Mandate for Leadership is a series of books published bythe Heritage Foundation, an Americanconservative think tank based inWashington, D.C. They offer specificconservative policy recommendations designed to be implemented by thefederal government. The books have traditionally been released to coincide with an incoming U.S. presidential administration. The first edition was released in 1981, following theelection of Ronald Reagan, to serve as policy guidance for the incomingReagan administration. The latest edition, published in April 2023, is a major component ofProject 2025.
In 1979, at a trustees' meeting ofthe Heritage Foundation,Jack Eckerd, former head of theGeneral Services Administration in theFord administration, suggested that the foundation draw up a conservative plan of action for the next incoming presidential administration in January 1981.Robert Krieble proposed that Heritage produce a manual to help policymakers "cut the size of government and manage it more effectively".[1]
The first edition was overseen and edited byCharles Heatherly, a former field director of theIntercollegiate Studies Institute. In late January 1980, Heatherly produced a five-page outline titledMandate for Leadership. Heatherly explained that the purpose of the project was to present concrete proposals to "revitalize our economy, strengthen our national security and halt the centralization of power in the federal government".[1][2]
Both theReagan andCarter campaigns were approached by the foundation to discuss the project; however, they only received a reply from the Reagan–Bush campaign. In July 1980, Reagan aideEdwin Meese was a surprise guest at a dinner held by Heritage for the project's team chairmen and co-chairmen. There, Meese gave the Heritage study his blessing, which was seen as a sign of the Reagan administration's receptiveness to the project.[1]
In January 1981,Mandate for Leadership: Policy Management in a Conservative Administration was released as a 20-volume, 3,000-page publication.Mandate contained more than 2,000 individual suggestions to move the federal government in a conservative direction, focusing on management and administration. The report "presented an explicit plan for reshaping public discourse on civil rights issues".[3] To that end, it recommended the Justice Department "halt its affirmative action policies to remedy past discrimination against women and other minorities."[4]
Specific suggestions related to spending included raising the defense budget by $20 billion in fiscal year 1981 and increasing it by an average of $35 billion over the next five years; establishing urban "enterprise zones" to encourage businesses to move into the nation'sinner cities; reducing personal income tax rates by 10 percent across the board; calling forline-item veto power by the president; and developing a new strategic bomber by usingB-1 and advanced bomber technology.[1] At the first meeting of his cabinet, President Reagan passed out copies ofMandate, and many of the study's authors were recruited into the White House administration. In particular, the Reagan administration hired keyMandate contributors:William Bennett as chairman of theNational Endowment for the Humanities (and later as Secretary of Education) andJames G. Watt asSecretary of the Interior.[5]
According toMandate's authors, around 60% of the 2,000 proposals in it were implemented or initiated at the end of Reagan's first year in office.[1][6] In a report on the first year of theReagan administration, the Heritage Foundation expressed disappointment with the government's defense and foreign policy, while it lauded theOffice of Management and Budget.[7]Mandate for Leadership appeared onThe Washington Post's paperback bestseller list,[1] and thePost called it "an action plan for turning the government toward the right as fast as possible."[8] In 2002,The New York Times called it "the manifesto of the Reagan revolution".[9]
In 1984, Heritage releasedMandate for Leadership II: Continuing the Conservative Revolution. The study featured 1,300 recommendations from 150 contributors, and continued the originalMandate's aim of reforming the federal government and strengthening U.S. defenses.[10]
Heritage published its third manual for an incoming administration in 1988, titledMandate for Leadership III: Policy Strategies for the 1990s. This edition was edited by Charles Heatherly and Burt Pines.[11]
Prior to the1996 U.S. presidential election, Heritage published the fourthMandate for Leadership edition.Mandate for Leadership IV: Turning Ideas into Action was aimed at Congress, and focused on presenting a political strategy for Congress to continue the conservative policies of the outgoing Republican presidential administration.[12] This edition ofMandate was offered as study material at an orientation conference attended by both Democratic and Republican freshman congressmen held by The Heritage Foundation and Empower America.[13] In particular, a chapter on moving an agenda through Congress was recommended by Senate Majority LeaderTrent Lott to House Speaker Newt Gingrich.[13]
The fifth edition in theMandate series,Mandate for Leadership 2000, included the edited transcripts of nine nonpartisan public sessions held by Heritage in 2000 called "The Keys to a Successful Presidency". The forums focused on how past presidents and administrations implemented their policy agendas from their first day in office. Participants includedLeon Panetta, former chief of staff to President Clinton;Martin Anderson, who advised President Reagan on domestic policy;Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Carter; and columnistRobert Novak. Historian and former congressional aide,Alvin S. Felzenberg wasMandate for Leadership 2000's project director.[12]
In 2005, Heritage published the sixth edition,Mandate for Leadership: Principles to Limit Government, Expand Freedom, and Strengthen America. This edition ofMandate was just 156 pages long. According to Heritage, the shorter length reflected that policies and ideas from the earlyMandate editions had, by the time of this publication, largely become part of the mainstream debate.[5][14]
The seventh edition,Mandate for Leadership: Blueprint for Reform, was published in November 2016, shortly after the2016 U.S. presidential election won byDonald Trump. This edition was longer than prior editions, published in three volumes,[a] in part because much of the progress of the foundation's public policy agenda had been lost during thepresidency of Barack Obama.[15] In 2018, Heritage claimed the Trump administration had by then embraced 64%, or nearly 2/3rds, of 334 proposed policies in the foundation'sMandate for Leadership.[16][17]
The eighth edition,Mandate 2020: Clear Vision for the Next Administration, was published in July 2020.[18] A companion document,Solutions 2020, was also released.[19]
The ninth edition in theMandate series,Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise, was published in April 2023 prior to the2024 U.S. presidential election. The ninth edition includes 30 chapters and is over 900 pages in length.[20] This document provides the policy agenda for Project 2025.[21]
