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ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz Phyllis Schlafly's 50-year crusadeSmart, savvy and steadfast, the anti-feminist conservative icon has used the politics of accusation and paranoia to transform the political landscape of the U.S.She's not celebrated during women's history month and she's never been elected to public office, but for the past 50 years, Phyllis Schlafly has been a major force within the conservative movement and the Republican Party, and she has left her mark on the political landscape. However you may view her -- as an "Aunt Tom," as the late Betty Friedan once heatedly labeled her, an oddball out of step with her times, and/or a conservative icon who helped pave the way for the Reagan Revolution, the Christian Coalition and George W. Bush -- Schlafly's emergence as a major conservative political figure was due to a confluence of political circumstances, and her intelligence, uncompromising tenacity, a grin that often paralyzed opponents, and a willingness to lead. Although she played a huge role getting Barry Goldwater, the conservative Republican Senator from Arizona, the party's nomination for the presidency in 1964, Schlafly exploded onto the national political scene during the 1970s when she waged an uphill, yet ultimately successful, battle against the Equal Rights Amendment. "Few living Americans have done as much to shape the nation's direction as Phyllis Schlafly, who is arguably the most important woman in American political history," Ralph Z. Hallow recently opined in the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times. Schlafly has "been a one-woman right-wing communications empire. Through her speeches, books, radio addresses and monthly newsletter, 'The Phyllis Schlafly Report,' she has supported the nuclear arms race, Barry Goldwater, the Strategic Defense Initiative and phonics, and has bashed whole language learning, Communism at home and abroad, strategic arms limitation treaties, Nixon's diplomatic overtures to China, Nelson Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Roe v. Wade and 'Eastern elites,'" Judith Warner wrote in her review of a new Schlafly biography by Donald T. Critchlow titled "Phyllis Schlafly And Grassroots Conservatism: A Woman's Crusade." Warner, the host of "The Judith Warner Show" on XM satellite radio and the author of "Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety," noted that Schlafly "saved her special venom for the 'anti-family, anti-children, and pro-abortion' feminist movement." In the 1970s, Schlafly turned her attention away from the battle against Communism and focused on stopping the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) -- a fight that political pundits at the time would have labeled fruitless. The simple straight forward ERA read: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." In October 1971, the U.S. House passed the ERA by an overwhelming 354to 23 vote. Five months later, the Senate passed the ERA by a lopsided 84 to 8 vote. It was now up to the states for final ratification. Some states were so hot to get on board that they rushed to ratify before it had been officially submitted. In Kansas -- a state that these days embodies the hard right political conservatism of the past 25-plus years -- passed the ERA after only a 10 minute debate. Watching these events unfold from her suburban St. Louis living room, Schlafly "decided that the ERA was a bad idea," The New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert wrote in her review of the Critchlow book. Despite having no political organization to speak of, she launched her attack on the ERA by essentially claiming that it was an example of excessive liberal social engineering. Severely misunderestimated by both the mainstream politicos and the feminist movement that supported the ERA, Schlafly was frequently treated as a crude joke or a crank: "Exactly what seemed most ridiculous about Schlafly in the early seventies -- her antiquarian views, her screwball logic, her God's-on-our-side self-confidence -- was by the end of the decade revealed to be her political strength," Kolbert wrote. Even veteran feminist the late Betty Friedan, the author the powerful feminist primer, "The Feminine Mystique" was flummoxed by Schlafly: "I'd like to burn you at the stake," Friedan blurted out during a debate in Bloomington, Illinois. "I consider you a traitor to your sex. I consider you an Aunt Tom." By the end of the decade as it became apparent that the ERA would fall short of the number of states needed for ratification, Schlafly was becoming a conservative icon. Schlafly's life, as laid out by Critchlow, a history professor at St Louis University, parallels the rise of the modern conservative movement. The product of an anti-New Deal middle class family, Phyllis Stewart received top honors at the Academy of the Sacred Heart, an elite Catholic school, went on earn a degree in three years at Washington University in St. Louis, and received a master's degree from Radcliff. At 25 she married Fred Schlafly, a lawyer 15 years her senior. In the early 1950s she was persuaded to run as a Republican for Congress in Illinois' 24th district, against veteran Democratic Congressman Melvin Price. Like many other Republicans at the time, Schlafly played the Communist card, accusing Price of championing "big government and big spending": "The New Deal party was extremely slow in realizing the dangers of Communism, but my opponent...was even slower than most of his party." Although she lost the election, she didn't lose her political zeal. According to Elizabeth Kolbert, "She and her husband shared an obsession with the Communist menace, and took to entertaining friends with after-dinner showings of 'Operation Abolition,' which portrayed students protesting the House Un-American Activities Committee as violence-prone radicals, and 'Communism on the Map,' which showed red ink slowly spreading across the globe until just a few countries, including Switzerland and the United States, remained." The Schlafly's helped found the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation, an organization that aimed to organize Catholics to resist the Communist threat. To the Schlaflys, even the Eisenhower Administration was not zealous enough in the fight against Communism. Unenthusiastic about Richard Nixon, Schlafly turned toward Senator Goldwater. She composed "A Choice Not an Echo," a short book that sold well over 3 million copies and, according to Kolbert, "mixed fact, sensational accusations, commonsensical truths, and elaborate conspiracy theories into a compelling but evidently bogus narrative." The book was a sensation among Republicans, particularly those that attended the 1964 convention in San Francisco. After President Lyndon Johnson handily defeated Goldwater, Schlafly took to blaming the GOP's failure on the Eastern establishment wing of the party. (It would not be an exaggeration to note that over the course of several decades, Schlafly did as much as anyone to drive so-called Eastern establishment liberals out of any positions of power within the Republican Party.) In 1972, despite the ERA appearing to be well on its way to ratification, Schlafly launched STOP (Stop Taking Our Privileges) ERA. The Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision intensified Schlafly's organizing efforts. Tying the abortion issue to the ERA, she was able to bring evangelical Christians to her side. Within a short time, STOP ERA was to become both a training ground for future conservative activists, as well as a test-bed for a host of political strategies and tactics: "She organized 'training conferences' where she instructed her followers on how to hold press conferences, run phone banks, and infiltrate pro-ERA organizations," Kolbert wrote. Schlafly, an accomplished organizer and political strategist earned the growing admiration of even her enemies: "I think what Phyllis is doing is absolutely dreadful," said Karen DeCrow, then the president of the National Organization of Women (NOW). "But I just can't think of anyone who's so together and tough. I mean, everything you should raise your daughter to be...She's an extremely liberated woman." No matter who she was attacking or which issue she was trumpeting, Schafly maintained a high degree of control: She was "unfailingly well groomed and cheerful, even when taunting her opponents," the New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert pointed out. But behind her grin lurked a political toughness that might even make such right wing hardballers as David Horowitz and Sean Hannity blanch. Before it became a right wing weapon of choice, she perfected character assassination: "Starting with Melvin Price, back in 1952, her opponents have invariably been not just wrong or misguided but downright evil," Kolbert wrote, "From the Communists and 'perverts' who infiltrated the State Department to the Republican kingmakers, who used hidden persuaders and psychological warfare techniques,' and the women's libbers,' who placed 'their agents and sympathizers in the media and the educational system,' Schlafly's foes have always aimed at nothing less than the destruction of 'civilization as we know it." And, lest you think that Schlafly, who founded the still-potent Eagle Forum back in the early 1970s, is merely a relic of the past with little relevance for today, think again. She's still drawing a crowd: In recent columns Schlafly took on President Bush over his immigration policies and railed against feminists who attack men's sports on college campuses. Her monthly newsletter, The Phyllis Schlafly Report is now nearly 40 years old and is still going strong; her syndicated column appears in dozens of newspapers across the country, and her radio commentaries are heard daily on 450 stations. Moreover, as a living legend within the conservative movement, Schlafly is always an invited speaker at most significant conservative gatherings. sign in, or register to email stories or comment on them.
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MORE ORIGINAL RESEARCHBill Berkowitz PERC receives Templeton Freedom Award for promoting 'enviropreneurs'Right Wing foundation-funded anti-environmental think tank grabbing a wider audience for 'free market environmentalism' On the 15th anniversary of Terry Anderson and Donald Leal's book "Free Market Environmentalism" -- the seminal book on the subject -- Anderson, the Executive Director of the Bozeman, Montana-based Property and Environment Research Center (PERC - formerly known as the Political Economy Research Center) spoke in late-January at an event sponsored by Squaw Valley Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek in California. While it may have been just another opportunity to speak on "free market environmentalism" and not the kickoff of a "victory tour," nevertheless it comes at a time when PERC's ideas are taking root.
Bill Berkowitz Neil Bush of Saudi ArabiaDuring recent visit, President’s brother describes the country as a 'kind of tribal democracy' In late February, only a few days after Saudi Arabia beheaded four Sri Lankan robbers and then left their headless bodies on public display in the capital of Riyadh, Neil Bush, for the fourth time in the past six years, showed up for the country's Jeddah Economic Forum. The Guardian reported that Human Rights Watch "said the four men had no lawyers during their trial and sentencing, and were denied other basic legal rights." In an interview with Arab News, the Saudi English language paper, Bush described the country as "a kind of tribal democracy."
Bill Berkowitz Newt Gingrich's back door to the White HouseAmerican Enterprise Institute "Scholar" and former House Speaker blames media for poll showing 64 percent of the American people wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances Whatever it is that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has come to represent in American politics, the guy is nothing less than fascinating. One day he's espousing populist rhetoric about the need to cut the costs of college tuition and the next day he's talking World War III. One day he's claiming that the "war on terror" may force the abridgement of fundamental first amendment rights and the next he's advancing a twenty-first century version of his Contract with America. At the same time he's publicly proclaiming how "stupid" it is that the race for the presidency has already started you know that he's trying to figure out how to out finesse Rudy, McCain and Romney for the nomination. And last week, when Fox News' Chris Wallace cited a poll showing that 64 percent of the public would never vote for him, he was quick to blame those results on how unfairly he was treated by the mainstream media back in the day.
Bill Berkowitz American Enterprise Institute takes lead in agitating against IranDespite wrongheaded predictions about the war on Iraq, neocons are on the frontlines advocating military conflict with Iran After doing such a bang up job with their advice and predictions about the outcome of the war on Iraq, would it surprise you to learn that America's neoconservatives are still in business? While at this time we are not yet seeing the same intense neocon invasion of our living rooms -- via cable television's news networks -- that we saw during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, nevertheless, a host of policy analysts at conservative think tanks -- most notably the American Enterprise Institute -- are being heeded on Iran by those who count - folks inside the Bush Administration.
Bill Berkowitz After six years, opposition gaining on George W. Bush's Faith Based InitiativeUnmentioned in the president's State of the Union speech, the program nevertheless continues to recruit religious participants and hand out taxpayer money to religious groups With several domestic policy proposals unceremoniously folded into President Bush's recent State of the Union address, two pretty significant items failed to make the cut. Despite the president's egregiously tardy response to the event itself, it was nevertheless surprising that he didn't even mention Hurricane Katrina: He didn't offer up a progress report, words of hope to the victims, or come up with a proposal for moving the sluggish rebuilding effort forward. There were no "armies of compassion" ready to be unleashed, although it should be said that many in the religious community responded to the disaster much quicker than the Bush Administration. In the State of the Union address, however, there was no "compassionate conservatism" for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Bill Berkowitz Frank Luntz calls Republican leadership in Washington 'One giant whining windbag'On the outs with the GOP, legendary degrader of discourse is moving to California He doesn't make great art; nothing he does elevates the human spirit; he doesn't illuminate, he bamboozles. He has become expert in subterfuge, hidden meanings, word play and manipulation. Frank Luntz has been so good at what he does that those paying close attention gave it its own name: "Luntzspeak."
Bill Berkowitz Spooked by MoveOn.org, conservative movement seeks to emulate liberal powerhouseFueled with Silicon Valley money, TheVanguard.org will have Richard Poe, former editor of David Horowitz's FrontPage magazine as its editorial and creative director As Paul Weyrich, a founding father of the modern conservative movement and still a prominent actor in it, likes to say, he learned a great deal about movement building by closely observing what liberals were up to in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Bill Berkowitz Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihadFounder and Chair of the American Civil Rights Institute scouting five to nine states for new anti-affirmative action initiatives Fresh from his most recent victory -- in Michigan this past November -- Ward Connerly, the Black California-based maven of anti-affirmative action initiatives, appears to be preparing to take his jihad on the road. According to a mid-December report in the San Francisco Chronicle, Connerly said that he was "exploring moves into nine other states."
Bill Berkowitz Tom Tancredo's missionThe Republican congressman from Colorado will try to woo GOP voters with anti-immigration rhetoric and a boatload of Christian right politics These days, probably the most recognizable name in anti-immigration politics is Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo. Over the past year, Tancredo has gone from a little known congressman to a highly visible anti-immigration spokesperson. "Tancredo has thoroughly enmeshed himself in the anti-immigration movement and with the help of CNN talk show host Lou Dobbs, he has been given a national megaphone," Devin Burghart, the program director of the Building Democracy Initiative at the Center for New Community, a Chicago-based civil rights group, told Media Transparency.
Bill Berkowitz Institute on Religion and Democracy slams 'Leftist' National Council of ChurchesNew report from conservative foundation-funded IRD charges the NCC with being a political surrogate for MoveOn.org, People for the American Way and other liberal organizations If you prefer your religious battles sprinkled with demagoguery, sanctimoniousness, and simplistic attacks, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's (IRD) latest broadside against the National Council of Churches (NCC) certainly fits the bill.
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