--:-- Joss Fong: I'm Joss Fong, senior video producer at Vox, filling in for Sean Ramas' firm. David Koch has died. He was a billionaire businessman, one-time vice presidential nominee, and conservative megadonor.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Well, I'm basically a libertarian, and I'm a conservative on economic matters, and I'm a social liberal. Koch and his older brother Charles ran Koch Industries. The business eventually became the fuel behind one of the highest spending political action groups in modern American politics, Americans for Prosperity.
--:-- Joss Fong: And Koch was known for being pretty rich, I imagine? At the time of his death, David Koch was worth $50 billion by some estimates.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: You wrote a book about the Koch family called Sons of Wichita. What's the most important thing we should know about David Koch, who died last Friday?
--:-- Daniel Shulman: David played a huge role over the course of four decades in shaping the political climate in the United States, first through the funding of libertarian causes, and then in the 1980s, working more through the Republican Party. Eventually, he and his brother were able to almost form a shadow party within the Republican Party, a network of donors and organizations that in many ways rivaled the Republican Party itself.
--:-- Joss Fong: Do you think it's fair that just because you have billions of dollars, you can influence elections?
--:-- Daniel Shulman: I contribute to public candidate campaigns, and there is a federal limit on how much you can contribute to each individual candidate. I obey the law in that regard and feel I'm doing it properly.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And can you just list off for us some of these groups that the Koch brothers either founded or funded? They funded the Center for Libertarian Studies, the Foundation for Economic Education, Inquiry, the magazine of the Cato Institute, the Cato Institute, Libertarian Party, Students for a Libertarian Society, the Council for a Competitive Economy, the Institute for Humane Studies.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: In terms of the donor network, they've poured money into the 60 Plus Association, American Commitment, the Center to Protect Patient Rights, American Energy Alliance, the American Future Fund, the American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, American Values Action, Americans for Job Security, Americans for Limited Government. Americans for Prosperity was a group that they helped to found. Citizens for a Sound Economy was its predecessor.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: In terms of public policy, you've got Brookings, Mercatus Center, Pacific Research Institute, the Reason Foundation, the Tax Foundation, the Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Washington Legal Foundation. All these smaller sort of right-leaning think tanks that they've helped to finance over the years and have been dependent on their funds.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: In addition to politics, Koch gave millions to cancer research, some PBS programs, and a full wing of the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: You know, I think he would certainly prefer to be remembered as a philanthropist in the classic sense. And as someone who gave to the arts, to the sciences, to public television, and things of that nature.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: I remember going into the Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in D.C. and seeing his name right there on the wall. What were his sort of major philanthropic projects? That was certainly one of them.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: He had an interest in sort of evolution, and he also had a big interest in dinosaurs. And he financed the dinosaur wing at the Natural History Museum in New York.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: He gave a large amount of money to rehab what was the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center and is now the David Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: I think he spent tens of millions of dollars to rehab the plaza in front of the Metropolitan Museum here in Massachusetts where I am.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: He funded the construction of a research center at MIT.
--:-- Joss Fong: But of course, I think he is also going to be remembered for the many millions he pumped into the political system, along with his brother. And in some ways, his legacy is the political climate that we are living through right now.
--:-- Joss Fong: I sort of see the Tea Party as something of a precursor to the age of Donald Trump. And David Koch, through Americans for Prosperity, very much helped to finance and helped to organize the Tea Party movement.
--:-- Mike Pence: I'm Mike Pence. I'm from Indiana. While some are prepared to write the obituary on capitalism and the conservative movement, I believe we are on the verge of a great American awakening. And it will begin here and begin now.
--:-- Mike Pence: Their influence has been in creating another party within the Republican Party During the Obama era you really saw them come to the fore in really battling all of the administration early initiatives So climate change health care labor measures.
--:-- Mike Pence: These fundamental changes with health care and insurance, the nation's entire financial sector, student loans and the auto industry, these have been radical changes.
--:-- Mike Pence: We will put a handcuff on one of the president's hands. Now we need to have. And this network includes not just, you know, a variety of advocacy groups, but a data operation, basically all the trappings of a modern political party.
--:-- Mike Pence: And it was David who was the chairman of Americans for Prosperity, and he would appear at their events and sort of became synonymous with with the Tea Party movement.
--:-- Mike Pence: What a day we've had so far and what a tremendous lineup of speakers. Thank you so much for attending our ninth annual Defending the American Dream Summit.
--:-- Joss Fong: And then, did they play a role in the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case? The U.S. Supreme Court today overturned laws on the books for nearly a century and ruled that corporations can spend freely now on political campaigns.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Certainly they funded some of the organizations that were involved in litigating that. So yeah, they played, they did play some role.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And they, you know, in the past have been able to raise hundreds of millions of dollars basically rivaling the fundraising capacity of the Republican National Committee itself.
--:-- Mike Pence: There's nothing more important than rallying Americans around a pro-liberty agenda going into next year. Thanks to your passion and commitment to our country, people's faith in the American dream, something that seems so distant of so many Americans today, is once again within our reach.
--:-- Mike Pence: Give yourself a big round of applause for all you've accomplished and for the victories sure to come.
--:-- Charles and David Koch: Charles and David Koch may not be running for president, but they are certainly poised to decide who will. The billionaire brothers are raising their collective profile this year as political kingmakers, courting presidential hopefuls, and making plans to spend nearly a billion dollars on the 2016 election, outstripping both major political parties.
--:-- Joss Fong: And so who did the Koch brothers back in the 2016 election? The Kochs were not big fans of Donald Trump.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And in fact, internally within their donor network, they debated whether they should run ads opposing him and playing a role in the primary. Ultimately, they backed off doing that.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And I don't think they like Trump style. But when Trump came into office and was not really prepared to come into office, the Trump administration was seeking to fill the bureaucracy with all these positions.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And the Kochs really had a number of names that they could hand over. And so many Koch-connected officials ended up going into the Trump administration.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: You know, Mike Pence, for instance. Would you join me in thanking Donald Trump, Melania, and his entire family for the sacrifices that they are making to make America great again?
--:-- Mike Pence: Pence was a frequent guest at the Koch's donor summits and at events run by Americans for prosperity.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Mike Pompeo is also another example of someone who has benefited from the Koch network. Talked about radical Islam. We don't have to go far. This evil is all around us.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: He was a congressman from Wichita, Kansas, and has very much been connected to the Kochs and their activities over the years.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: There's also the former White House Legislative Affairs Director, Mark Short, the former EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt. I believe the ability to measure with precision the degree of human activity's impact on the climate is subject to more debate.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And now White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. The Democrat Party is infested with what we call Trump derangement syndrome.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Those are just among a few of the more noteworthy names that have ties to the Kochs in various ways.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Charles Koch said recently that in the last five years he's accomplished more than in the previous 45 years.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And if you look at the regulatory rollbacks under the Trump administration, this is what they've been going after for years and years and years.
--:-- Joss Fong: After the break, how Koch Industries manages to be everywhere and invisible.
--:-- [Ad for Bombas socks]
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Daniel Shulman, you mentioned that David Koch was worth about $50 billion. So basically one of the richest men in the world. Where did all his money come from? His money is all tied up with Coke Industries, which is the second largest private corporation in America.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Coke Industries is a massive empire that touches everyday lives in ways you may not even know. Really, you can't go through a single day without encountering one of their products.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Meet Jane as she interacts with Coke products. This is really interesting. Jane wakes up. She's had a good night's sleep in her mattress made of memory foam, which is a Coke product from their company, Invista.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And in fact, I'm sure in the rooms that we are all in right now, whether it's the drywall that was used to construct your home. The hardwood floors there, Georgia Pacific wood, another Coke brand.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Or your Stainmaster carpet. They use Antron fibers, which is another Coke product. Or maybe you're wearing some sort of spandex product. All of this stuff is produced by Coke Industries, and it goes on from there.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: They also have interest in electronics companies, so some of the components in your iPhone.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And not to get too personal, I didn't mention toilet paper, which, by the way, in most cases, will come from a Coke-produced company.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Wow. There's a lot of Coke stuff in our lives.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And, of course, they're still involved in the petrochemical industry that's been their bread and butter for years.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: I honestly think they've always worked in these sort of anonymous areas. It's not like Koch Industries had gas stations, but they would transport gas, whether it was through trucks or through pipes.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And they never saw much benefit in publicizing what they were doing. In fact, I think they saw more of an advantage of keeping what they were doing secret.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And let's talk a little bit about David Koch's family background. He was born into a very wealthy family based in Wichita, Kansas.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: It's interesting, there are actually four Koch brothers, but you know, you often hear when you hear Koch brothers, that often refers to his older brother, Charles, and himself.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: The eldest Koch brother never got involved in business or politics. His name is Frederick, and his interests have mainly been in the arts and rehabbing historic homes and things of that nature.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: David also has a fraternal twin, Bill, who ended up having a very epic falling out with his brothers.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And in the Koch family, it was a battle between alpha males. Everything came back to competition.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: There's old footage of David and Bill Koch settling their disputes with boxing gloves.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: This is what their dad had them do, kind of boxing at maybe five or six.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Wow.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: But all of this really goes back to their dad, Fred Koch. The life lessons I learned from my father are the foundation upon which I live every day.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: A kind of tough-as-nails Midwestern industrialist. A pioneer and innovator and a hard worker, my father actually started the company that now bears his name of Koch Industries.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Fred Koch formed a small oil engineering company. It was called Winkler Koch.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And basically, they were selling a new process for refining oil that was able to get more gasoline than the models that were used during that time.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: In fact, Fred Koch, the patriarch, ended up selling this oil refining technology to the Soviets.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And it ended up helping to empower the Soviet Union. And you know after this had happened Fred was sort of horrified by what he had done
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And he became very staunch anti And he was one of the founders of the John Birch Society literally in the room when this organization was created.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And their politics really flow from their father.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And so when Fred passes away, what happens to the family business?
--:-- Daniel Shulman: So Fred Koch passed away in 1967. And Charles had recently come back to work for the family business running what was then a medium-sized but still fairly large oil and cattle ranching concern.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: David and Bill later joined the company. But it was really Charles' vision that turned it into what it is today.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And did David Koch ever run for political office? He ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980 at the urging of his brother Charles.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And the main qualification for his political run at that time was the size of his bank account because he could pour unlimited funds into that campaign.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: That campaign ended up being something of a high watermark for the libertarians because they got about one percent of the popular vote which was huge for them at the time it really put the libertarians on the map but during a year in which its agenda was fairly extreme calling for the end of medicaid and social security and the shuttering of agencies including the cia fbi and many others this was sort of a role that david has always played in what were essentially Charles's political projects.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: He would always end up being the public face of these projects.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And shortly after this campaign, you see the Kochs sort of sidle up much more so to the Republicans.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And in the course of your reporting and writing your book about this family, did you ever get to meet David Koch?
--:-- Daniel Shulman: I met David Koch on one occasion. It was on the floor of the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And I was sort of able to corner him at the time I was trying to talk to him because I was hoping to interview him for my book.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: You know, I remember him saying something to me along the lines of, well, I hope you do a good job.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And the Kochs definitely did not want to participate in this project.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: But I think one of the things that shaped David's life was these two near-death brushes that he had in the early 90s.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: One in February 1991, He was on a flight that basically crashed into another plane upon landing.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And about a quarter of the people on this flight died. And David survived.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: The next year, he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And I think these were the two formative experiences of his life.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And I think he wanted to leave behind a big legacy.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: David and Charles Koch, it sounds like they've really reshaped American politics, especially the Republican Party, and more, how would you sum up David Koch's legacy?
--:-- Daniel Shulman: It's very much in the same vein as some of the robber barons of the Gilded Age in some ways, who gave a tremendous amount to charities to burnish some of the rough edges of their lives and their role, you know, certainly for David in financing things like climate change, skepticism.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Both he and Charles poured a lot of money into tens of millions of dollars into a network of think tanks and other organizations sowing doubt about climate change.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And this is always something that when I was reporting on the Kochs really vexed me because these are both scientific minded guys.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: They should know better.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Of course, they were also involved in the petrochemical industry. So it's impossible not to see that there might have been some sort of self-interest in this.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: It's fascinating.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: So they were interested in human origins, interested in paleontology, archaeology.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: Maybe at some level they did know that they were wrong about climate change.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: There was an interesting interview with Bill Gates in Rolling Stone a few years ago where he recalled sitting next to Charles Koch at a dinner party, and they talked about climate change.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: And I think at this dinner party, Charles actually acknowledged, like, yeah, I believe that climate change exists, but I'm not sure that the solutions that are being proposed would do anything to mitigate it.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: But that said, the groups that they were financing didn't take a nuanced view of climate change, really.
--:-- Daniel Shulman: I mean, they were spreading doubts about the very foundations of climate science.
--:-- Joss Fong: I'm Joss Fong, video producer at Vox, filling in for Sean Ramas' firm while he's on vacation. This is Today Explained. Thank you.
