10/12/2026
The Powell Memorandum - August 23, 1971
Tonight, I want us to open our minds a little more, look beyond what we've always been told, question what we think we know and take a deeper look at how power and influence have shaped the country we live in today.
34 pages and I think people really need to understand what they are looking at here.
In 1971, Lewis F. Powell Jr. wrote a memorandum for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce titled Attack on American Free Enterprise System.
This was just months before President Richard Nixon nominated Powell to the United States Supreme Court.
Now, I want you to think about that for a minute.
This was not simply a document defending capitalism. Powell was laying out an entire strategy for how American businesses could organize themselves, increase their political influence, challenge their critics and shape public opinion.
And he was very specific about how to accomplish it.
He wanted the business community to become more organized, more aggressive and more involved in institutions that influence American society.
Education was one of his biggest concerns.
Powell believed universities were producing generations of students who were becoming hostile toward American business and the free enterprise system.
His solution?
Get more business-friendly scholars into academic discussions. Establish speakers bureaus. Evaluate textbooks. Push for greater representation of conservative and pro-business viewpoints on college campuses.
And he did not want those efforts limited to universities.
He also discussed bringing similar programs into high schools.
Think about that.
Then there was the media.
Powell wanted national television networks monitored, including news analysis programs. He recommended challenging coverage considered unfair to business, filing complaints when necessary and demanding opportunities for business representatives to respond.
He also discussed newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, books, pamphlets and paid advertising.
At one point, he suggested that American businesses devote just 10% of their annual advertising budgets toward a broader effort to influence public understanding of the economic system.
That is an enormous amount of potential money being directed toward shaping public opinion.
And then we get to politics and the courts.
This is where I really want people to pay attention.
Powell argued that American businesses needed to stop being so passive politically.
He wanted them to organize, develop political power and use that power aggressively.
He even discussed penalizing politicians who opposed the interests of the enterprise system.
He also believed the courts presented an opportunity that businesses were not using effectively enough.
He pointed to organizations like the ACLU, labor unions and civil rights groups as examples of how legal action could influence public policy.
His recommendation was for the Chamber of Commerce to develop stronger legal capabilities, participate in important court cases and use highly qualified attorneys to defend business interests.
And remember something.
The man writing these recommendations would soon become a Supreme Court justice.
Powell also discussed organizing millions of corporate shareholders into a potentially influential political force.
He wanted business leaders, scholars, attorneys, speakers, advertisers and public relations professionals working toward a common objective.
Not occasionally.
Not just during an election.
But through a sustained, coordinated effort over many years.
Now, I am not saying every recommendation in these pages was implemented exactly as written. That would require examining what happened afterward, who funded those efforts and which organizations actually followed these ideas.
But what I AM saying is that these 34 pages show us a detailed proposal for American business interests to become much more influential in education, media, politics and the legal system.
And when I look at the influence of corporate money in American politics today, I think this document deserves serious attention.
Because this was written in 1971.
Over 55 years ago.
And so many of the institutions Powell discussed are still at the center of our political arguments today.
I also find it interesting that Powell repeatedly described American business as being under attack and politically disadvantaged.
That was his assessment.
But whether large corporations truly lacked political influence in 1971 is an entirely different question.
What matters here is that he believed business needed more power, and he provided a detailed plan for building it.
I want people to read these pages and ask themselves something.
How much of the political and economic system we live under today developed naturally through democratic participation, and how much was deliberately shaped by organized interests with the money and resources to influence it?
Because those are two very different things.
And I think we should be asking those questions regardless of which political party we support.
These are the complete 34 pages of the Powell Memorandum.
Read them.
Especially the sections about education, television, political power and the courts.
Then look at where we are today.
1971 was a long time ago. But the questions raised by this document are anything but old.
