Hudson Institute

Hudson Institute is an American right-wing<ref name=":42" /><ref name="Abe First Non-American2" /><ref name=":02" /><ref name=":13" /><ref name=":32" /> neoconservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.<ref name=":42">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Abe First Non-American2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":32">Template:Cite web</ref> It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York by futurist Herman Kahn and his colleagues Max Singer and Oscar M. Ruebhausen at the RAND Corporation.<ref name="www.hudson.org"/>

Kahn was a physicist and military consultant known for envisioning nuclear war scenarios.Template:Efn The institute's research branched out from the military into various areas including economics, health, education, and gambling.<ref name=":42" /> Kahn died in 1983 and the institute moved to Indianapolis, Indiana the year after.<ref name=":42" /><ref name=":52">Template:Cite web</ref> The institute helped design Wisconsin's influential workfare program in the mid-1990s.<ref name=":42" /><ref name=":62">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":72">Template:Cite book</ref> Hudson relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2004.<ref name=":82">Template:Cite web</ref> It has been noted for work with governments and industries, including defense and agribusiness.<ref name=":92">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":112">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="auto2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":102">Template:Cite web</ref>

History

1961–1982

File:Interview with Herman Kahn, author of On Escalation, May 11, 1965.jpg

Herman Kahn, founder of the Hudson Institute

The Hudson Institute was founded in 1961 by Herman Kahn, Max Singer, and Oscar M. Ruebhausen.<ref name="www.hudson.org">Template:Cite web</ref> Kahn was a Cold War icon, often interviewed in magazines, who was purported to have the highest IQ on record and partly inspired the 1964 movie Dr. Strangelove.<ref name="Fat Man2">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1960, while employed at the RAND Corporation, Kahn had given a series of lectures at Princeton University on scenarios related to nuclear war. In 1960, Princeton University Press published On Thermonuclear War, a book-length expansion of Kahn's lecture notes.<ref name="Fat Man2" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Major controversies ensued, and Kahn and RAND parted ways.

Kahn moved to Croton-on-Hudson, New York, intending to establish a new think tank that was less hierarchical and bureaucratic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Along with Max Singer, a young government lawyer who had been Kahn's RAND colleague, and New York attorney Oscar Ruebhausen, Kahn founded the Hudson Institute on July 20, 1961.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Kahn has been described as Hudson's driving intellect while Singer developed the institute's organization.<ref name="A History of Hudson Institute p. 62">Template:Cite book</ref> Ruebhausen was an advisor to New York governor Nelson Rockefeller.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hudson's initial research projects largely represented Kahn's personal interests, which included the domestic and military use of nuclear power and scenario planning exercises about policy options and their possible outcomes.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The use of the word scenario in such exercises had been adapted from Hollywood storytelling as a more dignified word than "screenplay", and Kahn was an enthusiastic practitioner.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kahn and his colleagues made pioneering contributions to nuclear deterrence theory and strategy during this period.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Additional citation needed

Hudson's detailed analyses of "ladders of escalation"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and reports on the likely consequences of limited and unlimited nuclear exchanges, eventually published as Thinking About the Unthinkable in 1962<ref name="A History of Hudson Institute p. 62" /> and On Escalation: Metaphors and Scenarios in 1965,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> were influential within the Kennedy administration.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> They helped the institute win its first major research contract from the Office of Civil Defense at the Pentagon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Meanwhile, in popular culture, Dr. Strangelove in 1964 borrowed many lines from Kahn's On Thermonuclear War,<ref name="Fat Man2" /> and the methods of Kahn, Hudson and RAND also inspired the 1967 satirical book The Report From Iron Mountain, depicting a supposedly secret study on the dangers of peace.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Kahn did not want Hudson limited to defense-related research,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and along with Singer, he recruited a staff from diverse academic backgrounds. Hudson also involved a wide range of consultants for analysis and policy, including French philosopher Raymond Aron,<ref name="A History of Hudson Institute p. 72">Template:Cite book</ref> African-American novelist Ralph Ellison,<ref name="Fat Man2" /> political scientist Henry Kissinger, conceptual artist James Lee Byars,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and social scientist Daniel Bell.<ref name="A History of Hudson Institute p. 72" /> Its focus expanded to include geopolitics,<ref name="Anthony J. Wiener, Forecaster of the Future, Is Dead at 812">Template:Cite web</ref> economics,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> demography, anthropology, science and technology,<ref name="Anthony J. Wiener, Forecaster of the Future, Is Dead at 812" /> education,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and urban planning.<ref name="The Next 200 Years2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Kahn in 1962 predicted the rise of Japan as the world's second-largest economy and developed close ties to politicians and corporate leaders there.<ref name="A History of Hudson Institute p. 152">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Abe First Non-American2" />

Hudson Institute used scenario-planning techniques to forecast long-term developments and was noted for its future studies.Template:Citation needed In 1967, Hudson published The Year 2000, a bestselling book commissioned by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.<ref name="A History of Hudson Institute p. 152" /> Many of the predictions proved correct, including technological developments like portable telephones and network-linked home and office computers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1970, The Emerging Japanese Superstate was published.<ref name="Abe First Non-American2" /> After the Club of Rome's 1972 report The Limits to Growth produced alarm about the possibility that population growth and resource depletion might result in a 21st-century global "collapse", Hudson responded with its own analysis, The Next 200 Years, which concluded instead that scientific and practical innovations were likely to significantly improve worldwide living standards.<ref name="The Next 200 Years2" />

Hudson struggled with funding problems in the 1970s for reasons including increased competition from other think tanks for government grants.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It turned to grants from corporations such as IBM and Mobil.<ref name=":122">Template:Cite web</ref>

In his 1982 book The Coming Boom, Kahn argued that pro-growth tax and fiscal policies, information technology, and developments by the energy industry would make possible an unprecedented prosperity in the Western world by the early 21st century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kahn also foresaw unconventional extraction techniques like hydraulic fracturing.<ref name="The Next 200 Years2" /><ref name=":122" />

Within 20 years, Hudson had offices in Bonn,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Paris,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Brussels, Montreal<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Tokyo.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Other research projects were related to South Korea, Singapore, Australia<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Latin America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1983–2000

After Kahn's sudden death at age 61 on July 7, 1983,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hudson was restructured. Recruited by the City of Indianapolis and the Lilly Endowment, Hudson relocated its headquarters to Indiana in 1984.<ref name=":52" /> In 1987, Mitch Daniels, a former aide to Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and President Ronald Reagan, was appointed CEO.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

William Eldridge Odom,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> former director of the National Security Agency, became Hudson's director of national security studies;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> economist Alan Reynolds became director of economic research.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Technologist George Gilder led a project on the implications of the digital era for American society.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="History p322">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1990, Daniels quit to become vice president of corporate affairs at Eli Lilly and Company.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was succeeded as CEO by Leslie Lenkowsky, a social scientist,<ref name="Strategic Investment in Ideas2">Template:Cite web</ref> and former consultant to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Under Lenkowsky, Hudson emphasized domestic and social policy.Template:Citation needed During the early 1990s, the institute did work concerning education reform and applied research on charter schools and school choice.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Also in 1990, Hudson Institute spun off a subsidiary non-profit organization that took the name the Discovery Institute.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

At the initiative of Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson,<ref name="Strategic Investment in Ideas2" /> two members of Hudson were in the small planning group that designed the Wisconsin Works welfare-to-work program. Hudson also helped fund the planning and evaluated the results.<ref name=":62" /><ref name=":72" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A version was adopted nationwide in the 1996 federal welfare-reform legislation signed by President Bill Clinton.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2001, President George W. Bush's initiative on charitable choice was based<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> on Hudson's research<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> into social-service programs administered by faith-based organizations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other Hudson research from this period included 1987's "Workforce 2000",<ref name="Back to the future2">Template:Cite web</ref> the "Blue Ribbon Commission on Hungary" (1990)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "International Baltic Economic Commission" (1991–93), on market-oriented reforms in the newly independent states of Eastern Europe,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the 1997 follow-up study "Workforce 2020".<ref name="Back to the future2" />

In 1997, Lenkowsky was succeeded by Herbert London.<ref name=":02">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2001–2016

After the September 11 attacks, Hudson emphasized international issues such as the Middle East, Latin America, and Islam.Template:Citation needed On June 1, 2004, Hudson relocated its headquarters to Washington, D.C.<ref name=":82" />

In 2012, Sarah May Stern became chairman of the board of trustees, and remains so to the present.Template:Efn <ref name="hudson_stern2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="irs2012" />

In 2016, Hudson relocated from its McPherson Square headquarters<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> to a custom-built office space on Pennsylvania Avenue, near the U.S. Capitol and the White House.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The new LEED-certified<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> offices were designed by FOX Architects.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe presided over the opening of the new offices.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2016–present

US Vice President Mike Pence used the institute as his venue for a major policy speech concerning China<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":32" /> on October 4, 2018.

In 2021, Pompeo and Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation in the Trump administration, joined the institute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":13">Template:Cite web</ref> In January 2021, John P. Walters was appointed president and CEO of the Hudson Institute. Walters succeeded Kenneth R. Weinstein, who became the first Walter P. Stern Distinguished Fellow.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Former U.S. attorney general William P. Barr joined as a distinguished fellow in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:03.30 「民主夥伴共榮之旅」 總統受邀出席美國「哈德遜研究所」舉辦之「全球領導力獎晚會」 - 52783009594.jpg

President Tsai accepts the institute's Global Leadership Award, 2023.

On March 30, 2023, President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan attended an event held by the Hudson Institute, where she accepted the institute's Global Leadership Award. In response to the award event, the Foreign Ministry of China imposed sanctions on the institute, its Board of Trustees Chair Sarah May Stern, and its President and CEO John P. Walters.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 2023, the Hudson Institute was designated as an "undesirable organization" in Russia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke at the Hudson Institute in support of Israel in October 2023 after the Hamas-led attack.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> The speech was coordinated with the White House as President Joe Biden urged Congress to approve additional aid to support Ukraine and Israel.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The Institute provides several briefing services, such as the Keystone Defense Initiative, where Rebecca Heinrichs is the Senior Fellow and Director.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Sponsored awards

Hudson offers two annual awards, the Herman Kahn Award<ref name="Abe First Non-American2" /> and the Global Leadership Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Past Hudson Institute honorees include Nikki Haley,<ref name=":22">Template:Cite web</ref> Paul Ryan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mike Pence,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Mike Pompeo,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ronald Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Rupert Murdoch,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Dick Cheney,<ref name="Abe First Non-American2" /> Joseph Lieberman,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Benjamin Netanyahu,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> David Petraeus, Shinzo Abe,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Mitch McConnell and Elaine Chao.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Funding

Hudson Institute is funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Notable funders of the Institute include the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.<ref name=":1" />

As of 2021, the organization reported revenue of over $37m with under $20m in expenses and an endowment of $81m.<ref name=":72" />

Hudson Institute has accepted $7.9m from Donors Trust.<ref name=":102" /> It has received $25,000 from Exxon Mobil since 1998 and less than $100,000 from Koch family foundations, both of which actively minimize climate change.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The New York Times commented on Dennis Avery's attacks on organic farming: "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".<ref name="Burros2">Marian Burros, "Eating Well; Anti-Organic, And Flawed", The New York Times, accessed December 14, 2007.</ref>

Another employee of the institute, Michael Fumento, was revealed to have received funding from Monsanto for his 1999 book Bio-Evolution. Monsanto's spokesman said: "It's our practice, that if we're dealing with an organization like this, that any funds we're giving should be unrestricted." Hudson's CEO and President Kenneth R. Weinstein told BusinessWeek that he was uncertain if the payment should have been disclosed. "That's a good question, period," he said.<ref name="auto2" />

The New York Times suggested Huntington Ingalls Industries had used the Hudson Institute to enhance the company's argument for more nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, at a cost of US$11 billion each. The Times alleged that a former naval officer was paid by Hudson to publish an analysis endorsing more funding. The report was delivered to the House Armed Services subcommittee without disclosing that Huntington Ingalls had paid for part of the report. Hudson acknowledged the misconduct, describing it as a "mistake".<ref name=":92" />

The institute, which publishes frequent reports concerning China, has received funding from the Taiwanese government as have other prominent think tanks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Politics

Template:Conservatism US Employees of Hudson Institute have made substantial political donations. During the 2022 election cycle, they donated $128,893 to federal campaigns the vast majority of which went to Republican candidates and PACs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A major recipient was Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).

The institute is generally described as conservative<ref name=":42" /><ref name="Abe First Non-American2" /><ref name=":02" /><ref name=":13" /><ref name=":32" /> and sometimes neoconservative.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Hudson says it hosts policymakers, foreign policy experts, and elected officials from across the political spectrum. According to its website, Hudson "challenges conventional thinking and helps manage strategic transitions through interdisciplinary studies in defense, international relations, economics, energy, technology, culture, and law."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Policy centers

Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East

Led by Michael Doran, the center studies challenges for America and its allies in the middle east in responding to the threats posed by inimical forces such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, Russia, and China to promote peace.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

China Center

The China Center at the Hudson Institute studies China with the "central goal of engendering America's value-based, non-partisan, sound and effective responses to the China challenge."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The center was launched in May 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It is directed by Miles Yu while Michael Pompeo serves as chair of the advisory board, which consists of Scott Morrison, Paula J. Dobriansky, Morgan Ortagus, and Kyle Bass as of August 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Center on Europe and Eurasia

The Center on Europe and Eurasia is focused on "checking Russia's military aggression in Ukraine, countering China's subversion of the continent, extricating Europe from strategic vulnerabilities, forging key links in Central Asia, and modernizing our transatlantic military posture and economic ties".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The center was launched in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Japan Chair

The Japan Chair at the Hudson Institute is led by Kenneth R. Weinstein, a fellow at the Institute and its former CEO.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is focused on strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance. The Chair was founded in Spring 2009 under the leadership of General H.R. McMaster who now serves as chair of its advisory board.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hamilton Commission on Securing America's National Security Innovation Base

The Hudson Institute houses this bipartisan commission which explores economic sectors critical to national security with the purpose of proposing policy recommendations to reduce dependence and advance U.S. leadership in these industries.

The commission is chaired by Nadia Schadlow and Arthur L. Herman.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The other members are:

• Mike Gallagher, Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-WI)  
• Ellen Lord, former Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment
• Stephanie Murphy, Former Member, House of Representatives (D-FL)  
• Kimberly Reed, former President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM)
• Eric J. Wesley, Executive Vice President, Flyer Defense, LLC.

Kleptocracy Initiative

Hudson launched the Kleptocracy Initiative in response to Russia's first invasion and occupation of Ukrainian Crimea in 2014.

In 2016, Hudson's Kleptocracy Initiative issued a report, authored by Ben Judah, sounding the alarm about offshore financial flows, and calling for the end of anonymous shell companies as a US national security priority.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Third-party inline The Hudson Institute received criticism by a member of its Kleptocracy Initiative advisory board when its 2018 awards gala was funded in part by Len Blavatnik, a magnate who had business dealings with Russian oligarchs who were on the United States sanctions list.<ref name=":22" />

Funding

2019 finances:<ref name="Annual Report 20192">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break Template:Pie chartTemplate:Col-break Template:Pie chartTemplate:Col-end

Notable personnel

• John P. Walters, President and CEO <ref name="president" />
• Thomas J. Donohue<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Marshall Billingslea, Senior Fellow<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Ezra Cohen, Adjunct Fellow<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Michael Doran, Senior Fellow<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Arthur L. Herman, Senior Fellow<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other notable persons

• Raymond Aron<ref name="Fat Man">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• Daniel Bell<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Robert Bork<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Rudy Boschwitz<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Paul Bracken<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Mitch Daniels<ref name=HIIndex>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Pierre S. du Pont, IV<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Ralph Ellison<ref name="Fat Man" />
• Saagar Enjeti<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Michael Fumento<ref name="auto">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Nikki Haley<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Alexander Haig<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Michael Hudson (born 1939), economics professorTemplate:Citation needed
• Donald Kagan<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Amy A. Kass<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Henry Kissinger<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Andrew Natsios<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• William Odom<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• John O'Sullivan<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Marcello Pera<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Michael Pillsbury<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Andrey Piontkovsky<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Joel Pollak<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Mike Pompeo<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Ron Prosor<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Dan Quayle<ref name=HIIndex/>
• Ronald Radosh<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• David Satter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Abram Shulsky<ref name=WSJop>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Irwin Stelzer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Curtin Winsor Jr.<ref>Curtin Winsor Template:Webarchive Hudson Institute Biography.</ref>

See also

• Discovery Institute

Notes

<references group="lower-alpha"></references>

Further reading

• Blum, Ruthie. "Who's Right?" The Jerusalem Post, February 17, 2005: 13. (Free summary from fee-based archive.)
• Hadar, Leon T. "Special Report: The 'Neocons': From the Cold War to the 'Global Intifada' ". The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs 9.11 (Apr. 1991): 27. (Archived.)
• Hutchinson, Bill, with Michael McAuliff. "Cheney Eyed Israeli Strike on Iranian Nuclear Reactor – Mag". The New York Daily News, September 24, 2007, Nation/World: 7. (Archived.)
• Kirkpatrick, David D. "Lack of Resolution in Iraq Finds Conservatives Divided". The New York Times, April 19, 2004: A21.
• Lynch, Frederic R. "Workforce Diversity: PC's Final Frontier? – Political Correctness – Demystifying Multiculturalism". National Review, February 21, 1994: 32. (Accessed via findarticles.com.)
• White, Andrew. "New York in the 1960s". The American Prospect, October 22, 2001: 40. [Book rev. of The Ungovernable City: John Lindsay and His Struggle to Save New York, by Vincent J. Cannato (New York: Basic Books, 2001).]

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer