The Powell Memo almost sounds fake: a decades-old manifesto detailing how corporations and oligarchs could fight back against New Deal-era reforms and use their money to hijack American politics. It’s like some boogeyman manufactured by liberals desperate to come up with an explanation for their loss of power.
But as you’ll learn in episode 3 of Master Plan, the Powell Memo is real, and it shaped American society in ways that were mostly unknown — until now.
In this episode, we introduce you to the man behind the memo: the seemingly moderate, deceptively mild-mannered Lewis Powell, who authored a memorandum laying out the future for corporate corruption — and then ascended to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he was positioned to implement his agenda. We trace Powell’s money-drenched past, including the legal work he did helping tobacco companies fight public health advocates, and unearth snippets of his speeches detailing his radicalization.
We also hear from another famous Lewis who helps us explore the memo’s contents and a current U.S. senator who’s committed to exposing the memo’s pernicious influence over the last five decades.
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