Think tanks are nonprofit organizations, usually institutes, created to study and advocate positions on social, political, and business issues. An INTERNET search would lead to a listing of almost 200 think-tank institutes. Think tanks have considerable influence on American public policy, including policies affecting business. Think-tank forums are frequently quoted in the media, and their scholars often testify at congressional hearings. Think tanks often provide temporary homes for politicians and high-level administrators of the political party not in control of the White House. While the terms conservative and liberal are politically charged, think tanks frequently embrace the terms, in part to attract support and contributors for their causes. One conservative-leaning think tank is the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). The AEI states as its mission “preserving and strengthening the foundations of freedom— government, private enterprise, vital cultural and political institutions, and strong foreign policy and national defense—scholarly research, open debate, and publications.” Vice President Dick Cheney, former UN representative Jeane Kirkpatrick, and Judge Robert Bork are all associated with the AEI. Another conservative/libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, advocates ideas such as abolishing CAPITAL GAINs taxes, “real” term limits for politicians, and devolution of power from the federal government to the states. The Cato Institute describes itself as providing “24 years of promoting public policy based on individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.” For many years Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government provided an orientation program for newly elected members of Congress. In the 1990s the Kennedy School, associated with Democratic Party ideas, was displaced by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. The Heritage Foundation, created in 1973, states that its mission is “to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense.” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a member of the American Enterprise Institute and Stanford University’s Hoover Institute. The Hoover Institute, started in 1919 by Herbert Hoover (later president of the United States) to study the causes and consequences of World War I, is another widely quoted conservative think tank. It is most associated with the ideas of Nobel Prize–winning economist Milton Friedman, whose Free to Choose video series was widely viewed during the 1970s. The Brookings Institution, created in 1916 as the Institute for Government Research, is one of the most widely quoted think tanks associated with Democratic Party ideas. Presidential advisor Vernon Jordan is a member of the executive board of the Brookings Institute. There are also many think tanks that focus on specific areas of public policy. One of the most widely quoted is the Rand Institute, created in 1948 to “promote scientific, educational, and charitable purposes for the public welfare and security of the U.S.”