Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

Read More

The "Powell Memo" is published, fueling the rise of corporate political power.

1971

CORP
LAB
PHA
ECON

Written by lawyer and future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, the memo pushes back against the wave of recent regulations and controls placed on businesses, saying: "The thing that affects business most today is government... Business must learn the lesson... that political power is necessary; that such power must be assiduously cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination" (Moyers & Company, 2012).

Following the memo, there will be a marked and continued increase in the number of corporate political action committees (PACs), corporate lobbyists, and anti-labor organizing.

This cultural shift in the political role of business will also shape the rise of the political power of the pharmaceutical industry.