Summary

As Lyndon Johnson gained national popularity for his presidential campaign on the back of his Great Society platform, Richard Mellon Scaife and other wealthy, conservative extremists began meeting to “plot against the country’s liberal drift” (61). Scaife helped found the Carthage Foundation in 1964, which represented a fleet of deep-pocketed conservative organizations aimed at shifting the political landscape away from liberal policies. At the forefront of this effort was Richard Mellon Scaife, who was credited by one reporter as “the progenitor of a new form of hard-hitting political philanthropy” (62).

Mayer begins her analysis of Richard Mellon Scaife by briefly describing his family history. Judge Thomas Mellon, Richard’s great-grandfather, was the founder of the family’s fortune. Though he seems hard-working and sensible from the brief information Mayer provides, his inheritance has been tarnished with greed and alcoholism by his...