Tag: barry goldwater
Phyllis Schlafly, U.S. Conservative Activist, Dies At 92

Phyllis Schlafly, U.S. Conservative Activist, Dies At 92

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Phyllis Schlafly, who became a “founding mother” of the modern U.S. conservative movement by battling feminists in the 1970s and working tirelessly to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, died on Monday at the age of 92, her Eagle Forum group said.

Schlafly, who lived in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue, Missouri, died at her home in the presence of her family, Eagle Forum said in a statement. The cause of death was not given.

She was still a conservative force and popular speaker in her 90s, endorsing Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and praising his policy on immigration. She was a delegate to the Republicans’ convention in Cleveland.

Trump said in a statement that he spoke with Schlafly a few weeks ago by telephone “and she sounded as resilient as ever … She was a patriot, a champion for women, and a symbol of strength.”

Schlafly once called feminists “a bunch of bitter women seeking a constitutional cure for their personal problems,” Time said, while insisting that “women find their greatest fulfillment at home with their family.”

Her political ardor did not fade with age and in 2014, as President Barack Obama pushed for pay equity for women, Schlafly sparked controversy with a column for the Christian Post saying a man’s paycheck comes first.

“The pay gap between men and women is not all bad because it helps to promote and sustain marriages,” she said. “… The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap.”

Schlafly promoted traditional family values and once told a reporter that she always listed her occupation as “mother” when filling out applications. But she was hardly a typical stay-at-home housewife/mother.

Shortly after marrying lawyer Fred Schlafly in 1949, she became active in Republican Party politics in Alton, Illinois, and ran unsuccessfully for Congress twice. She would go on to found the Eagle Forum grass-roots conservative group, write a newspaper column and newsletter and author some 20 books.

Her crowning achievement was crusading to prevent the Equal Rights Amendment from being added to the U.S. Constitution and it made Schlafly a leader in the modern American conservative movement.

“Phyllis Schlafly courageously and single-handedly took on the issue of the Equal Rights Amendment when no one else in the country was opposing it,” said James C. Dobson, chairman and founder of Focus on the Family. “In so doing, she essentially launched the pro-family, pro-life movement.”

Biographer Donald T. Critchlow said defeating the ERA helped usher in a conservative era in American politics and boosted Ronald Reagan to the presidency.

In her decade-long fight against the ERA, Schlafly traveled across the country to speak at rallies and persuade state legislators not to approve the ERA.

Along the way she often debated feminist writer Betty Freidan, who called Schlafly “a traitor to her sex” and once told her: “I’d like to burn you at the stake.”

The intention of the ERA was to ensure women were treated the same as men under state and federal laws. Schlafly’s attack on the proposed amendment was based on the premise that the rights of women already were well protected by the U.S. Constitution. She said the ERA actually would erode women’s standing, leading to homosexual marriages, women in combat, government-funded abortions and loss of alimony.

In 1972 she started the Eagle Forum, now located in Clayton, Missouri, along with Stop ERA, bringing in legions of supporters who had been regarded as non-political housewives. In a 1978 appearance at the Illinois capitol she was accompanied by backers bearing loaves of home-made bread.

Described by Time magazine as “feminine but forceful” and with her hair always carefully styled, Schlafly said she attended 41 state hearings to testify against the Equal Rights Amendment. When the ERA’s ratification deadline expired in 1982, having been approved by only 35 of the 38 states needed, Schlafly threw a party in Washington.

Phyllis Stewart was born Aug. 15, 1924, in St. Louis and grew up in a home she described as Republican but not activist. She put herself through Washington University by firing weapons as an ammunition factory tester and later earned a master’s degree in political science from Radcliffe. In 1978 she graduated from Washington University’s law school.

The left attacked Schlafly for promoting domestic life to her supporters while spending so much time pursuing her ambitious political agenda. She responded by saying she never told women they should not work.

“I simply didn’t believe we needed a constitutional amendment to protect women’s rights,” Schlafly told the New York Times.

Schlafly first became a political presence with her 1964 self-published book “A Choice, Not an Echo,” which championed the conservative politics of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater.

Schlafly also built a reputation as a strident anti-Communist and opponent of arms control treaties. After the ERA’s defeat, she continued to preach conservative causes such as limited government, anti-abortion laws, traditional education, strong defense and keeping out illegal immigrants.

She frequently criticized immigration reform and the Obama administration and wrote more than 25 books.

Schlafly also was a critic of gay rights, which proved to be a sensitive topic in 1992 when the oldest of her six children, John, who worked for the Eagle Forum, acknowledged he was homosexual.

Schlafly’s husband Fred died in 1993. She is survived by six children, 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, Eagle Forum said.

(Writing and reporting by Bill Trott; Additional reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Diane Craft)

Photo: Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly introduces U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, Missouri, March 11, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein – RTSAF6Q

Endorse This: Confessions Of A Republican

Endorse This: Confessions Of A Republican

What’s the best/funniest/most ridiculous video you’ve seen today? Tweet @nationalmemo with the hashtag #EndorseThis and we may use it in our next newsletter!

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Back in 1964, the Democratic National Committee released an ad targeting then-Republican nominee Barry Goldwater, featuring a buttoned up man explaining his reservations about the candidate, who was considered an extremist at the time. Goldwater was pilloried for his rejection of the New Deal and social programs (he wanted to roll back Social Security) and for his advocacy of using nuclear weapons in Vietnam. (Remember the famous “Daisy Chain” ad by rival Lyndon Johnson?)

The unnamed “Republican” in the ad speaks about his uneasiness with being associated with Goldwater, who he found extreme and politically dangerous. Goldwater’s habit of speaking bluntly was easy fodder for rivals.

Now, that same ad is going viral, poking at our generation’s own reactionary bigot. Just replace “Goldwater” with “Trump” and you’ll see what all the fuss is about.

“The hardest thing for me about this whole campaign is to sort out one Goldwater statement from another. A reporter will go to Senator Goldwater and he’ll say, “Senator, on such and such a day, you said, and I quote, ‘blah blah blah’ whatever it is, end quote.” And then Goldwater says, “Well, I wouldn’t put it that way.” I can’t follow that. Was he serious when he did put it that way? Is he serious when he says I wouldn’t put it that way? I just don’t get it. A President ought to mean what he says.”

He continues, “I wouldn’t have worried so much about party unity because if you unite behind a man you don’t believe in, it’s a lie. I tell you, those people who got control of that convention: Who are they? I mean, when the head of the Ku Klux Klan, when all these weird groups come out in favor of the candidate of my party — either they’re not Republicans or I’m not.”

Goldwater lost the 1964 election badly. He only won six states — all in the South — plus his home state of Arizona, with 38.5 percent of the popular vote. His legacy, however, was moving the GOP’s center away from eastern elites like the Rockefellers — who had dominated Republicanism for years — to the South and West.

Conservatives might claim that America is a fundamentally conservative country, but the facts speak for themselves.

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Photo: A still from a Republican who’s ashamed of Barry Goldwater. YouTube/TheLBJLibrary

Goldwater Statue, Created For National Statuary Hall, Is Stranded In Phoenix

Goldwater Statue, Created For National Statuary Hall, Is Stranded In Phoenix

By Rachel Lund, Cronkite News Service

PHOENIX — Arizona state officials in March unveiled an 8-foot bronze statue of the late U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater that will represent the state at the National Statuary Hall in Washington.

Months later, visitors to the old State Capitol still see the statue looming over the state seal in the rotunda.

Those raising money to create and ship the statue say they need $65,000 or so more, not only to get it to Washington, but also to bring home the statue it will replace. And the state lawmaker who shepherded the legislation calling for Goldwater’s likeness to replace one of mining executive John Campbell Greenway said officials at the U.S. Capitol have been slow to schedule a date for the statue’s unveiling.

State Librarian Joan Clark, who is part of the effort, said she has enjoyed having the statue here.

“It has been nice that the people of Arizona have been able to enjoy it since late March when we installed it,” Clark said. “But now it is time for Barry Goldwater to go to D.C. and be appreciated on a national level.”

Ted Hale, deputy director of the Arizona State Library, said he and others will take the next step when fundraising is complete.

“Right now we could almost afford to send him to D.C.,” he said. “But we aren’t anywhere near getting Mr. Greenway back.”

Hale said he and others have done all they can to raise the money, including fundraisers, involving the Goldwater family and offering 2-foot replicas of the statue to those who contribute $10,000 or more.

“We haven’t ruled out garage sales and swap meets either — any way we can to get him there,” Hale said.

State Sen. Adam Driggs said: “The real reason it is taking so long is waiting for the Architect of the Capitol and House Speaker (John) Boehner to give us a date. Once we get a date, it will facilitate the last push.”

Laura Condeluci, a spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol, said via email that she couldn’t respond immediately to a request for comment on Driggs’ concerns.

In 2008, Driggs sponsored legislation to add Goldwater to the National Statuary Hall collection, where each state is represented by two statues. Arizona’s other statue is of the Rev. Eusebio F. Kino, the Jesuit priest who established missions during the 17th century.

Driggs said he and others consider Goldwater a better representation of Arizona’s modern history than Greenway, whose statue has stood in the hall since 1930.

By federal law none of the money for the statue can come from public funds, Clark said.

Deborah Copenhaver Fellows, the creator of the Goldwater statue, said she doesn’t think the average Arizonan understands this.

“I cannot tell you the number of people who have come into my studio in the last 24 months who have said, ‘I met him. I remember him. He was wonderful. He is what we need now.’ I mean he is just like a hero in Arizona,” she said.

“I was always of the opinion that if you would let John Q Public know that he’s the one that’s going to send it Washington, D.C., it would work,” she said. “I’m just really surprised that the fundraising wasn’t more efficient.”

Photo via WikiCommons

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