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Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly has been a national leader of the conservative movement since the publication of her best-selling 1964 book, A Choice Not An Echo. She has been a leader of the pro-family movement since 1972, when she started her national volunteer organization now called Eagle Forum. In a ten-year battle, Mrs. Schlafly led the pro-family movement to victory over the principal legislative goal of the radical feminists, called the Equal Rights Amendment. An articulate and successful opponent of the radical feminist movement, she appears in debate on college campuses more frequently than any other conservative. She was named one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century by the Ladies' Home Journal. Mrs. Schlafly's monthly newsletter called The Phyllis Schlafly Report is now in its 38th year. Her syndicated column appears in 100 newspapers, her radio commentaries are heard daily on 460 stations, and her radio talk show on education called "Phyllis Schlafly Live" is heard weekly on 45 stations. Both can be heard on the internet. Mrs. Schlafly is the author or editor of 20 books on subjects as varied as family and feminism (The Power of the Positive Woman), nuclear strategy (Strike From Space and Kissinger on the Couch), education (Child Abuse in the Classroom), child care (Who Will Rock the Cradle?), and a phonics book (Turbo Reader). Her most recent book, Feminist Fantasies, is a collection of essays on feminism in the media, workplace, home, and the military Mrs. Schlafly is a lawyer and served as a member of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, 1985-1991, appointed by President Reagan. She has testified before more than 50 Congressional and State Legislative committees on constitutional, national defense, and family issues. Mrs. Schlafly is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington University, received her J.D. from Washington University Law School, and received her Master's in Political Science from Harvard University. Phyllis Schlafly is America's best-known advocate of the dignity and honor that we as a society owe to the role of fulltime homemaker. The mother of six children, she was the 1992 Illinois Mother of the Year.
More Complete Biography of Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly was named one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century by the Ladies' Home Journal. She has been a national leader of the conservative movement since the publication of her best-selling 1964 book, A Choice Not An Echo, and a leader of the pro-family movement since 1972, when she started her national volunteer organization now called Eagle Forum. Mrs. Schlafly is the founder and president of Eagle Forum, a national organization of citizens who participate as volunteers in the public policymaking process. It maintains offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and in Alton, Illinois. She is also the founder and president of Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund, a think-tank which has its national headquarters at the Eagle Forum Education Center in St. Louis. Books: Mrs. Schlafly is the author or editor of 20 books on subjects as varied as family and feminism (The Power of the Positive Woman), nuclear strategy (Strike From Space and Kissinger on the Couch), education (Child Abuse in the Classroom), child care (Who Will Rock the Cradle?), and foreign policy (Allegiance). Her two most recent books are the result of her lifetime dedication to the problem of illiteracy and are based on a phonics system she developed to teach reading skills. First Reader (1994) is designed for the beginning child, and Turbo Reader (2001) is a revised version for the student of any age. Other Writings: Mrs. Schlafly's newsletter called The Phyllis Schlafly Report has been published monthly since 1967 and is now in its 38th year. Her syndicated columns, distributed by Copley News Service since 1976, appear in 100 newspapers. She wrote a monthly article for the DAR Magazine from 1977 to 1995. Her articles have appeared in a variety of anthologies and other periodicals including the Radcliffe Quarterly, the Wall Street Journal, George, and Human Events. Radio: Mrs. Schlafly's 3-minutes-a-day 5-days-a-week radio commentaries (running since 1983) are heard daily on 460 stations, and her radio talk show on education called "Phyllis Schlafly Live" (running since 1989) is heard weekly on Saturdays on 45 stations. Both series can be heard on Eagle Forum's website: www.eagleforum.org. Mrs. Schlafly's radio career began in the 1970s when she was a regular semi-weekly CBS commentator on the Spectrum series (1973-1978), and for WBBM Chicago (1973-1975). For four years in the 1960s, she was the speaker on a 15-minute weekly statewide radio program sponsored by the Illinois Daughters of the American Revolution. Television: Mrs. Schlafly did weekly television commentaries on the CBS Morning News, 1974-1975, and on CNN, 1980-83. She has also written and produced several documentary videos on such issues as American inventors, education, and treaties. She has appeared on almost every network news and public affairs program. Legal: Mrs. Schlafly is an attorney admitted to the practice of law in Illinois, Missouri, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. She served (with the late Chief Justice Warren Burger) as a member of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, 1985-1991, appointed by President Reagan. She has testified before more than 50 Congressional and State Legislative committees on constitutional, national defense, foreign policy, education, tax, encryption, and family issues. She served five terms as a member of the Illinois Commission on the Status of Women, 1975-1985, appointed by the Illinois Legislature. She served as a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, 1983-1986. She has filed several amicus curiae briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal. Education: Mrs. Schlafly received her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1944 (Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma Alpha, Final Honors). She worked her way through college on the night shift at the St. Louis Ordnance Plant testing ammunition by firing rifles and machine guns and as a laboratory technician investigating misfires. She received her Master's in Government from Harvard University in 1945. She received her J.D. from Washington University Law School in 1978. Family: Mrs. Schlafly was the 1992 Illinois Mother of the Year. She and her late husband of 44 years are the parents of six children (John, Bruce, Roger, Liza, Andrew, and Anne) and 14 grandchildren. She taught all her children to read before they entered school and all had outstanding academic success: three lawyers, one physician, one Ph.D. mathematician, and one businesswoman. Political Activism: In a ten-year battle, Mrs. Schlafly led the pro-family movement to victory over the principal legislative goal of the radical feminists, called the Equal Rights Amendment. She assembled the movement called Stop ERA. She is America's most articulate and successful opponent of the radical feminist movement. She has appeared on virtually every national television and radio talk show and has lectured or debated on more than 500 college and university campuses. Other political battles she led and won defeating the national movement in the 1980s to call a new Constitutional Convention. Republican: Mrs. Schlafly's lifetime hobby has been politics, starting with working as campaign manager for a successful Republican candidate for Congress in St. Louis in 1946. She has served as an elected Delegate to six Republican National Conventions: 1956, 1964, 1968, 1984, 1988, 1992; and as an elected Alternate Delegate to three other Republican National Conventions: 1960, 1980, and 2000. She has attended and played an active role in every Republican National Convention since 1952. Her 1964 book A Choice Not an Echo is a history of Republican National Conventions. She was three times elected President of the Illinois Federation of Republican Women, 1960-64, and was elected First Vice President, National Federation of Republican Women (1964-1967). She was a candidate for Congress from Illinois in 1952 and in 1970, in two different districts. She received numerous awards for volunteer service to the Republican Party. DAR: Phyllis Schlafly served five terms as National Chairman of National Defense for the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (1977- 80, 1983-95). Previously, she served as National Chairman of American History Month (1965-68) and as National Chairman of the Bicentennial Committee (1967-70). A DAR member of Ninian Edwards Chapter in Alton, Illinois since the 1950s, she served two terms as Chapter Regent and is now Honorary Chapter Regent. She served two terms as Illinois State Chairman of National Defense and one term as Illinois State Recording Secretary and Editor of the State Yearbook. Awards: Mrs. Schlafly has received numerous awards for service in a variety of fields. Honorary LL.D. from Niagara University. Honorary Doctor of Christian Letters from Franciscan University of Steubenville. Ten honor awards from Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge. Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews (1975). National patriot awards from both the Sons of the Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution. She was named one of the Ten Most Admired Women in the World in the Good Housekeeping poll, 1977-1990. The World Almanac named her one of the 25 Most Influential Women in America during the years 1978-1985. When Richard Amberg, publisher of St. Louis Globe-Democrat, presented her with the Women of Achievement Award in 1963, he said:
"Phyllis Schlafly stands for everything that has made America great and for those things which will keep it that way."
President Ronald Reagan gave Phyllis Schlafly, a lifetime fulltime volunteer in public policymaking, this tribute at a national meeting in 1984:
"Eagle Forum has set a high standard of volunteer participation in the political and legislative process. . . . You've been out front on so many of the most important issues of our time. . . . Your work is an example to all those who would struggle for an America that is prosperous and free. . . . Our nation needs the kind of dedicated individual volunteer service you and Eagle Forum have demonstrated over the last 20 years."
The economist George Gilder wrote in his book Men & Marriage (Pelican, 1987):
"When the histories of this era are seriously written, Phyllis Schlafly will take her place among the tiny number of leaders who made a decisive and permanent difference. She changed the political landscape of her country. In fact, by the measure of the odds she faced and overcame, Schlafly's achievement excels all the others'. . . . She won in part because she is one of the country's best speakers and debaters and its best pamphleteer since Tom Paine. She won because of her indefatigable energy and will power, mobilizing women in state after state."
Joseph Lelyveld wrote in the New York Times Magazine (April 17, 1977):
"Phyllis Schlafly has become one of the most relentless and accomplished platform debaters of any gender to be found on any side of any issue."
Howlin
"I told my husband to make his own damn dinner and I started a 'Live' thread!" |