it starts with a guy you never would have imagined, louis powell, supreme court justice louis powell.y are you blaming him? >> i'm not just blaming him. he did it. he wrote a memo in 1971, two months before nixon put him on the supreme court. and he said america free enterprise is under assault from ralph nader, the consumer movement, government regulations. he talked about regulations of richard nixon. he didn't use his name. he said we've got to fight back. business has to organize. he said we've got to get tough. we've got to play hardball the way the labor unions do. we have to organize our money and bring the corporations together. it set off an explosion. the u.s. chamber of commerce distributed nationwide to businesses. the chamber of commerce expanded its budget. business round table. now everybody takes it for granted today. it was formed three months after louis powell's memo. businesses expanded their offices lobbying here. then the business power came up when jimmy carter and the democrats were in charge in 19778. turned the whole thing -- 1978. turned the whole thing arou

lois paul was -- louis powell had a major impact on the stealing of the american dream. i discovered it in the last couple of years. what he did was he wrote a memorandum to the u.s. chamber of commerce and said american industry, the free enterprise system is under assault from the labor union movement. from ralph nader and the consumer movement. from a salt from regulatory agencies from the environmental protection agency. a lot of agencies, agencies that were set up by richard nixon. the republican president that regarded himself as a friend of industry and loved to hobnob with the captains of industry and poll said they have to go fight and industry -- get organized. they have to play hard ball aggressively and that is what happened. the chamber of commerce circulated the polls memorandum as it is known to business leaders all over the country. the business roundtable, the most powerful force for major corporations in america was formed. the national association of manufacturers moved its headquarters to washington. the national federation of independent businesses c

when louis powell was a lawyer in richmond before he was appointed--he represented the tobacco industryd in spite of that he was respected. he was tasked by the chamber of commerce for coming up with a plan. the establishment figures corporate powers were very upset the beginning of the gay rights movement also, perhaps most significantly, the civil rights movement then ralph nader's consumer movement. and there were riots and demonstrations on campuses and there was a general fear that things were just kind of getting out of hand. and so there was an organized effort to compile as much money as they could with an organized game plan. that's really when it started. a group of foundations put up the money and they established the heritage foundation, the cato institute and all of the think tanks and law schools and grassroots or astroturf organizations. they have worked that plan, concentrating on the judiciary concentrating on state legislatures concentrating on the congress. and of course, when president reagan took office, that was a high water mark for them and then when newt gingric