Edwin Feulner

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Ed Feulner

|image = Edwin Feulner publicity shot.jpg

|caption = Feulner in March 2008

|office = President of the Heritage Foundation

|term_start = May 2, 2017

|term_end = January 1, 2018

|predecessor = Jim DeMint

|successor = Kay Coles James

|term_start1 = February 16, 1977

|term_end1 = April 4, 2013

|predecessor1 = Frank Walton

|successor1 = Jim DeMint

|birth_name = Edwin John Feulner Jr.

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|8|12}}

|birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place =

|party = Republican

|education = Regis University (BA)
University of Pennsylvania (MBA)
University of Edinburgh (PhD)

}}

Edwin John Feulner Jr. (born August 12, 1941) is an American political scientist, former think tank executive, Congressional aide, and foreign consultant who co-founded The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in 1973. He served as The Heritage Foundation's president from 1977 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2018.{{Cite news|url=http://www.heritage.org/article/statement-the-chairman-heritages-board-trustees|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502205002/http://www.heritage.org/article/statement-the-chairman-heritages-board-trustees|url-status=unfit|archive-date=May 2, 2017|title=Statement From the Chairman of Heritage's Board of Trustees|work=The Heritage Foundation|access-date=2018-06-04|language=en-US}}

Early life and education

Feulner was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 12, 1941, 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 includes devout Roman Catholic German Americans. Three of his maternal uncles were parish priests.Edwards, Lee. Leading the Way: The Story of Ed Feulner and the Heritage Foundation, Crown Publishing Group: Random House; {{ISBN|9780770435790}} (2013)

Feulner attended Immaculate Conception High School in Elmhurst, Illinois and Regis University in Denver, where he graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in English in 1963.Miller, John. "Feulner's Farewell" National Review. 2013. He attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a M.B.A. in 1964. He was a Richard M. Weaver Fellow at Georgetown University and the London School of Economics.[https://dc.hillsdale.edu/Profiles/Edwin-Feulner/ "Edwin Feulner"] at Hillsdale College

In 1981, he received a PhD in political science from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland,{{cite web |last1=Cloud |first1=Thomas |title=How Heritage President Ed Feulner Became Dr. Feulner |url=https://www.myheritage.org/news/how-heritage-president-ed-feulner-became-dr-feulner/ |website=My Heritage Foundation |access-date=14 March 2019 |archive-date=January 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105135639/https://www.myheritage.org/news/how-heritage-president-ed-feulner-became-dr-feulner/ |url-status=live }} where his doctoral thesis, The evolution of the Republican Study Committee, was on the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.{{Cite journal |last=Feulner |first=Edwin John |date=1981 |title=Evolution of the Republican Study Committee |url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/18878 |language=en |access-date=March 14, 2022 |archive-date=March 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314160909/https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/18878 |url-status=live |journal=Edinburgh Research Archive}}

Career

=Congressional aide=

Feulner began his career as an analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, then called the Center for Strategic Studies. He later became a congressional aide to Wisconsin Republican Melvin Laird. Feulner subsequently became a long-serving executive assistant to Illinois Republican congressman Phil Crane. He also served as executive director of the Republican Study Committee.[http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/2007/10/edwin-feulner-heritage-foundation%E2%80%99s-president-revolutionized-washington-think-tank Edwin Feulner: The Heritage Foundation's president revolutionized the Washington think tank scene]{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Joe Rogalsky, The Washington Examiner, October 1, 2007. Accessed May 4, 2012.

=The Heritage Foundation=

Feulner was a founding trustee of the Heritage Foundation from its founding in 1973 until 1977. Four years after its founding, in 1977, he left Representative Crane's office to become the foundation's president.{{cite news |title=Inside the Beltway: Apres Rick |author=Jennifer Harper |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/10/inside-the-beltway-analysis-shows-media-was-no-hel/?page=2 |work=Washington Times |date=April 10, 2012 |access-date=May 3, 2012 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190307/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/10/inside-the-beltway-analysis-shows-media-was-no-hel/ |url-status=live }} At the time, the foundation had nine employees and had been through four presidents since its 1973 founding.

As president of the foundation, Feulner made the foundation more aggressive, market-driven, and less ivory tower, and began publishing easily-accessible, concise studies. By focusing the foundation's marketing, he helped transform the foundation from a small operation into a booming enterprise of conservative ideals, eventually creating a think tank that Newt Gingrich, in a New York Times column, called "the Parthenon of the conservative metropolis."{{Cite web|title = Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D.|url = http://www.heritage.org/about/staff/f/edwin-feulner|website = The Heritage Foundation|access-date = 2016-02-19|language = en-US|archive-date = January 19, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190309/https://www.heritage.org/staff/edwin-feulner|url-status = unfit}} The 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, referring to a focus on easily accessed, timely, concise research that could fit in a briefcase. Additionally, the foundation's policy reports and papers were published ahead of related legislation rather than after it had been passed, as most think tanks did at the time. Feulner told The Washington Examiner, "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 increased to $2.5 million and its donor pool grew to about 120,000.{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=John|date=April 8, 2013|title=Feulner's Farewell|journal=National Review}} Under his leadership, Heritage ultimately grew to 250 employees and, with annual income of about $80 million and a donor pool of about 600,000, became one of the world's largest think tanks.

In 1997, Feulner and its Asia policy expert Ken Sheffer co-founded Belle Haven Consultants, a Hong Kong-based for-profit consulting firm that represented Malaysia-based clients. Belle Haven Consultants, in turn, paid over $1 million in fees to lobbying firms, which ultimately registered with the U.S. Department of Justice as foreign agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2005/04/17/think-tanks-ideas-shifted-as-malaysia-ties-grew/57dd8464-f2d1-408f-920c-439ecc8cb3c5/ "Think Tank's Ideas Shifted As Malaysia Ties Grew"], The Washington Post, April 16, 2005[https://web.archive.org/web/20240318020034/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15538280 "Foreign lobbies took the guise of nonprofits"], NBC News, November 3, 2006

In April 2005, The Washington Post reported that the Heritage Foundation softened its criticism of the Malaysian government after Feulner initiated a business relationship with Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. "Heritage's new, pro-Malaysian outlook emerged at the same time a Hong Kong consulting firm co-founded by Edwin J. Feulner, Heritage's president, began representing Malaysian business interests. The for-profit firm, called Belle Haven Consultants, retains Feulner's wife, Linda Feulner, as a "senior adviser." And Belle Haven's chief operating officer, Ken Sheffer, is the former head of Heritage's Asia office and is still on Heritage's payroll as a $75,000-a-year consultant," The Washington Post reported.

The Heritage Foundation responded by denying any conflict of interest, stating that its views on Malaysia changed following the country's cooperation with the U.S. after the September 11 attacks,{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59539-2005Apr16.html |author=Thomas B. Edsall |title=Think Tank's Ideas Shifted As Malaysia Ties Grew: Business Interests Overlapped Policy|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 17, 2005|page= A01 |access-date=2017-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025100736/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59539-2005Apr16.html |archive-date=2017-10-25 |url-status=live }} and the Malaysian government "moving in the right economic and political direction."{{Cite web |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18542450_ITM |title="Heritage hails Malaysia's bold economic policies.", Asia Africa Intelligence Wire|date=2005-01-05 |access-date=2010-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117190932/http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18542450_ITM |archive-date=2012-01-17 |url-status=live }}[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJohfS4vTQ&feature=context&context=G23b6491RVAAAAAAAAAw "Heritage Foundation advocated for Iraq war?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529090000/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJohfS4vTQ&feature=context&context=G23b6491RVAAAAAAAAAw |date=2016-05-29 }} Real Time with Bill Maher.

In January 2013, Feulner published a column, "Economic Freedom on the Wane", reviewing the findings of the foundation's annual Index of Economic Freedom, an ongoing joint project between The Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation since 1997. The index measures individual countries' policies in the broad areas of rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency, and open markets.

In 2023, Feulner retired as chairman of Heritage's board of trustees, a role he briefly resumed in 2017 following the 2016 election of Donald Trump.{{cite web |title=Edwin Feulner |url=https://www.heritage.org/staff/edwin-feulner |website=The Heritage Foundation |access-date=5 December 2021 |language=en |archive-date=July 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709235841/https://www.heritage.org/staff/edwin-feulner |url-status=unfit }}

In September 2023, Feulner endorsed Mike Pence in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries; Pence dropped out of the race the following month, in October 2023.{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4223039-former-reagan-officials-endorse-pence-2024/|title=Former Reagan administration officials endorse Pence|date=September 26, 2023|access-date=September 26, 2023 |website=The Hill |last=Mueller |first=Julia}}

=Other roles=

In 2014, Feulner served as president and treasurer of the Mont Pelerin Society.{{cite news |title=A blueprint for rightists |author=William H. Peterson |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/mar/6/20060306-092602-1370r/?page=all |work=The Washington Times |date=March 7, 2006 |access-date=May 3, 2012 |archive-date=October 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004014149/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/mar/6/20060306-092602-1370r/?page=all |url-status=live }} He has served as a trustee and as chairman of the board of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He has also been a member of the board of the National Chamber Foundation,{{cite web |url=https://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2004&month=07 |title=Imprimis archive: Lay Your Hammer Down: Commencement Address to the Hillsdale College Class of 2004 |year=2004 |work=Imprimis |publisher=Hillsdale |access-date=May 3, 2012 |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529004454/https://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2004&month=07 |url-status=live }} the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, and the board of trustees 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, and was the foundation's chair in 2021.{{cite web|url=http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/about/nationaladvisors.php |title=National Advisory Council |publisher=Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610171740/http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/about/nationaladvisors.php |archive-date=June 10, 2011 |access-date=May 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy }}{{cite web |title=Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D |url=https://victimsofcommunism.org/leader/edwin-feulner-phd/ |website=Victims of Communism |language=en |access-date=December 5, 2021 |archive-date=May 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524230004/https://victimsofcommunism.org/leader/edwin-feulner-phd/ |url-status=live }}

Among other executive and advisory roles, Feulner was president of the Philadelphia Society from 1982 to 1983[http://phillysoc.org/presiden.htm phillysoc.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223102538/http://phillysoc.org/presiden.htm |date=February 23, 2010 }} and from 2013 to 2014, and is a past director of the Council for National Policy, the Acton Institute, and George Mason University.{{cite web |url=https://www.heritage.org/staff/edwin-feulner |title=Edwin Feulner |work=Heritage.org |access-date=January 18, 2018 |archive-date=July 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709235841/https://www.heritage.org/staff/edwin-feulner |url-status=unfit }} Feulner served as a member of the Gingrich–Mitchell Congressional UN Reform Task Force in 2005 and of the Meltzer Commission from 1999 to 2000. He was vice chairman of the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform, known as the Kemp Commission, from 1995 to 1996. He was the chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy from 1982 to 1991, a consultant on domestic policy to U.S. president Ronald Reagan, 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.

In 2007, GQ magazine listed him as one of the "50 most powerful people in D.C."[http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5843&pageNum=10 The 50 Most Powerful People in D.C.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080329055813/http://men.style.com/gq/features/full?id=content_5843&pageNum=10 |date=March 29, 2008 }}, Raha Naddaf and Greg Veis, GQ; accessed March 2, 2008.

In 2007 and 2010, Daily Telegraph named him "one of the 100 most influential conservatives in America".[https://web.archive.org/web/20071101033118/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2Fexclusions%2Fuselection%2Fnosplit%2Fuscons41-60.xml The most influential US conservatives], The Telegraph, March 11, 2007; accessed April 5, 2016.{{Cite web|title = Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D.|url = http://heritage.org/about/staff/f/edwin-feulner|website = The Heritage Foundation|access-date = 2016-02-22|language = en-US|archive-date = January 19, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230119190309/https://www.heritage.org/staff/edwin-feulner|url-status = unfit}}

In 2009, Karl Rove, writing in Forbes, listed him as the sixth-most powerful conservative in Washington, D.C.{{cite web |title=Karl Rove Picks The Seven Most Powerful Conservatives |url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/11/09/karl-rove-washington-leadership-power-09-conservatives_slide.html |website=Forbes |access-date=5 December 2021 |language=en |date=November 11, 2009 |archive-date=June 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618092036/https://www.forbes.com/2009/11/09/karl-rove-washington-leadership-power-09-conservatives_slide.html |url-status=live }}

Fuelner has been awarded eleven honorary degrees, and has received honors from the governments of Taiwan, South Korea, and the Czech Republic.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}

Personal life

Feulner and his wife, Linda Claire Leventhal, live in Alexandria, Virginia. They have two children.

Bibliography

Looking Back (The Heritage Foundation, 1981). {{ASIN|B0006E54OC}}, {{OCLC|8740675}}
Conservatives Stalk the House (Green Hill, 1983). {{ISBN|0898031125}}
The March of Freedom (Spence Publishing Company, 1998). {{ISBN|978-0965320887}}
Intellectual Pilgrims (Mont Pelerin Society, 1999). {{ISBN|978-0891950790}}
Leadership for America: The Principles of Conservatism (Spence Publishing Company, 2000). {{ISBN|978-1890626228}}
Getting America Right (co-authored with Doug Wilson) (Crown Forum, 2006). {{ISBN|978-0307336910}}
The American Spirit (co-authored with Brian Tracy) (Thomas Nelson, 2012). {{ISBN|978-1595553379}}