![]() The tone of the prose indicates that this was a personal venture for Powell: “The time has come-indeed, it is long overdue-for the wisdom, ingenuity and resources of American business to be marshalled against those who would destroy it.”įifty years later, that vision has come to pass. In 1971, Powell wrote a lengthy, confidential memo to Sydnor and the Chamber, titled “ Attack on American Free Enterprise System,” outlining ways that corporations could band together not only to fight off regulations but also to infiltrate American institutions-universities, publishers, magazines, ad agencies, TV networks, and even courts-to make them more broadly sympathetic to business. Powell himself had faced down movements that were hostile to his clients, including anti-tobacco initiatives that flourished after scientists began linking smoking and cancer, and he was frustrated with growing influence of a young Ralph Nader and his burgeoning consumer protection movement. Sydnor Jr., wanted a plan of action to counter these forces, and he reached out to a good friend to draw that up: Lewis Powell, then the head of the American Bar Association, an attorney for tobacco companies like Philip Morris, and a rumored Supreme Court nominee. The education director for the national Chamber of Commerce, Eugene B. Even the supposedly conservative, business-friendly Richard Nixon was signing legislation that added more regulation of corporate practices. ![]() From the Great Depression through the social movements of the 1960s, mass popular and institutional outrage had arisen against their companies’ sins, including discrimination and toxic pollution. In the early 1970s, American corporate executives were in a state of panic.
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