The Heritage Foundation

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".

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. 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.

Early years
The Heritage Foundation was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner and Joseph Coors. Growing out of discontent with Richard Nixon's embrace of the "liberal consensus" and the nonpolemical, cautious nature of existing think tanks, 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.

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. Approximately 60% of the 2,000 proposals were implemented or initiated by the end of Reagan’s first year in office.

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. 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. In 1986, Time called Heritage "the foremost of the new breed of advocacy tanks". During the Reagan and Bush administrations the Heritage Foundation served as the presidents' brain trust on foreign policy.

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. 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.

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.

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. Pundits have predicted his tenure may mark a sharper edge for the Foundation. 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 comments he made at 2008 American Enterprises Institute forum. In both Richwine argued that Hispanics and blacks are intellectually inferior to whites and have trouble assimilating because of a supposed genetic predisposition to lower IQ.

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".

Policy influence
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. 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". This was also the model for Mitt Romney's health care plan in Massachusetts.

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, and was the first presidential debate to be sponsored by either Heritage or AEI.

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

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.

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. 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. The chart relies on 42 visual images to convey its data, which Heritage makes available to the public for free distribution.

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.

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. 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. 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. The report stated that in the previous eight years, the index of government dependence has grown by almost 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, 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.

Since 2006, the Foundation has hosted "The Bloggers Briefing", a meeting of conservative and independent bloggers organized by Robert Bluey. 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. Guest speakers at the meetings have included Jon Huntsman, John Boehner and Robert Novak, and the briefings are video recorded and live streamed on the Internet.

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. Scribe is part of a trend of "think tank journalism" using the knowledge of Heritage policy experts to inform investigative stories.

According to The Next Web, the Foundation "has strong followings on most major platforms – from YouTube to Twitter to Facebook". 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.

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. The Heritage Foundation has hosted viewings of this film, followed by panel discussions.

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.

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. During the debate, Heritage fellows Edwin Meese and David Addington were among those who questioned candidates on policy. The debate was praised by The New York Times for putting "pressure on candidates to show their policy expertise". According to conservative commentator Michael Barone, the debate was "probably the most substantive and serious presidential debate of this election cycle."

Board of Trustees

 * Thomas A. Saunders III, Chairman; Founder of Saunders Karp & Megrue.
 * Richard Mellon Scaife, Vice Chairman; Owner and publisher of the Tribune-Review Publishing.
 * J. Frederic Rench, Secretary; former Chairman and CEO of Racine Industries.
 * Meg Allen, Trustee since 2009; Co-Founder of DRAMA Consulting and DRAMA S.A.
 * Douglas F. Allison, Trustee since 1998; Founder and former Chairman and CEO of Allison-Fisher, Inc.
 * Larry P. Arnn, Trustee since 2002; President of Hillsdale College.
 * Belden H. Bell, Trustee since 2000; Journalist and diplomat.
 * Midge Decter, Trustee since 1981; Journalist.
 * Edwin J. Feulner, Trustee since 1973; Former President of the Heritage Foundation, the Mont Pelerin Society, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the Philadelphia Society.
 * Steve Forbes, Trustee since 2001; President and CEO of Forbes.
 * Todd W. Herrick, Trustee since 2007; Former Chairman, President and CEO of Tecumseh Products.
 * William J. Hume, Trustee since 1993; Chairman of Basic American Foods.
 * Kay Coles James, Trustee since 2005; Former Director of the United States Office of Personnel Management.
 * J. William Middendorf, Trustee since 1989; Former Secretary of the Navy and Ambassador to the European Communities, the Organization of American States, and the Netherlands.
 * Abby Moffat, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Media Research Center and a member of the Board of Overseers of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation.
 * Nersi Nazari, Trustee since 2006; Chairman and CEO of Vital Connect.
 * Robert Pennington, Trustee since 2009; Banker.
 * Anthony J. Saliba, Trustee since 2012; Executive Managing Director of the ConvergEx Group.
 * William E. Simon, Jr., Trustee since 2008; Politician and banker.
 * Brian Tracy, Trustee since 2003; Motivational speaker.
 * Phillip N. Truluck, Trustee since 2001; Executive Vice President of the Heritage Foundation.
 * Barb Van Andel-Gaby, Trustee since 1996; CEO of Peter Island Resort.
 * Marion Wells, Trustee since 2003; Trustee of the Capital Research Center.
 * David R. Brown, Honorary Chairman and Trustee Emeritus since 1978; Orthopedic surgeon.
 * Kathryn Davis, Honorary Trustee since 1994; Shelby Cullom Davis's widow.
 * Frank Shakespeare, Honorary Trustee since 1979; United States Ambassador to the Vatican.

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. Other significant contributors have included the conservative Olin, Scaife, DeVos and Bradley foundations.

The Heritage Foundation's revenues for the fiscal year ending 12/31/11 were $72,170,983 against expenses of $80,033,828; for the fiscal year ending 12/31/10 were $78,253,864 against expenses of $80,378,250. As of February 2011, Heritage reported 710,000 supporters. Heritage Foundation is also a part of the Koch Foundation Associate Program.

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. 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. 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." 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. Lady Thatcher has since been named Patron of the Heritage Foundation, her only official association with any U.S.-based group.

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, and changes by Malaysia "moving in the right economic and political direction".

A 2011 study on poverty in America 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.

In popular culture
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.

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

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