Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

by Jane Mayer

All of which calls into question how in 1990 the Scaife Foundation could justify pressing the Heritage Foundation, of which it was the largest funder, to focus more on conservative social and moral issues and in particular family values. Heritage’s president, Ed Feulner, quickly complied with his donor’s request, hiring William J. Bennett. Soon after, Bennett, an outspoken social conservative who had been the secretary of education under Ronald Reagan and the director of National Drug Control Policy under George H. W. Bush, was appointed Heritage’s new distinguished fellow in cultural policy studies. Lee Edwards, who wrote Heritage’s official history, confirms that the Scaife Foundation “had particularly in mind the disintegration of the family, an issue which became a major Heritage concern.” Bennett also served as a Scaife Foundation director.