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A strong family interest, great family wealth, and a personal belief in the “necessity for adequate leadership in our political life, whether in the active field of politics or in the field of public service,” had all given him the incentive to seek elective office.

According to Doherty’s history, the Kochs came to regard elected politicians as merely “actors playing out a script.” Instead of wasting more time, a confidant of the Kochs’ told Doherty, the brothers now wanted to “supply the themes and words for the scripts.” In order to alter the direction of America, they realized they would have to “influence

ROBERT F. SMITH Founder and CEO, Vista Equity Partners; Philanthropist

With the help of the Carnegie trustees, one of whom was President Franklin Roosevelt’s uncle, Bush put together a plan. “I knew that you couldn’t get anything done in that damn town,” he recalled, “unless you organized under the wing of the President.”