Marking the 36th Anniversary of the Founding of Heartland Institute

Published October 24, 2020

A LETTER TO THE STAFF OF THE HEARTLAND INSTITUTE

The Heartland Institute was founded 36 years ago today, the day on which the Secretary of State of Illinois issued the articles of its incorporation upon the application of the Institute’s incorporator and first Chairman, the late and heroic David H. Padden.

Our first Board of Directors consisted of Mr. Padden, Everett Moffat, and John D. Moffat. Our indebtedness to these far-sighted leaders is incalculable.

Of course, they immediately engaged Joseph L. Bast to realize their vision as the Institute’s President, a mission that Mr. Bast discharged, brilliantly and faithfully, for the next three decades and more.

The core purpose of the Institute, as stated in the Articles, is to study and advocate “free market or private sector alternatives for the providing of public services”. This straightforward pro-freedom agenda has remained the lodestar of the Institute ever since.

The 36th year of the Institute’s life, now ending — a year of global pandemic and unprecedented threats to liberty and civilization — has been one of great difficulty. I am proud of the courage, diligence, and zeal with which the Heartland team has pursued the Institute’s mission despite the adversity.

It is my hope, and I am sure that it is yours, that the Heartland Institute’s 37th year, which starts today, will be one leading to the broad, sunlit uplands of human liberty, attainment of which has been, and remains, Heartland’s goal.

Sincerely yours,

Joseph A. Morris
Chairman
The Heartland Institute