A columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O’Grady, intentionally echoed the Founding Fathers and Ronald Reagan some years ago when she told a Washington, D.C. audience that “Freedom is never fully won, but it can be fully lost.” She knows this not only from American history, but from her deep and extensive coverage of Latin America, which has seen the citizens of once-wealthy nations of Venezuela and Argentina suffer for their nation’s abandonment of key freedoms.
Could the same thing happen in America? O’Grady isn’t as pessimistic as some, for at least one practical reason: “In my view, as long as TFAS is around, that’s not about to happen in this country.”
For sixty years, The Fund for American Studies (TFAS) has worked tirelessly to develop courageous leaders with the intellectual formation to protect and advance the ideas of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and economic freedom in their communities and throughout the world. The consequences of academia’s failure to produce such leaders are evident: a Congress that has abandoned its constitutional role, a media class that pushes a progressive agenda, a legal profession that values ideological purity over justice, and corporations that genuflect to fashionable causes while forgetting their obligations to shareholders, employees, and communities.
TFAS believes there is enormous demand for leaders who 1) understand and are informed by the principles and ideas necessary for a free and flourishing society and 2) have both the courage and the intellectual heft to preserve the ideals and institutions of our great Republic. Impact Fund donors have helped meet this demand by backing TFAS and their proven ability to think big and build accordingly.
The results speak for themselves. TFAS alumni serve in the Executive Branch, as members of Congress, and on congressional staff. They sit on federal and state benches. They lead influential think tanks and hold key positions throughout the news media—at The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Free Press, Reason, National Review, City Journal, and many other publications, television, and radio outlets. Perhaps the best-known leadership initiative has been TFAS’s Center for Excellence in Journalism and its focused programs.
The Student Journalism Association provides a home base for conservative and libertarian journalists at universities across the country to hone their talents and skills and prepare to rebuild a broken media by placing freedom-minded young journalists at influential media outlets. The Robert Novak Fellowship Program and the Joseph Rago Memorial Fellowship create trailblazers and trendsetters in the media. Launched in 2024, the Media Accelerator Fellowship is a new nine-month program designed for early-career journalists to step back from the daily news grind and strategically advance their careers. These young journalists identify and develop their beats, enhance their reporting and writing skills, and incorporate the principles of liberty into their work.
Together, these programs create a true pipeline for journalism talent, ensuring TFAS will strategically advance the field of journalism through the next generation of journalists like Carine Hajjar. One of TFAS’ most impactful recent alumni, Carine serves as Editorial Page Editor for The Boston Globe. She doesn’t hesitate to give credit for the success that she and her fellow Rago Fellowship alumni peers have seen:
“The Rago Fellowship is a rare opportunity for young writers to learn world-class editing and writing skills from some of the most thoughtful, intelligent journalists in the business. I am grateful to TFAS, the Rago family, and The Wall Street Journal editorial board for the chance to start my career with guidance from such talented professionals.”
Impact Fund members can share in some of that credit as well, even as the TFAS alumni network continues to grow in size and influence. There are more than 53,000 alumni worldwide, and many have reached the pinnacle of professions such as journalism, academia, business, and public policy. Each year, hundreds of alumni participate in TFAS-sponsored seminars and fellowships—or serve as mentors, intern sponsors, and guest speakers.
In years to come, TFAS will further grow, engage, and mobilize its alumni network, while also strengthening and expanding its educational programs for young leaders.