Phyllis Schlafly, the “darling” of the Silent Majority, is gone but will never be forgotten. I respected her for her leadership skills, even when she campaigned against nearly all of the causes that I supported. She also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1970. In that I was not alone.
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Trump says Schlafly was “a conservative icon who led millions to action, reshaped the conservative movement and fearlessly battled globalism and the “kingmakers” on behalf of America’s workers and families”. She also wrote a weekly column in a newspaper.
Simply put, liberals and feminists couldn’t stand her – the personal animosity they felt often leading to them denigrate her as an individual and underestimate how formidable an opponent she could be.
Schlafly founded Eagle Forum, a conservative body after the defeat of ERA in 1972. Interviewers from Tim Russert to Bill Maher questioned how she, the mother of a gay man, could be so staunchly opposed to LGBTQ rights, a question she typically sidestepped with a looks-could-kill glare and a retreat to privacy.
Schlafly’s campaign against the ERA – which would have expanded women’s rights by outlawing gender-based distinctions in federal and state laws – pitted her against Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and other feminist icons.
Known as “the first lady of anti-feminism”, the Los Angeles Times reported, Schlafly died of natural causes. In her 1987 book, Just a Housewife, feminist scholar Glenna Matthews practically dedicated her work to opposing Schlafly. Throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st century, Schlafly was involved in conservative politics. She attended this year’s convention as a Donald Trump delegate. “I have personally lost a dear friend of over 40 years”. Apparently, the uber-conservative group doesn’t have much love for Trump. It sold more than 3 million copies. Barry Goldwater of Arizona earn the 1964 GOP nomination.
Mrs. Schlafly became a forceful conservative voice in the 1950s, when she joined the right-wing crusade against global Communism. But she wasn’t done yet.
Schlafly’s family was with her when she died Monday afternoon of cancer at her home in St. Louis, her son John Schlafly said.
Schlafly endorsed Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump at a rally in St. Louis in March, and she co-authored a book called “The Conservative Case for Trump” that is being released Tuesday. She opened my eyes to the rights and wrongs in worldly government back in my college days as she spoke about the Reagan era and all that Reagan’s pro-America efforts were doing for our great country.
Her latest book was called “The Power of the Positive Woman”. Schlafly scoffed at that.
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She had firm views on this regard.
