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Watch Emmy Winner and Legendary Narrator Peter Coyote’s “Smothered by Riches: The Legacy of the Powell Memo” Documentary

February 27, 2025

Two-time Emmy winner and PBS legend Peter Coyote and the Observatory have just released a new documentary, “Smothered by Riches.” The documentary will go on tour and play at gatherings and documentary festivals, and can be found at popular online video platforms.

It’s the story of a memo by Lewis Powell (who would later go on to the Supreme Court) that captured the attitudes of an establishment frightened of democracy, and was treated as a key blueprint by the ideologues and philanthropists determined to keep corporate power and elite interests on top.

Accompanying the documentary is Coyote’s extended history of the Powell Memo, and its motivating effects on corporate power to interfere with democracy and the role of government.

Don’t just stand there; go watch it!

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