A Reaganite Entrepreneur's Flawed Philanthropy
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Stopping Juvenile Detention: A Reaganite Entrepreneur’s Flawed Philanthropy An engineering genius didn’t design his foundation to honor his donor intent By Martin Morse Wooster Summary: This co-founder of a pioneering high-tech fi rm was a conservative Repub- lican who spent years supporting politi- cians and public intellectuals on the Right. But the eminent engineer wasn’t careful when designing his own multibillion-dollar foundation, which now follows only those threads of his donor intent that can be wo- ven into fashionable leftism. ame this donor: he co-founded Silicon Valley’s fi rst great corpora- Ntion. He worked for, funded, and was a friend of every Republican president from Richard Nixon to George H.W. Bush. His decisive actions helped save the Hoover Institution in the 1950s and the American Enterprise Institute in the 1980s. In 1992, he declared that “the Democratic Party has been the party of socialism since President Roosevelt’s term” and that “the Democratic David Packard (at left) was such a strong Reaganite that President Reagan asked him to serve in his administration. Here Reagan is shown unveiling Party is indentured to union labor.” The fi nal a report on Pentagon policy. Then-Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger is clue to the mystery donor: The foundation shown at right in this Feb. 28, 1986 photo. (Corbis) that donates money in his name—America’s seventh largest—is a pillar of the liberal David Packard was born in Pueblo, Colorado, philanthropic establishment. in 1912. In 1930 he entered Stanford Uni- January 2013 versity, where the 6’ 5” Packard lettered in The answer is David Packard, co-founder basketball, football, and track. He established CONTENTS of Hewlett-Packard. Last year marked the his brilliance as an electrical engineer early centennial of his birth, making it a good and attracted the attention of Frederick Ter- time to look at Packard’s life—and how A Reaganite Entrepreneur’s man, an electrical engineering professor who the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Flawed Philanthropy largely betrays Packard’s commitment to recalled in his retirement how proud he was Page 1 free-market principles. of having helped bright students who were Philanthropy Notes “electronic nuts, these young men who show Page 8 FoundationWatch as much interest in vacuum tubes, transistors, a much better design engineer and I liked the had rocked Columbia. Two days later, the and computers as in girls.” management and production side,” Packard sit-in ended without violence. explained in a 1974 interview. In 1933 Packard took Terman’s radio en- Two years later, according to former Hoover gineering course, where he met William One critical element of Hewlett-Packard’s Institution president W. Glenn Campbell, Hewlett, who shared Packard’s love of success was that the company remained militants tried to break into Hoover and ham radio. The two became close friends. union-free when the founders were in charge. seize Packard there. Stanford’s adminis- Packard was such a bright student that he “The most important element in our person- tration announced they would provide no sent the publishers of one of his electrical nel policy is the degree to which we are able help, but police arrived in time to keep the engineering textbooks a collection of the to get over to our people that we have faith radicals out. book’s errors. in them and are more interested in them than someone else is,” Packard explained. Packard did not forget these encounters. In After Packard was graduated in 1934, he the 1970s he resumed gifts to Stanford, but spent a few years working for General Elec- Packard Gives to Stanford tightened the strings. Addressing the Com- tric. But he and Hewlett both wanted to be Stanford University was the earliest recipient mittee for Corporate Support of American entrepreneurs, and in 1939 they decided to of David Packard’s philanthropy and received Universities, Packard listed several prob- start their own company. They fl ipped a coin more money than any other, much of it given lems, ranging from “kicking ROTC programs to see whose name would come fi rst, and anonymously. He served as a trustee from off the campus” to “prohibiting businesses Hewlett won. Under their leadership, H-P 1954-69 and was president of the board from recruiting on the campus.” He added turned out scores of innovative products, from 1958-60. that the radical left now dominates campuses. including one of the fi rst handheld calculators “I happen to believe,” Packard said, “that in 1972 and the fi rst inkjet printer in 1984. Yet as a donor and trustee, Packard was such hostile groups of scholars are, to a large Stanford’s loyal opposition. For example, in degree, responsible for the anti-business bias Hewlett served as executive vice president 1959 Packard provoked humanities profes- of many of our young people today. And I and was more of the chief technology offi cer sors when he addressed the local chapter do not believe it is in the corporate interest and idea man, while Packard, the company of the American Association of University to support them—which is what we do to president, ran day-to-day operations. “Bill’s Professors and called on Stanford to pri- a greater or lesser degree with unrestricted marily produce engineers, scientists, and funds.” He urged giving only to programs Editor: Matthew Vadum linguists who could help the country fi ght and departments that “contribute in some Publisher: Terrence Scanlon the Cold War. specifi c way to our individual companies, or to the general welfare of the free enterprise Foundation Watch is published by Capital Research Similarly, Packard clashed with campus system.” Center, a non-partisan education and radicals in the ’60s. When students held a research organization, classifi ed by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. “sit-in” at the student union in May 1968 Packard’s speech produced denunciations and demanded the school end all research from the New York Times, the American As- Address: involving the Vietnam War, Packard took sociation of University Professors, and Ford 1513 16th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20036-1480 action. He went into the building alone Foundation president McGeorge Bundy. and without informing anyone at Stanford. Phone: (202) 483-6900 Long-Distance: (800) 459-3950 This took considerable courage, given that Packard’s Conservative and Fortune had just made him a tempting target Republican Ties E-mail Address: [email protected] for militants by identifying his net worth at David Packard served for several decades $250 million. on the boards of the Hoover Institution and Web Site: http://www.capitalresearch.org the American Enterprise Institute, two of He told the students, “If you get into these the nation’s earliest and most prominent Organization Trends welcomes let- confrontations, you may lose everything you conservative think tanks. In addition, he was ters to the editor. may have gained,” and added that his goal a founder of the Committee on the Present Reprints are available for $2.50 pre- paid to Capital Research Center. was to avoid the violent confrontations that Danger, a national-security nonprofi t that 2 January 2013 FoundationWatch warned about the threats the Soviet Union she would get up in the morning and hear Packard’s last political activity came in posed to the world. In 1977 Packard en- someone say something nasty about my 1992. By this time he had retired as Hewlett- dorsed a committee report that stated the husband, and that would spoil her breakfast. Packard CEO but remained chairman of the Soviet Union would pursue “an expansion- Then she would hear some(thing) further and board. He was disturbed that his handpicked ist policy” of global domination and would that would spoil her lunch. Then I would successor to head H-P, John Young, had en- likely evade any restrictions imposed by come home and tell her (how) terrible a dorsed Bill Clinton. So Packard sent a letter arms control treaties. time I had and that would spoil her dinner. to the editor to the San Jose Mercury News, She fi nally got over that when she stopped saying that whatever the faults of the Repub- Packard was a Republican all his life and listening to the radio.” licans, “my friends have overlooked the fact a major donor to the campaigns of Richard that the Democratic Party has been the party Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Packard vented his frustrations in his resigna- of socialism” since the Roosevelt adminis- George H.W. Bush, as well as numerous Cali- tion speech in December 1971, when he said tration. “Roosevelt’s disastrous agreement fornia campaigns for senator and governor. he could cut the Defense Department budget with Stalin at Yalta was a clear signal that by a billion dollars a year if the department he fundamentally supported socialism rather In 1969, he took a leave of absence from had more freedom to close military bases that than freedom,” Packard added. Hewlett-Packard to serve as Deputy Sec- were no longer necessary. “There’s no ques- retary of Defense. Packard spent two years tion that we could make savings if we were The Packard Foundation Begins in the Pentagon trying to simplify the ways able to take actions without any constraints,” Although the David and Lucile Packard the military procured weapons. His efforts he told the New York Times. Foundation was founded in 1964, it did quickly made him many enemies, most of not begin signifi cant giving until the early them career civil servants. “Let there be no In 1971, Packard returned to H-P.