John Templeton, Jr.

Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr. is the son of mutual-funds pioneer Sir John Templeton and chairman and president of the John Templeton Foundation.

Controversy
The son of renowned investor John Templeton, John Templeton Jr is in charge of the Templeton Foundation, which describes itself as "a philanthropic catalyst for research and discoveries relating to what scientists and philosophers call the Big Questions".

Templeton has funded a wide variety of projects dear to conservative hearts, including the re-election of George W. Bush, while the libertarianCato Institute has also received funding for its Russian-language web site, cato.ru who has openly called for the West to prepare for a military conflict with Russia," Justin Raimondo wrote August 24, 2007, at Antiwar.com.

Mitt Romney
Templeton "recently joined" Republican 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney's "National Faith and Values Steering Committee, a group that includes an antiabortion activist and a fellow from the Heritage Foundation."

Freedom's Watch
Templeton, "a former trauma surgeon and a born-again Christian", is one of several prominent conservatives funding Freedom's Watch, a new White House front group which on August 22, 2007, began "a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to urge members of Congress who may be wavering in their support for the war in Iraq not to 'cut and run'."

Connections to Koch Brothers
Templeton was acknowledged at the privately held Koch seminar in June 2011 in Vail, Colorado for donating at least $1 million to Koch-related causes.

Affiliations

 * Trustee, Foreign Policy Research Institute
 * Let Freedom Ring
 * Renaissance Weekend
 * Community of West and Islam Dialogue: Members

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
Templeton gave $30,000 to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to fight an expected 2012 recall election in Wisconsin. Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said Walker had raised more money from donors than any other candidate in state history. Walker raised an astounding $5,749,926.26 from out-of-state donors within five weeks.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Civic Ventures (John Templeton Foundation)
 * Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy (John Templeton Foundation)
 * Competitive Enterprise Institute (John Templeton Foundation)
 * Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (John Templeton Foundation)
 * Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (John Templeton Foundation)
 * Pacific Research Institute (John Templeton Foundation)
 * State of the World Forum (John Templeton Foundation)
 * Washington Educational Television Association (John Templeton Foundation)
 * Wheaton College (Illinois) (John Templeton Foundation)

External articles

 * Josh Gerstein, "Political Group Shells Out $1M To Boost Santorum's Popularity With Women," New York Sun, October 2, 2006. re Softer Voices
 * John J. Miller, "Big Bucks, Big Minds, Big Hearts. The John Templeton Foundation," National Review (Templeton.org),
 * Mike Allen, "Pro-Bush group spends $15M defending war," The Politico (posted by Free Republic), August 22, 2007.

External resources

 * John Templeton, Jr. in the Wikipedia.
 * Donors: President George W. Bush Inauguration 2001, OpenSecrets.org, updated January 25, 2001. Templeton donated $100,000.