Phyllis Schlafly, the iconic, pro-family activist who rose to fame in the 1970s when she campaigned against the Equal Rights Amendment, has died at age 92, according to the Eagle Forum, the conservative organization she founded. The cause of death was not given. President Reagan praised her campaign against ERA as “brilliant” and called Schalfly “an example to all those who would struggle for an America that is prosperous and free”.
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“As a friend of Phyllis” for about 30 years, this news is shocking”, said Farah.
She also had some controversial comments about the Violence Against Women Act, which made major strides in protecting victims of domestic violence.
Schlafly was a fixture on America’s political right for more than four decades, steady in her opposition to abortion, bilingual education, efforts at detente with Cold War enemies, “supremacist judges”, United Nations treaties, free trade and guest-worker immigration programs.
“The pay gap between men and women is not all bad because it helps to promote and sustain marriages”, she said. He’s better off if he doesn’t talk to any women when he gets there. But she was hardly a typical stay-at-home housewife/mother.
An outspoken anti-feminist, Schlafly was an advocate of conservative causes and an early supporter of the modern religious right. “I’d like to thank my husband, Fred, for letting me be here today”, she said before a 1977 “pro-family” rally.
Schlafly endorsed Trump this year in March by saying, “This year, we have the candidate who really will give us a choice, not an echo”. In her old age, the woman who made piles of money declaring that there was no need for other women to have the right to do so themselves groaned about Latino ballplayers taking jobs from lesser USA -born players, declared marital rape a logical impossibility, and backed every war crime you can think of. 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 a 1978 appearance at the IL capitol she was accompanied by backers bearing loaves of home-made bread. That is not because she ever held a grudge (she didn’t), but because she has been right virtually every time, often years ahead of everyone else. The constitutional amendment came close to passage when both chambers of Congress passed it in 1972 and 35 states ratified it.
Phyllis Stewart was born August 15, 1924, in St. Louis and grew up in a home she described as Republican but not activist. In 1978 she graduated from Washington University’s law school. Those of us who disagreed with her have more in common than either side would like to admit. “And there is no one even close to replacing her. God bless you Phyllis, for changing the world!” The book, which sold 3 million copies, chronicled the history of the Republican National Convention and is credited with helping conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona win the 1964 GOP nomination.
“I knew from the start that I had found enough seriously wrong with ERA to stop it, or at least stall it for an awfully long time”, she later told Carol Felsenthal, author of the 1981 biography, “Sweetheart of the Silent Majority”. She wrote or edited 20 books, published an influential monthly newsletter beginning in 1967, appeared daily on almost 500 radio stations, and delivered regular commentaries on CBS television in the 1970s and CNN in the ’80s.
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Schlafly’s husband died in 1993.
