With an eye to what Heritage's leaders wagered would be a Democratic defeat in the 1980 presidential election, a team began work on the Mandate project in late 1979, around the same time that Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination. Consisting of twenty volumes and several thousand pages, the report outlined an inclusive conservative agenda for the new administration. Two days after Reagan's victory in the November 1980 presidential election, Ed Feulner and two of his colleagues from Heritage met with several members of Reagan's staff, each of whom was presented with a copy of Mandate for Leadership.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1807