Hudson Institute

Hudson Institute logo circa 2015, Credit: Business, Government and Society Five

The Hudson Institute was founded in 1961. It is a right wing think tank "dedicated to thinking about the future from a contrarian point of view", according to its literature.

The Hudson Institute has been funded by, amongst others: AgrEvo, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto, Novartis Crop Protection, Zeneca, DuPont, Dow Elanco, ConAgra, Cargill, Procter & Gamble.

The Hudson Institute has published books and reports on everything from military strategy and national security, to agriculture and the environment, to trade, labor, and economic development, to health care, welfare, and education, but the primary focus is on 'free trade' and competitive enterprise and a strong military. (Founder Herman Kahn was a physicist and military strategist who suggested that nuclear war was winnable.)

One of the Hudson Institute's fundraising pages carries quotes from "our Family of Generous Supporters and Friends". One quote is from Henry Kissinger, former US national security advisor and secretary of state in the Nixon administration, who says:

Hudson Institute is today one of America's foremost policy research centers, in the forefront of study and debate on important domestic and international policy issues, known and respected around the globe, a leader in innovative thinking and creative solutions to the challenges of the present and the future.

Biotechnology specialists

"Hudson Scholars" listed as specializing in "biotechnology" on the Hudson Institute website in 2002 include Michael Fumento, a Senior Fellow, Dennis Avery, a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Global Food Issues at the Hudson Institute; and Alex Avery, director of research and education at the Center for Global Food Issues. All have published numerous articles.

Avery's organic scares

Dennis Avery has published many articles attacking organic farming. In American Outlook magazine, which is published by the Hudson Institute, Avery claimed that "Organic foods have clearly become the deadliest food choice" on the basis that organic farms use animal manure, which Avery said can carry dangerous E. coli bacteria.

New York Times journalist Marian Burros replied to Avery in an article, "Eating well: Anti-organic, and flawed", detailing what she called the "untrue" claims of Avery about organic farming and food. Burros writes that:

• conventional farms also use animal manure as fertilizer, but organic farms, unlike conventional farms, have rules to ensure its safety
• contrary to Avery's claim, the Center for Food Safety and Nutrition had never warned against "higher levels of natural toxins" in organic foods
• the foods that caused E. coli-related food poisoning were not, as Avery claimed, organic.

Burros concluded:

The attack on organic food by a well-financed research organization suggests that, though organic food accounts for only 1 percent of food sales in the United States, the conventional food industry is worried.

Funding

Between 1987 and 2006, the Institute received 273 grants totaling $17,722,643 from a range of foundations including:

• Castle Rock Foundation
• Earhart Foundation
• F.M. Kirby Foundation
• John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.
• JM Foundation
• Koch Family Foundations (David H. Koch Foundation)
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
• Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
• Scaife Foundation (Scaife Family, Sarah Mellon Scaife, Carthage)
• Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation
• Smith Richardson Foundation
• Walton Family Foundation
• William H. Donner Foundation

Hudson Trustees' Circle - $25,000+

According to its 2002 Annual Report, the following are members of the Hudson Trustees’ Circle which donated more than $25,000 – it is not the full list:

• Lord Black of Crossharbour
• Capital Group Companies, Inc.
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Fannie Mae Corporation
• General Atomics
• German Marshall Fund of the United States
• The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation
• Lilly Endowment, Inc.
• Monsanto Company
• The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Pfizer, Inc.
• Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
• Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation
• Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc.
• Walton Family Foundation, Inc.

Hudson Chairman's Circle — $10,000.00+

According to its 2002 Annual Report, funders in this group include:

• American Farm Bureau Federation
• Dow AgroSciences
• DuPont
• Eli Lilly and Company Foundation
• Merck & Co., Inc.
• Pioneer Hi-Bred International

Hudson Benefactors' Circle

According to its 2002 Annual Report, funders in this group include:

• Archer Daniels Midland Foundation
• ISK Biosciences Corporation

Links to the Bush Administration

• Paula Dobriansky - the former Under-secretary of State for Global Affairs –was an adjunct fellow
• Mitchell E. Daniels Jr - former Director of the Office of Management and Budget - was in 1987 appointed chief executive officer of the Hudson Institute . He is a former president of Eli Lilly. He was elected 49th Governor of the State of Indiana in 2004.
• Wade Horn - the former Assistant Secretary for Children and Families was an adjunct fellow
• John Weicher - the former Assistant Secretary Commissioner, Federal Housing Authority in the Department of Housing and Urban Development is Director of Hudson Institute's Center for Housing and Financial Markets.
• Elliott Abrams - the Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights, and International Operations at the National Security Council - was a Senior Fellow from 1989 to 1996.
• Bruno V. Manno - the former US Assistant Secretary of Education Policy and Planning and Chair of the Commission on Presidential Scholars, was a senior fellow.

Staff

• Herbert I. London – President. In 1990, he was the Conservative Party candidate for Governor of New York, In 1994, he was Republican Party candidate for New York State Comptroller.
• Kenneth R. Weinstein - Vice President and Chief Operating Officer - was managing director of the Shalem Center, with offices in Jerusalem and Washington, D.C.
• Alan W. Dowd - Director, Indianapolis Office

Board of Trustees

• Jeffrey T. Bergner – President of the PR firm Bergner, Bockorny, Castagnetti, Hawkins & Brain, Inc. Senate lobbying records for 2003 show that their clients include Monsanto for which the firm was paid $100,000 in the first half of 2003. Issues the company worked on for Monsanto include “biotechnology acceptance” and the controversial growth hormone BST. Other clients listed in the Senate lobbying records for 2003 included Biogen, Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Glaxo Smith Kline, Petroleum Marketers Assn of America, Phrma and NewsCorp.
• Conrad Black - ex-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hollinger International Inc, ex-owner of the Daily Telegraph
• Linden S. Blue - vice chairman of General Atomics, a diversified international high technology company with world leadership positions in fusion, fission, and training research and isotope nuclear reactors.
• Rudy Boschwitz - Ex republican Senator and President Bush Senior emissary to Ethiopia in the spring of 1991.
• Charles H. Brunie – Chairman Emeritus of Oppenheimer Capital
• Joseph Epstein - lecturer at Northwestern University
• Joseph M. Giglio - Chairman of President Reagan’s National Council on Public Works Improvement
• Roy Innis - Roy Innis is national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and is on the board of the National Rifle Association. Roy Innis is the father of Niger Innis, the spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality.
• Paul J. Klaassen - Founder - Chairman and CEO of Sunrise Assisted Living.
• Marie-Josee Kravis – Senior Fellow at Hudson. On the Board of Ford.
• Andre B. Lacy - chairman and CEO of LDI, Ltd.,
• L. Ben Lytle - health care specialist
• Robert H. McKinney - is chairman of First Indiana Corporation,
• John M. Mutz - is the former president of PSI Energy, a former Republican lieutenant governor of Indiana,
• Neil H. Offen - is president and chief executive officer of Direct Selling Association (DSA)
• Richard N. Perle – AEI and PNAC (see AEI)
• Steuart L. Pittman - lawyer
• George A. Schaefer, Jr. - Banker
• Wallace O. Sellers - Chairman of Natural Gas Services, Inc.
• Max Singer – Senior Hudson Fellow
• Walter P. Stern - He is Chairman and a Director of Capital International – Chairman of Hudson
• Stephen A. Stitle - Banker
• Allan R. Tessler - Chairman and CEO of JNet Enterprises, Inc
• Jeffrey H. Thomasson - CEO and managing director of Oxford Financial Group, Ltd
• Ambassador Curtin Winsor Jr - ex-Republican amdassador
• John C. Wohlstetter - A senior fellow for technology and society with Discovery Institute

Trustees emeriti also include:

• Thomas J. Donohue - president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• James H. Dowling – from PR firm Burson-Marsteller
• Alan Hubbard - From 1990 to 1992, he served as deputy chief of staff to the Vice President of the United States and executive director of the President’s Council on Competitiveness
• Dan Quayle (honorary)– Republican Vice President under Bush Senior.

Research /Adjunct Fellows / Scholars of Interest

• Dennis Avery - Center for Global Food Issues Senior Fellow – works on agriculture and biotechnology. Avery is also on the Advisory board of ACSH (see below)
• Alex Avery – Director of research and education with the Center for Global Food Issues at Hudson (see below).
• Michael Fumento – Senior Fellow – Has done the rounds of the right. Ex- American Enterprise Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Consumer Alert, and Reason magazine[11]. On the Science Advisory Board of the Wise Use Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow along with known climate sceptics and industry apologists Sallie Baliunas C. Balling, Bruce Ames, Roger Bate, Hugh Ellsaesser, Michael Fumento, Sherwood B. Idso, Patrick J. Michaels, A. Alan Moghissi, Frederic Seitz, Gerd-Rainer Weber, and Elizabeth Whelan.

Projects

The institute also runs a number of projects with specific focuses:

• Center for American Common Culture- John Fonte, Director
• Center for Global Food Issues - Dennis Avery Director
• Center for Latin American Studies - Jaime Daremblum Director
• Center for Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World - Hillel Fradkin Director
• Center for Employment Policy - Diana Furchtgott-Roth Director;
• Economic Policy Studies (formerly the Regulatory Studies Center) Irwin Stelzer Director;
• Islam and Democracy Project - Husain Haqqani Co-Chair;
• Project on Campaign and Election Laws - Amy Kaufman;
• Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal - William A. Schambra, Director;
• Center for Future Security Strategies - S. Enders Wimbush, Director;
• Center for Middle East Policy - Meyrav Wurmser Director;
• Eye on the UN
• Hudson New York website

Principals and board members

• Rudy Boschwitz; former US Senator
• Roy Innis; national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
• Max Singer; co-Founder and former President; also member of Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
• Nina Rosenwald; Board member of the Hudson Institute and former board member of Freedom House

Affiliations

• Jerusalem Center on Public Affairs(JCPA)
• NGO Monitor
• Freedom House

External Resources

• Yacoub Kahlen, Hudson Institute and 'Eye on the UN' join the ranks of gutter journalists, electronicIntifada, 22 June 2006.

Contact

• Address: Herman Kahn Center, 5395 Emerson Way, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Web address: http://www.hudson.org