese, and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.[43] The Heritage Foundation has hosted viewings of this film, followed by panel discussions.[44]

The foundation sponsors the radio show Istook Live!, which is hosted by former congressman Ernest Istook and a production of Heritage's sister organization, Heritage Action for America.[45][46]

Republican presidential debate

On November 22, 2011, The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute co-hosted the Republican Party presidential candidates' debate on foreign policy and national defense held at Constitution Hall. The event was the first presidential debate to be sponsored by either Heritage or AEI.[23][24] During the debate, Heritage fellows Edwin Meese and David Addington were among those who questioned candidates on policy.[47] The debate was praised by The New York Times for putting "pressure on candidates to show their policy expertise".[47] According to conservative commentator Michael Barone, the debate was "probably the most substantive and serious presidential debate of this election cycle."[48]

Board of Trustees

Funding

Heritage is primarily funded through donations from private individuals and charitable foundations. Businessman Joseph Coors contributed the first $250,000 to start The Heritage Foundation in 1973.[citation needed] Other significant contributors have included the conservative Olin, Scaife, DeVos and Bradley foundations.

In 2007, Heritage reported an operating revenue of $75.0 million. As of February 2011, Heritage reported 710,000 supporters.[50] Heritage Foundation is also a part of the Koch Foundation Associate Program.[51]

Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom

In 2005, Heritage established the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom in honor of the former British Prime Minister, sponsoring hundreds of events involving world leaders since its inception.[52] Lady Thatcher has maintained a long relationship with The Heritage Foundation. Shortly after leaving office, Lady Thatcher was honored by Heritage at a September 1991 dinner.[53] Seven years later, Thatcher delivered the keynote address during Heritage's 25th anniversary celebration. Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol said at the time, "Given that Reagan obviously couldn't be here, I think it was important to have Mrs. Thatcher because she and Reagan are really the great heroes of conservatism in the last few decades and still today."[54] In 2002, Thatcher was again honored by Heritage as the recipient of its annual Clare Boothe Luce Award, which was presented by then-Vice President Dick Cheney.[55] Lady Thatcher has since been named Patron of the Heritage Foundation, her only official association with any U.S.-based group.[56][dead link]

Criticism

In 2005, The Heritage Foundation was criticized by Thomas B. Edsall in The Washington Post for softening its criticism of Malaysia following a business relationship between Heritage's president and Malaysia's then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. The Heritage Foundation denied any conflict of interest, stating its views on Malaysia changed following the country's cooperation with the U.S. after the September 11 attacks in 2001,[57] and changes by Malaysia "moving in the right economic and political direction".[58][59]

A 2011 study on poverty in America[60] was heavily criticized for being "distorted," "misleading," "wrong," and for embracing "anti-poor stereotypes" in order to justify the further retrenchment of the social safety net.[61][62][63][64]

The Heritage Foundation was mentioned periodically in the NBC fictional television series The West Wing. The character Patricia Calhoun, a former member of the Office of Management and Budget and a Republican appointee to the Federal Election Commission in the fictional Bartlet administration, is identified as the former Director of the Roe Institute for Economic Policy at the Heritage Foundation. Calhoun is depicted in the series as an aggressive advocate of campaign finance reform.[65]

The Heritage Foundation was also mentioned during the fourth season of the Fox TV fictional drama series 24.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "The Heritage Foundation on Charity Navigator". charitynavigator.org. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  2. ^ Heritage Foundation – About
  3. ^ Weisberg, Jacob. Happy Birthday, Heritage Foundation, Slate, January 9, 1998.
  4. ^ Berkowitz, Bill. The Heritage Foundation at 35, Media Transparency, March 3, 2008.
  5. ^ "Brewery magnate Joseph Coors dies at 85". USA Today. The Associated Press. March 17, 2003.
  6. ^ Monroney, Susanna. "Laying the Right Foundations". Rutherford (December 1995): 10.
  7. ^ Edwards, Lee. The Power of Ideas. Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books. pp. 1–20. ISBN 0-915463-77-6.
  8. ^ a b c Edwards, Lee. The Power of Ideas. Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books. pp. 41–68. ISBN 0-915463-77-6.
  9. ^ Holwill, Richard (1981). The First Year. Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation. p. 1.
  10. ^ Edwards, Lee. The Power of Ideas. Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books. pp. 25–35. ISBN 0-915463-77-6.
  11. ^ "Joining the think ranks". Time. September 1, 1986.
  12. ^ * Arin, Kubilay Yado (2013): Think Tanks, the Brain Trusts of US Foreign Policy. Wiesbaden: VS Springer.
  13. ^ Starr, Frank (January 20, 1991). "What Will the U.S. Fight For?". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  14. ^ a b Edwards, Lee. The Power of Ideas. Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson Books. pp. 43–50. ISBN 0-915463-77-6.
  15. ^ Paul Kane (December 6, 2012). "Jim DeMint to head conservative think tank". Washington Post.
  16. ^ Karen Tumulty (December 7, 2012). "A sharper edge". Washington Post.
  17. ^ "Amnesty study author Jason Richwine resigns from Heritage Foundation". Washington Examiner. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  18. ^ Republican Lawmakers Retaliate Against Heritage Foundation, Tim Alberts, National Journal, August 28, 2013
  19. ^ "Bush Raises Stakes on Mukasey," The Los Angeles Times, November 2, 2007.[dead link]
  20. ^ "Individual health care insurance mandate has roots two decades long". Fox News. June 28, 2012.
  21. ^ Roy, Avik (October 20, 2011). "How the Heritage Foundation, a Conservative Think Tank, Promoted the Individual Mandate". Forbes. Retrieved September 26, 2013.
  22. ^ "GOP candidates talk foreign policy, national security at Heritage/AEI debate". The Washington Times. November 23, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  23. ^ a b Gonzalez, Mike (November 1, 2011). "National Security Debate Moves to Nov 22". TheFoundry. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  24. ^ a b May, Caroline (October 18, 2011). "November debate to address foreign policy". The Daily Caller. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  25. ^ "Think Tank Index: Top Thirty U.S. Think Tanks," Foreign Policy magazine, The Washington Post Company, February 2009.
  26. ^ NNDB – The Heritage Foundation
  27. ^ About Us Townhall.com
  28. ^ "2011 Budget Chart Book". Heritage Foundation. heritage.org. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
  29. ^ "Out Now! The federal budget in pictures". South Florida Tea Party. southfloridateaparty.net. June 23, 2011. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  30. ^ John R. Coyne Jr. (December 9, 2009). "Getting America Back On Course". Washington Times. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  31. ^ a b David Hogberg (June 28, 2010). "Government Dependency Surges; Addiction to get worse". Investor's Business Daily. blog.investors.com. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
  32. ^ William Beach (October 24, 2010). "The 2010 Index of Dependence on Government". Heritage Foundation. heritage.org. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  33. ^ Matt Hadro (April 22, 2010). "Dependence on Government Growing in U.S." Human Events. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  34. ^ Jedediah Bila (August 22, 2011). "Obama's defense of lawlessness". The Daily Caller. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  35. ^ "Under Fire, Obama Delays Christmas Tree Tax". Fox News Nation. November 9, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  36. ^ a b c d e Simon Owens (March 4, 2011). "Inside the social media strategy of a conservative think tank". The Next Web. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  37. ^ Allen McDuffee (December 6, 2011). "Jon Huntsman reaches out to conservative online community at the Heritage Foundation to boost domestic agenda". Think Tanked. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  38. ^ "Bloggers emerge as force on right". The Washington Times. August 15, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  39. ^ Mark Tapscott (June 21, 2011). "Heritage unveils new Scribe investigative journalism feature". Washington Examiner. Retrieved March 9, 2012.[dead link]
  40. ^ Jason Stverak (April 1, 2011). "Think Tank Journalism: The Future of Investigative Reporting". State Policy Network. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  41. ^ Jim Barnett (September 11, 2009). "Why a reporter left mainstream media for a think tank". Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  42. ^ Jacqueline Otto (March 1, 2012). "Profiles in Liberty: Robert Bluey". America's Future Foundation. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  43. ^ Heritage Foundation 33 Minutes Experts April 22, 2009.
  44. ^ Heritage Foundation 33 Minutes Panel Discussion April 22, 2009.
  45. ^ "Istook Enters Syndication Aren". Talkers.com. July 10, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
  46. ^ "WYD Media Management Launches Ernest Istook Show". All Access. July 10, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
  47. ^ a b Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny (November 22, 2011). "Spirited Foreign Policy Debate Includes a Test of Gingrich's Rise". The New York Times. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  48. ^ Michael Barone (November 23, 2012). "Barone: Thoughts on the AEI-Heritage-CNN debate". The Washington Examiner. Retrieved February 29, 2012.[dead link]
  49. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z [www.heritage.org/about/board-of-trustees The Heritage Foundation Board of Directors]
  50. ^ Feulner, Edwin (April 12, 2010). "New Fangs for the Conservative 'Beast'". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 14, 2010. ...to convince many members of Congress to do the right thing. But we can prevail by making them feel the heat from more than 630,000 members of the Heritage Foundation—and millions of others around the country who believe in our principles and share our vision of America's future.
  51. ^ Charles Koch Institute » Partner Organizations
  52. ^ Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (September 13, 2005). "Honoring the Iron Lady". The Washington Times.
  53. ^ Roxanne Roberts (September 24, 1991). "Margaret Thatcher, On the Right Track; Raves for the Iron Lady at the Heritage Foundation Dinner". Washington Post.
  54. ^ Margaret Rankin (December 12, 1997). "Heritage of conservatism is ongoing after 25 years". The Washington Times.
  55. ^ "Tribute to Margaret Thatcher". C-SPAN. C-SPAN.org. December 9, 2002. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  56. ^ A new birth of freedom, Heritage Members News, Winter 2006
  57. ^ Thomas B. Edsall, "Think Tank's Ideas Shifted As Malaysia Ties Grew: Business Interests Overlapped Policy", Washington Post, Sunday, April 17, 2005; Page A01.
  58. ^ "Heritage hails Malaysia's bold economic policies.", Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, 11-JAN-05.
  59. ^ "Heritage Foundation advocated for Iraq war?" Real Time with Bill Maher.
  60. ^ Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield (19 July 2011). Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today? The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  61. ^ Jonathan Rothwell (8 November 2011). Why Heritage Is Wrong About Poverty in America. The New Republic Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  62. ^ Melissa Boteach and Donna Cooper (5 August 2011). What You Need When You’re Poor; Heritage Foundation Hasn’t a Clue. Center For American Progress. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  63. ^ Courtland Milloy (13 September 2011). Study dismisses poverty, but try telling that to the poor. The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  64. ^ Katrina vanden Heuvel (28 July 2011). Colbert Challenges the Poverty Deniers. The Nation Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  65. ^ "The West Wing Resource," Bartlet Administration officials.
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