The Powell Memorandum (1971) gave us Trump

The Powell Memorandum led directly to what we see today and the reign of the criminal, billionaire class.

Powell served on the Supreme Court of the US from 1972 to 1987.

Here’s the short summary:

• he argued America was under attack from intellectuals, the media, campuses, and other cultural institutions
• businesses need to respond with a sustained, organized and aggressive counteroffensive
• what was required to fight this was long-term strategic action (which culminated in Project 2025)
• recommended tactics: influence education, media, the courts, and create think tanks to influence politics

All of that should be familiar. 1971 was 54 years ago. The plan that culminated in Donald J Trump’s 2nd term was started 54 years ago.

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Here’s a longer summary, but I do recommend reading the Wikipedia article linked above:

The Powell Memorandum (titled “Attack on American Free Enterprise System”), dated August 23, 1971, was a confidential memo written by Lewis F. Powell Jr. to Eugene B. Sydnor Jr. of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Powell argued that the American free enterprise system was under a “broad attack” from intellectuals, the media, academia (especially campuses), and other cultural institutions, and he urged business to respond with a sustained, organized, and aggressive counteroffensive. The memo framed the situation not as isolated grievances but as an existential ideological struggle requiring long-term strategic action. (Biotech Law)

Key recommendations in the memo included building and funding a wide array of institutional and cultural levers to defend and promote pro-business ideas. Among the major tactics Powell laid out were:

• Influencing education and scholarship: fund scholars, create “scholars-on-call,” establish business-friendly research and academic networks, and shape curricula to produce favorable opinion over time. (Al Jazeera Interactives)
• Shaping public opinion and media: monitor and critique the media, develop communications strategies, and support favorable editorial content to counter narratives hostile to free enterprise. (Al Jazeera Interactives)
• Legal and judicial influence: build and support legal organizations, cultivate lawyers sympathetic to business, and use the courts to defend corporate interests. (Alliance for Justice)
• Political and lobbying organization: coordinate business lobbying, voter education, and political activism to ensure policy and regulatory environments favored enterprise. (Senator Sheldon Whitehouse)
• Institutional infrastructure: create think tanks, legal advocacy groups, and funding mechanisms to sustain influence over decades rather than ad hoc responses. (Greenpeace, Virginia Business)

The memo is widely cited as a seminal moment in the modern corporate political mobilization era. Supporters of its historical significance argue it provided a blueprint that helped seed and accelerate the development of conservative think tanks, legal strategies, and institutional networks that have shaped American public policy and discourse. Critics see it as an intentional blueprint for “corporate takeover” of democracy and cultural institutions, alleging it kickstarted a coordinated effort to entrench business power; others caution that while influential, its role has been debated—some portray it as an overblown conspiracy narrative, others as a clear catalyst. (Virginia Business, Inside Higher Ed, Alliance for Justice)

In sum, the Powell Memorandum called for business to stop reacting defensively and instead to build lasting, proactive structures across education, media, law, and politics to defend and advance free enterprise—an agenda whose echoes and consequences are still discussed and contested in analyses of American political economy. (Lira, Medium)