Charles and David Koch

Charles and David Koch (respectively, born November 1, 1935, Wichita, Kansas, U.S.; born May 3, 1940, Wichita—died August 23, 2019, Southampton, New York) were American brothers who were majority co-owners of the energy conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., and major financial supporters of libertarian and conservative causes in the United States in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Through the success of their company, one of the largest privately held corporations in the world, Charles and David Koch became two of the richest persons in the country.

Early life and business activities

The brothers’ father, Fred C. Koch, made his early fortune from his invention of a new technique of thermal cracking, by which petroleum is converted into lighter oils and gasoline. Charles and David were educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), receiving master’s degrees in engineering in 1959 and 1963, respectively. Upon Fred Koch’s death in 1967, his Rock Island Oil and Refining Company was inherited by his four sons: Charles, David, David’s twin brother, William, and Frederick (born 1933). Charles became chairman and chief executive officer in 1967 and renamed the company Koch Industries, Inc., in 1968. David joined the company in 1970, later becoming executive vice president. In 1983 Charles and David purchased William’s and Frederick’s interest in Koch Industries for $1.1 billion. Under Charles’s leadership, the company extended its interests into areas far beyond petroleum and increased its annual revenue 250-fold in 40 years, to an estimated $100 billion in 2009. In 2018 it was announced that David was retiring because of declining health.

Politics

Charles and David Koch shared the conservative political outlook of their father, who was a founding member of the John Birch Society. In 1980 David was the vice presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, which received slightly more than 1 percent of the popular vote. The brothers subsequently focused their political energies on promoting libertarian ideas and policies among academics, journalists, politicians, and the public. To this end they contributed millions of dollars annually to scores of think tanks, foundations, and nonprofit groups, several of which they created or controlled. These organizations—notably including the Cato Institute (the country’s first libertarian think tank, cofounded by Charles Koch in 1977) and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation (originally Citizens for a Sound Economy, cofounded by David Koch in 1984)—generally favoured laissez-faire economic policies, significantly lower taxes, restrictions on the powers of unions, and the elimination or privatization of most public services and social welfare programs. Many of them also specifically opposed environmental regulation of the oil, gas, and chemical industries. In the mid-2000s the Koch brothers eclipsed the Exxon Mobil Corporation as the major financial sponsor of groups that questioned the reality, severity, or human origins of global climate change. Koch Industries and its subsidiaries, as well as the brothers individually and through the organizations they funded, also spent large sums on campaign contributions, lobbying, and state ballot measures. The Americans for Prosperity Foundation, meanwhile, aided the growth of the anti-government Tea Party movement from 2009 by organizing rallies, mobilizing voters, funding advertisements, and formulating policy. Starting in 2003 the Koch brothers hosted biannual national conferences at which industry executives, Republican Party leaders, and conservative activists and journalists gathered to discuss political issues, fundraising, and electoral strategy.

Liberal critics of the Koch brothers accused them of using their enormous wealth to manipulate the political process and public discourse in their company’s interest and to advance policies that harmed the middle class and the poor and undermined public health, workers’ rights, and the environment. Defenders claimed that the extent of the brothers’ influence was exaggerated and that their political activities were motivated by their desire to increase economic freedom and prosperity for all Americans.