Edwin John Feulner Jr. (born August 12, 1941) is a former think tank executive who founded the
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...
and served as its president from 1977 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2018.
[ Feulner's positions have included advisor and chairman of the ]Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) is a non-profit anti-communist organization in the United States, authorized by a unanimous Act of Congress in 1993 for the purpose of "educating Americans about the ideology, history and legacy ...
, from which he received the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom in 2006.
Early years and education
Edwin John Feulner Jr. was born in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
, Illinois, to Helen Joan (née Franzen) and Edwin John Feulner, the owner of a Chicago real estate firm. He has three sisters: Mary Ann, Joan, and Barbara. The family comes from a line of devout Roman Catholic German Americans
German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...
. Three of his maternal uncles were parish priests. Feulner attended Immaculate Conception High School (Elmhurst, Illinois) and graduated from Regis University with a bachelor's degree in English in 1963.[Miller, John. "Feulner's Farewell" ''National Review''. 2013.]
After receiving an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...
in 1964, he attended Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
and the London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
, where he was a Richard M. Weaver Fellow. He put his studies on hold while President of The Heritage Foundation. Later, in 1981 he earned a PhD in political science at the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
presenting the thesis 'The evolution of the Republican Study Committee'.
Career
Feulner began his career as an analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...
, then called the Center for Strategic Studies. He later became a congressional aide to Congressman Melvin Laird
Melvin Robert Laird Jr. (September 1, 1922 – November 16, 2016) was an American politician, writer and statesman. He was a U.S. congressman from Wisconsin from 1953 to 1969 before serving as Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1973 under Presi ...
. Feulner subsequently became a long-serving executive assistant to Illinois Republican congressman Phil Crane
Philip Miller Crane (November 3, 1930 – November 8, 2014) was an American politician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 2005, representing the 8th District of Illinois in the northwestern s ...
. Prior to his presidency of the Heritage Foundation, Feulner was executive director of the Republican Study Committee
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is a study group of conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives. As of 2021, the Chairman of the RSC is Representative Jim Banks of Indiana.
Although the prim ...
.[Edwin Feulner: The Heritage Foundation's president revolutionized the Washington think tank scene](_blank)
Joe Rogalsky, ''The Washington Examiner'', October 1, 2007. Accessed May 4, 2012.
Heritage Foundation
Feulner was a founding trustee of the Heritage Foundation from 1973 until 1977, when he left Representative Crane's office to run the outfit full-time. It had nine employees and in those four years had churned through four presidents. As president, he changed the foundation's direction. He wanted it to be more aggressive, more market-driven and less ivory-tower
An ivory tower is a metaphorical place—or an atmosphere—where people are happily cut off from the rest of the world in favor of their own pursuits, usually mental and esoteric ones. From the 19th century, it has been used to designate an e ...
, creating easily-accessed, concise studies. By focusing the foundation's marketing, he transformed it from a small operation into a booming enterprise of conservative ideals, eventually creating the think tank that Newt Gingrich, in a ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' column, called "the Parthenon of the conservative metropolis."
This new marketing strategy was called the "briefcase test", a concept that revolutionized the influence of think tanks on public policy and boosted Heritage's popularity. Now the focus was on easily accessed, timely, concise research that could fit in a briefcase. A further fillip was the foundation's publishing of policy reports and papers ahead of related legislation, rather than the established think-tank practice of waiting until it had been passed. As Feulner related to ''The Washington Examiner
The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is ow ...
'', "It doesn't do us any good to have great ideas if we are not out there peddling our products."
Within a year and a half of Feulner becoming president, Heritage's budget had increased to $2.5 million with a donor pool of about 120,000. The institution has around 250 employees and annual income of about $80 million and a donor pool of about 600,000.
In January 2013, Feulner published the column "Economic Freedom on the Wane" to review the results of the annual ''Index of Economic Freedom
The ''Index of Economic Freedom'' is an annual index and ranking created in 1995 by The Heritage Foundation and ''The Wall Street Journal'' to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world's nations. The creators of the index claim to tak ...
'', which has been an ongoing joint project of ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' and Heritage Foundation since 1995. The index measures individual countries' policies in the broad areas of rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets.
Retiring as chair of the foundation in 2013, Feulner briefly resumed the role in 2017 following the election of Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
.
Other roles
Feulner was president and treasurer of the Mont Pelerin Society
The Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) is an international organization composed of economists, philosophers, historians, intellectuals and business leaders.Michael Novak, 'The Moral Imperative of a Free Economy', in '' The 4% Solution: Unleashing the E ...
in 2014. He has served as a trustee and as the chairman of the board of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is a nonprofit educational organization that promotes conservative thought on college campuses.
It was founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov with William F. Buckley Jr. as its first president. It sponsor ...
. He has also been a member of the board of the National Chamber Foundation and of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, as well as of the board of trustees
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
and a life trustee of Regis University, his undergraduate alma mater. He became a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) is a non-profit anti-communist organization in the United States, authorized by a unanimous Act of Congress in 1993 for the purpose of "educating Americans about the ideology, history and legacy ...
, and held its chair in 2021.
Among other executive and advisory roles, Feulner was president of the Philadelphia Society
The Philadelphia Society is a membership organization the purpose of which is "to sponsor the interchange of ideas through discussion and writing, in the interest of deepening the intellectual foundation of a free and ordered society, and of bro ...
1982–1983 and 2013–2014, and is a past director of the Council for National Policy
The Council for National Policy (CNP) is an umbrella organization and networking group for conservative and Republican activists in the United States. It was launched in 1981 during the Reagan administration by Tim LaHaye and the Christian righ ...
, the Acton Institute
The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is an American research and educational institution, or think tank, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, (with an office in Rome) whose stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society ch ...
, and George Mason University. Feulner served as a member of the Gingrich–Mitchell
Mitchell may refer to:
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*Mitchell (surname)
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* Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate
* Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst
* Mitchell, Northern Territo ...
Congressional UN Reform Task Force (2005) and of the Meltzer Commission from 1999–2000. He was vice chairman of the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform, known as the Kemp Commission
The Kemp Commission, headed by former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, was a tax reform commission that recommended the current Income tax in the United States be replaced with a flat tax.
History
In 1995, th ...
, from 1995 to 1996. He also was the chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (1982–91), a consultant for domestic policy to U.S. president Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, and an adviser to several government departments and agencies.[
]
Awards and distinctions
In 1989 Feulner received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian award in the United States.
He is frequently recognized by media and in conservative circles as an influence in US right-wing policy thought. In Forbes Magazine
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also rep ...
, in 2009, Karl Rove called Feulner the sixth most powerful conservative in Washington. In 2007 '' GQ'' magazine considered him one of the "50 most powerful people in D.C."[The 50 Most Powerful People in D.C.](_blank)
, Raha Naddaf and Greg Veis, ''GQ''; accessed March 2, 2008. In both 2007 and 2010, the UK's Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
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* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
named him "one of the 100 most influential conservatives in America".[The most influential US conservatives](_blank)
''The Telegraph'', March 11, 2007; accessed April 5, 2016.
In June 2012, Feulner received the conservative Bradley Prize
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, commonly known as the Bradley Foundation, is an American charitable foundation based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that primarily supports conservative causes.
The foundation provides between $35 million and $ ...
for "extraordinary talent and dedication". In 2018, he took the National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
's William F. Buckley Jr. Prize for Leadership in Political Thought.Heritage's Ed Feulner Awarded National Review Institute's Buckley Prize
''The Daily Signal'', October 22, 2018.
He has been awarded eleven honorary degrees, and has received honors from the governments of Taiwan, South Korea and the Czech Republic.
Personal life
Feulner and his wife, Linda Claire Leventhal, live in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...
. They have two children.
Bibliography
* ''Looking Back'' (Heritage Foundation, 1981). ,
* ''Conservatives Stalk the House'' (Green Hill, 1983).
* ''The March of Freedom'' (Spence Publishing Company, 1998).
* ''Intellectual Pilgrims'' (Mont Pelerin Society, 1999).
* ''Leadership for America: The Principles of Conservatism'' (Spence Publishing Company, 2000).
* ''Getting America Right'' (Co-author Doug Wilson) (Crown Forum, 2006).
* The American Spirit (Co-author Brian Tracy) (Thomas Nelson, 2012).
"Economic Freedom on the Wane"
Townhall.com, January 19, 2013
References
External links
"Heritage Foundation launches Feulner Institute
''Getting America Right''
Official website
*
A Lesson in Conservative Optimism
The Weekend Interview
by Daniel Henninger
Daniel Henninger is a conservative American commentator. He serves as the deputy editorial page director of ''The Wall Street Journal'', and is a Fox News contributor.
Early life
Henninger was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a graduate of George ...
, The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
, December 7, 2012
with Ed Feulner
by Stephen McKiernan, Binghamton University Libraries Center for the Study of the 1960s, August 7, 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feulner, Edwin
1941 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Georgetown University alumni
The Heritage Foundation
Writers from Chicago
Roman Catholic activists
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni
American people of German descent
American political writers
American male non-fiction writers
Regis University alumni
Presidential Citizens Medal recipients
Illinois Republicans
Virginia Republicans