One of these groups, the Heritage Foundation, grew directly out of the SST debate of 1971.59 Two days after the crucial congressional vote killing the SST, the American Enterprise Institute had provided a briefing supporting the project. This wasted briefing infuriated a pair of Republican congressional aides, who started a new foundation intended to provide a “quick response capability” in support of conservative, “probusiness” policy objectives. The two gained their start-up funding from Joseph Coors and Richard Mellon Scaife.
