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Mandate for Leadership (1981)
Heritage Foundation policy recommendations for the incoming Reagan administration
Organization or publication details
- Publication
- 1981 (prepublication drafts circulated November 1980)
- Title
- Mandate for Leadership: Policy Management in a Conservative Administration
- Publisher
- The Heritage Foundation
- Editor
- Charles L. Heatherly (bibliographic record)
- Type
- Policy handbook and federal-agency recommendations
- Audience
- Reagan presidential transition and incoming administration
Mandate for Leadership: Policy Management in a Conservative Administration is a Heritage Foundation policy volume published in 1981 with recommendations for the incoming presidency of Ronald Reagan.
Development and publication
Heritage began the Mandate project in 1979 and assembled contributors to prepare department-by-department proposals for a possible conservative presidency. Drafts circulated to President-elect Reagan’s transition staff in November 1980. The book was published in 1981; accounts describe more than 2,000 recommendations. The volume’s 1981 foreword makes clear that contributors did not uniformly agree on every recommendation.
Use and subsequent editions
Heritage circulated the book within the Reagan administration and later issued new Mandate volumes for subsequent election cycles, including the distinct Project 2025 edition published in 2023. The original 1981 handbook is a publication, not a federal executive order, an administrative appointment list or proof that every proposal became law.
References
Research compiled through November 12, 2026. Sources and historical roles are dated where known.