The Chamber asked Powell to write a memo addressing the populist attack on big business in America. The memo opened with an attack on the growing citizen movement, including on a then rising young civic star Ralph Nader. The secret Powell memo was dated August 23, 1971. And now, 54 years after the Powell memo was written, Ralph Nader is responding with his own memo, titled simply – Ralph Nader’s Response to the Powell Memorandum. Nader writes that the Powell memo was an attack on American civic values.