The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) is an extremely influential, pro-business right-wing think tank founded in 1943 by Lewis H. Brown. It promotes the advancement of free enterprise capitalism, and succeeds in placing its people in influential governmental positions.
It is the center base for many neo-conservatives.
Originally set up as a spokesperson for big business and the promotion of free enterprise, the AEI came to major national prominence in the 1970s under the leadership of William Baroody, Sr., during which time it grew from a group of twelve resident "thinkers" to a well-funded organization with 145 resident scholars, 80 adjunct scholars, and a large supporting staff. This period of growth was largely funded by the Howard Pew Freedom Trust .Ronald Reagan said of the AEI in 1988: "The American Enterprise Institute stands at the center of a revolution in ideas of which I, too, have been a part. AEI’s remarkably distinguished body of work is testimony to the triumph of the think tank. For today the most important American scholarship comes out of our think tanks – and none has been more influential than the American Enterprise Institute."
In 1986, the Olin and Smith Richardson foundations withdrew their support from AEI because of substantive disagreement with certain of its policies, causing William Baroody, Jr. to resign in the ensuing financial crisis. Following criticism by conservatives that the AEI was too centrist, it moved its programme further to the right and became more aggressive in pursuing its public policy goals. More recently, it has emerged as one of the leading architects of the Bush administration‘s foreign policy. AEI rents office space to the Project for the New American Century, one of the leading voices that pushed the Bush administration’s plan for "regime change" through war in Iraq. AEI reps have also aggressively denied that the war has anything to do with oil.
Lewis Harold Brown (1894 – 1951) was president of Johns-Manville. He was founder of the American Enterprise Institute and founder and Chairman of the Tax Foundation. Johns-Manville was the largest asbestos manufacturer in the US during the 1930s, and was involved in a massive, 40-year coverup of the severe health risks it causes. The company’s founder, H.W. Johns, died of asbestosis in 1898.
The first signs of health related concerns associated with Asbestos fibers was likely late 1800s/early 1900s. Asbestos diseases can be seen as early as 10 years after exposure. As such, with asbestos mining, manufacturing and installation in full gear by the late 1800s, it is likely that asbestos related sickness/illness was present and diagnosed, though not named until later in 1900s.
In 1918, a Prudential Insurance Company official notes that life insurance companies will not cover asbestos workers, because of the "health-injurious conditions of the industry".
In 1930, the major asbestos company Johns-Manville produces a report, for internal company use only, about medical reports of asbestos worker fatalities.
In 1932, A letter from U.S. Bureau of Mines to asbestos manufacturer Eagle-Picher states, in relevant part, "It is now known that asbestos dust is one of the most dangerous dusts to which man is exposed".
In 1933, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. doctors find that 29 percent of workers in a Johns-Manville plant have asbestosis. Likewise, in 1933, Johns-Manville officials settle lawsuits by 11 employees with asbestosis on the condition that the employees’ lawyer agree to never again "directly or indirectly participate in the bringing of new actions against the Corporation."
In 1934, officials of two large asbestos companies, Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan, edit an article about the diseases of asbestos workers written by a Metropolitan Life Insurance Company doctor. The changes minimize the danger of asbestos dust.
In 1935, officials of Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan instruct the editor of Asbestos magazine to publish nothing about asbestosis.
In 1936, a group of asbestos companies agrees to sponsor research on the health effects of asbestos dust, but require that the companies maintain complete control over the disclosure of the results.
In 1942, an internal Owens-Corning corporate memo refer to "medical literature on asbestosis . . . . scores of publications in which the lung and skin hazards of asbestos are discussed." .
Either in 1942 or 1943, the president of Johns-Manville says that the managers of another asbestos company were "a bunch of fools for notifying employees who had asbestosis." When one of the managers asks, "do you mean to tell me you would let them work until they dropped dead?" The response is reported to have been, "Yes. We save a lot of money that way." .
In 1944, a Metropolitan Life Insurance Company report finds 42 cases of asbestosis among 195 asbestos miners.In 1951, Asbestos companies remove all references to cancer before allowing publication of research they sponsor.
In 1952, Dr. Kenneth Smith, Johns-Manville medical director, recommends (unsuccessfully) that warning labels be attached to products containing asbestos. Later Smith testifies: "It was a business decision as far as I could understand . . . the corporation is in business to provide jobs for people and make money for stockholders and they had to take into consideration the effects of everything they did and if the application of a caution label identifying a product as hazardous would cut into sales, there would be serious financial implications." .
In 1953, National Gypsum’s safety director writes to the Indiana Division of Industrial Hygiene, recommending that acoustic plaster mixers wear respirators "because of the asbestos used in the product." Another company official notes that the letter is "full of dynamite," urges that it be retrieved before reaching its destination. A memo in the files notes that the company "succeeded in stopping" the letter, which "will be modified."
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