Citizens for America
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Lehrman and Hume were able to attract major rightwing funders such as Joseph Coors and Ivan Boesky. Many backers of CFA come from the Fortune 500, including the heads of such corporations as Atlantic-Richfield, Shell Oil, Chase Manhattan, Dr. Pepper, W. R. Grace, Amway, and Northrup. (16) Ultra rightwing Texas billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt, Texas financier T. Boone Pickens, and Reagan "kitchen cabinet" members Holmes Tuttle and Earle Jorgensen have also contributed to CFA. (19) The J. E. and L. E. Mabee Fdn donated $20,000 in 1985, and in 1986 the Starr Fdn donated $50,000. (9,10) CFA's 1986 budget was $1. 8 million. (16)
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CFA produced slick anticommunist publications targeting the Sandinista government which were distributed to interested audiences along with materials of the State Department, the Defense Department, Heritage Foundation, and the Senate Republican Policy Committee. The group also sponsored a major public relations campaign for the Nicaraguan contras, including a 1985 national tour of contra leaders to 200 congressional districts and a barrage of pro-contra aid radio and newspaper ads in 1986. (16,23) CFA worked closely with Oliver North in North's contra supply efforts."Abramoff and CFA were assigned responsibility for organizing briefings by contra speakers, telephone-trees 'to targeted congressional offices encouraging them to vote for aid to the freedom fighters in Nicaragua'." (Interior quotes are from a declassified "NSC Intelligence Document," Exhibit OLN-217). (24)
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The Washington Post reported that Oliver North has been very close to Jack Abramoff and the CFA. North helped CFA select the contra leaders for the 1985 speaking tour. (25)
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Principals:
Donald Devine, chairman in 1990. (1) Lewis E. Lehrman, co-founder and president. (2) Dr. Robert H. Krieble, Louisiana State Representative Louis "Woody" Jenkins, and Jack Hume were also co-founders of Citizens for America. (16,25) Marc L. Holtzman was executive director until 1984 when he was replaced by Jack Abramoff. (2,25) Andres Bougolubov is either the current or former executive director. (2)
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/groupwatch/cfa.php#P2519_576247Lewis E. Lehrman
Project for the New American Century: Board of Directors
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History: Co-Chairman
Institutional Affiliations
Citizens for America: Co-Founder and President (5)
American Enterprise Institute: Board of Trustees (2)
Morgan Library: Board of Trustees (2)
Manhattan Institute: Board of Trustees (2)
Heritage Foundation: Board of Trustees (2)
Lincoln and Soldiers Institute at Gettysburg College: Co-Founder (3)
Yale University Council: Chairman, Committee on Humanities (2)
Conservative Network (5)
Council for National Policy (6)
Democratic International: Organizer of insurgent leaders in Angola, 1985 (7)
Republican and Conservative Party: Candidate for New York Governor, 1982 (1)
Highlights & Quotes
Lehrman is a former drugstore executive turned conservative economic theorist turned Heritage Foundation big wig. He helped found Citizens for America, which was formed in 1983 by various conservative heavy hitters such as Holly Coors (the wife of Joseph Coors) to promote conservative causes. According to GroupWatch, CFA “worked closely with Oliver North in North's Contra supply efforts,” organizing briefings by Contra speakers that targeted congressional offices and encouraged congressional members to vote Contra aid. CFA was also the principal U.S. sponsor for a 1985 meeting of anticommunist ‘freedom fighters’ held in Angola. This conference produced at least three memoranda -- one from speechwriter Dana Rohrabacher to White House communications director Patrick Buchanan, one from Buchanan to National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, and one from National Security Council staffer Walter Raymond to McFarlane. The memos discussed whether the president should send a personal message to the Angola meeting via Lehrman and whether Rohrabacher should attend the meeting. The conference was considered instrumental in pressuring the Reagan administration to authorize a $15 million aid package for UNITA in 1986. The conference also exerted pressure on the U.S. Congress and public to support the Nicaraguan Contras and the guerrillas in Afghanistan.” (5)
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1263