The Power of Ideas: the Heritage Foundation at 25 Years

National Review, July 20, 1998 by Christopher Rapp

The Power of Ideas: The Heritage Foundation at 25 Years, by Lee Edwards (Jameson, 313 pp., $29.95)

Two days after the 1980 election, the Heritage Foundation presented to Ronald Reagan and his advisors Mandate for Leadership, a thousand-page blueprint for conservative government. Over the next four years the Administration acted on an astounding 60 per cent of the recommendations therein--which is why, suggests WFB in the introduction to Lee Edwards's aptly titled history, Reagan's tenure was 60 per cent successful. The book details the Foundation's often sizable role in the political battles before, during, and since the Reagan years--those over energy policy, SDI, and welfare reform, to name but a few. At times Edwards cheers a bit too loudly, but in the end it's hard to argue with his declaration that, 25 years after its humble beginnings in a cramped basement office, Heritage is today "the most influential think tank in the most important city in the most powerful nation in the world." Edwards tells us how this happened, reminding us in the process how fortunate we are that it did.