Phyllis Schlafly

   

Phyllis McAlpine Stewart Schlafly (born August 15, 1924) is an American conservative political activist known for her opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

Born in Missouri, Schlafly was raised as a devout Catholic in a poor family. She began school at a young age, graduating from Washington University in St. Louis at only 19, and later earned a J.D. from WUSTL. She later attended Harvard University, and received her B.A. and M.A.

In 1952 she unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a member of the United States Republican Party.

She first came to national attention as the writer of the best-selling book A Choice, Not an Echo, written in support of Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign, and denouncing the corruption and liberalism of other Republicans, especially those in New England.

In 1967 she founded her own political newsletter, the Phyllis Schlafly Report, which is still published to this day.

She went on to become the most visible and effective opponent of the ERA as the organizer of the "Stop ERA" movement, widely credited with its eventual defeat. Schlafly argued that the amendment would actually take away important family rights for women, such as automatic child custody in the case of divorce and weaken punishments for sex crimes committed towards women. It would also make young women subject to the military draft. For her actions she was widely vilified by younger generation feminists, who denounced her as a weak and subservient housewife who personified everything the feminist movement was seeking to overcome. At the time Schlafly began campaigning, the amendment had already been ratified by 30 of the 38 necessary states. Schlafly was ultimately able to orchestrate a large campaign of grassroots support for her cause, however, and in 1982, after much campaigning, the amendment was narrowly defeated, only earning 35 states' approval.

Today she is a widely-published author and commentator, and the founder and president of the Eagle Forum. Schlafly is the author of twenty books, mostly on a variety of conservative political topics (though she has also taken an interest in child care and phonics education).

She was married to the late John Fred Schlafly. She has six children.

Books written

External links


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