Overview
The Allen-Bradley Company was founded in 1903 by Lynde and Harry Bradley in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (1) In 1942, Lynde died and turned his assets over to the creation of a charitable foundation, which culminated in the formation of the Lynde Bradley Foundation that year. The name was changed to the Allen Bradley Foundation in 1958, but was sold to Rockwell International in 1985. Some of the proceeds from the sale went to Bradley Foundation, which changed its name to the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. (2)
Lynde and Harry were conservative philanthropists who believed in "American democratic capitalism" by way of "free representative government and private enterprise." Thus, Bradley's programs "support limited, competent government; a dynamic marketplace for economic, intellectual, and cultural activity; and a vigorous defense at home and abroad of American ideas and institutions." (1)
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation is "the country's largest and most influential right-wing organization." (3) Along with John M. Olin Foundation, Sarah Scaife Foundation, and Smith Richardson Foundation, it is one of the "four sisters" described as the leading foundations of conservative philanthropy. (4) Harry Bradley belonged to the conservative John Birch Society and was a frequent contributor to the National Review. (5)
The foundation provides funding for the academic sector, national think tanks and advocacy groups, media groups, legal organizations, state and regional think tanks and advocacy groups, religious sector, and philanthropic institutions and networks. The foundation's idea of citizenship and personal responsibility is that citizens should not be treated like "victims of powerful external forces." Bradley tends to downplay the effect government institutions can have in alleviating these external forces and describes this system of governance as a threat "to the free society that the Bradley brothers cherished." (6)
Each year, the foundation gives $250,000 awards to people for outstanding achievement. In 2003, Mary Ann Glendon, Leon R. Kass, and Charles Krauthammer won the awards. Among the judges selected for distributing these awards were: Robert H. Bork, William F. Buckley Jr., Jeane Kirkpatrick, and James Q. Wilson. (7)
In 2003, the Hudson Institute created the Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal from money provided by Bradley Foundation. Its purpose is "to explore the usually unexamined intellectual assumptions underlying the grant-making practices of America's foundations and provide practical advice and guidance to grantmakers who seek to support smaller, grassroots institutions in the name of civic renewal." (8)
The foundation does not directly concern itself with foreign policy issues, but its grantees address foreign and military policy in their advocacy and education work. The Bradley Foundation's main policy priorities are domestic initiatives, such as the school voucher program that was initially launched in Wisconsin, where the foundation is located. It has led the right-wing's campaign to have the government support faith-based programs, an effort which President George W. Bush praised in July 2002 at the Milwaukee Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ, a Bradley grant recipient. (9) (10)
Michael Joyce was the president of the latest incarnation of the Bradley Foundation from its inception in1985 to 2001. Before Bradley, he was president of John M. Olin Foundation and has become a conservative philanthropy leader. (11) Michael W. Grebe served on the Bradley board of directors for six years before becoming president and CEO in 2002. (12) He is a board member of the Philanthropy Roundtable. Prior to joining Bradley Foundation, Grebe was chairman and CEO of Foley & Lardner law firm and a Republican National committeeman of Wisconsin. He was on the boards of Stanford's Hoover Institution, Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs, University of Wisconsin's Board of Regents, and Oskosh Truck Company. (13) (14) He is also on the Milwaukee Brewers Board of Directors. (15)
Funding
Between 1985 and 2002, the foundation had granted close to $500 million to a variety of conservative organizations. (3) By the end of 2002, the foundation had $532,048,000 in total liabilities and assets, a 16% drop from the year before. This amount increased to $619,980,000 in 2003. Total grants for charitable purposes were at $25,815,000 and an added $7,562,000 in operating expenses in 2002. (16) (17)
Many of Bradley's 2003 grantees are among the leading organizations of the right wing, particularly its neoconservative sector. The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research was given $600,000 for the Foreign and Defense Policy Studies program, the Bradley Lectures, and some type of survey analysis. The Hudson Institute received $446,100 for the Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. The Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) and Middle East Forum received $50,000 each. The FPRI grant went towards the Center for the Study of America and the West and general operations. The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies received $40,000 for research on U.S.-Russia-Caspian affairs. (16)
Among organizations from the religious sector, the Ethics and Public Policy Center received $425,000 for general operations while Freedom House was granted $250,000 for several projects and activities. The Institute on Religion and Public Life received $250,000 for First Things magazine. The Institute on Religion and Democracy received $75,000. (16)
Other grantees include the Project for the New American Century, which received $200,000. The National Strategy Information Center received $275,000. The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies received $125,000. The Independent Women's Forum obtained $20,000 for general operations, and Bradley also gave $20,000 to Marquette University for a research project on Norman Podhoretz. (16)
Government organizations also obtained grants. The National Endowment for Democracy received $80,000 for the publication of The Journal of Democracy. The International Republican Institute, which also gets funding from the NED, received $26,000. (16)
Most of the Bradley board members work for or have worked for some of the 2003 Bradley grantees. Chairman Thomas L. Rhodes was the founder and is the co-chairman of American Civil Rights Institute, and it was given $175,000 for general operations and public education about the elimination of governmental racial classifications in California and another $50,000. He was a board member of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, which was given $400,000. Rhodes was also a trustee of Manhattan Institute and Heritage Foundation, which were given $250,000 each, and Heritage received $72,500 to support a fellow in labor policy. The Council on Foreign Relations, which Rhodes was a member of, received $25,000 for the "Defending America in the 21st Century" project. (16)
President and CEO Michael W. Grebe is a board member of the Philanthropy Roundtable, which received $175,000. He was a board member of the Hoover Institution, and it was given $5,000 for general operations, $100,000 for the National Security Forum, and $225,000 for the American Public Education Initiative and Education Next magazine. (16)
Hudson Institute received $446,100 for the Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. Board member Reed Coleman was the vice-chairman of the National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal that was sponsored at Hudson. Pierre S. Du Pont was former chairman of the Hudson Institute, and he is policy chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis, which received $82,500 for general operations and $75,000 for a public education program on Social Security and Medicare reform. Du Pont was also a chairman of the National Review Institute, and it received $20,000. Finally, Smith's Messmer Catholic Schools received $1,000 for the schools and $215,000 for the high school. (16)
