Edwin J Feulner Jr
We at the Adam Smith Institute are saddened by the death of Edwin J Feulner Jr, one of the leading intellectual organisers behind America’s conservative movement, who led the Heritage Foundation for 37 years.
He was my first employer, heading a think-tank for a group of conservative Members of Congress, before he went to run the Heritage Foundation, which he had co-founded a few years earlier. His arrival as President in 1977 turned Heritage from a small, sleepy group — he complained to me that it did not even have a list of Members of Congress, who were the main target of its policy output — into America's leading conservative think tank.
He was author of around nine books on American policy and on national and international security, which was one of his major interests and concerns. But it is as a tireless and effective organiser that he will be remembered. He was a no-nonsense manager and he had a great flair for fundraising and donor relations, which helped him grow Heritage and greatly expand its output of books, papers, and events. By 2017, he was helping to shape the Reagan presidency, giving it vision and coherence. His leadership earned him the Presidential Citizens Medal from Ronald Reagan in 1989.
Ed was a believer in ‘big tent’ conservatism. His view was that the right needed to add and multiply, not subtract and divide, and he spent much of his considerable energy bringing together conservatives, classical liberals, free marketeers and others on the centre-right, often through organisations that he founded or participated in or ran. He also raised funds for other pro-freedom organisations such as the Philadelphia Society and the Mont Pelerin Society, where he served as Treasurer — and principal organiser — for over 30 years, and carried on raising funds for Heritage even after his retirement.
He will also be remembered for his optimism and lack of complacency. He believed that, in Washington politics as with much else, there were no permanent victories — but also no permanent defeats. It was up to individuals to shape the future. And he encouraged those he met to do so, equipping, encouraging and supporting generation after generation of young centre-right activists and thinkers as they did just that. His upbeat attitude to life was encapsulated in the word with which he always signed off letters and emails — Onward!
Eamonn Butler