Phyllis Schlafly

Early life

Born Phyllis McAlpin Stewart, Schlafly was raised in St. Louis. Schlafly's great-grandfather Stewart, a Presbyterian, emigrated from Scotland to New York in 1851 and moved westward through Canada before settling in Michigan. Her grandfather, Andrew F. Stewart, was a master mechanic with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. Schlafly's father, John Bruce Stewart, was a machinist and salesman of industrial equipment, principally for Westinghouse. He was granted a patent in 1944 for a rotary engine.

During the Great Depression, Schlafly's father faced long-term unemployment, beginning in 1932. Before her marriage, her mother, Odile Stewart (née Dodge), worked as a teacher at a private girls' school in St. Louis. During the Depression, she went back to work as a librarian and teacher to support her family. Mrs. Stewart was able to keep the family afloat and maintain Phyllis in a Catholic girls' school. Phyllis's sole sibling was her younger sister, Odile.

Education

Schlafly attended Maryville College, but after one year, transferred to Washington University in St. Louis. In 1944, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. In 1945, after attending Harvard, she received a Master of Arts degree in government from Radcliffe.

In Strike From Space (1965), Schlafly wrote that during World War II, she worked as "a ballistics gunner and technician at the largest ammunition plant in the world". She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Washington University School of Law in 1978.

Activism and political efforts

In 1946, Schlafly became a researcher for the American Enterprise Institute and worked in the successful United States House of Representatives campaign of Republican Claude I. Bakewell.

In 1952, Schlafly ran for Congress as a Republican in the majority Democratic 24th congressional district of Illinois. She won the Republican primary election over John T. R. Godlewski by 18,793 (61.14%) to 11,943 (38.86%). However, she lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Charles Melvin Price, winning 63,778 votes (35.20%) to Price's 117,408 votes (64.80%). Schlafly's campaign was low-budget and promoted heavily through the local print media, and the major munitions manufacturers John M. Olin and Spencer Truman Olin, and the Texas oil billionaire H. L. Hunt. She was the keynote speaker at the June 1952 Illinois state convention of the Republican Party. In her speech, she accused the Truman administration of "demoralizing our children by bad examples, drafting our men, and confiscating our family income." In early July 1952, she attended her first Republican National Convention. She would attend each subsequent Republican National Convention until her death. As part of the Illinois delegation of the 1952 convention, Schlafly endorsed U.S. Senator Robert A. Taft to be the party's nominee in the presidential election.

She played a major role with her husband in 1957 in writing the "American Bar Association's Report on Communist Tactics, Strategy, and Objectives." Donald T. Critchlow says it "became not only one of the most widely read documents ever produced by the ABA, it was probably the single most widely read publication of the grassroots anticommunist movement."

Schlafly was elected to serve as an alternate delegate to the 1960 Republican National Convention from Illinois' 24th congressional district. At the convention, Schlafly helped lead a revolt of "moral conservatives" who opposed Richard Nixon's stance "against segregation and discrimination." Schlafly was the Republican nominee for Illinois's 24th congressional district again in 1960. She again lost the general election to Price, this time by 144,560 votes (72.22%) to 55,620 (27.79%).

She came to national attention when millions of copies of her self-published book A Choice Not an Echo were distributed in support of Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign, especially in California's hotly fought winner-take-all-delegates GOP primary. In it, Schlafly denounced the Rockefeller Republicans in the Northeast, accusing them of corruption and globalism. Critics called the book a conspiracy theory about "secret kingmakers" controlling the Republican Party.

Opposition to Equal Rights Amendment

Schlafly became an outspoken opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) during the 1970s as the organizer of the "STOP ERA" campaign. STOP was a backronym for "Stop Taking Our Privileges". She argued that the ERA would take away gender-specific privileges enjoyed by women, including "dependent wife" benefits under Social Security, separate restrooms for males and females, and exemption from Selective Service (the military draft). She was opposed by groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the ERAmerica coalition. The Homemakers' Equal Rights Association was formed to counter Schlafly's campaign.

In 1972, when Schlafly began her campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment, the ERA had already been ratified by 28 of the required 38 states. Seven more states ratified the amendment after Schlafly began organizing opposition, but another five states rescinded their ratifications. The last state to ratify the ERA was Indiana, where State Senator Wayne Townsend cast the tie-breaking vote in January 1977. (Nevada, Illinois and Virginia ratified the ERA between 2017 and 2020, many years after the deadline to do so.)

The Equal Rights Amendment was narrowly defeated, having only achieved ratification in a total 35 states. Political scientist Jane J. Mansbridge concluded in her history of the ERA:Many people who followed the struggle over the ERA believed—rightly in my view—that the Amendment would have been ratified by 1975 or 1976 had it not been for Phyllis Schlafly's early and effective effort to organize potential opponents.

Joan Williams argues, "ERA was defeated when Schlafly turned it into a war among women over gender roles." Historian Judith Glazer-Raymo argues:As moderates, we thought we represented the forces of reason and goodwill but failed to take seriously the power of the family values argument and the single-mindedness of Schlafly and her followers. The ERA's defeat seriously damaged the women's movement, destroying its momentum and its potential to foment social change ... Eventually, this resulted in feminist dissatisfaction with the Republican Party, giving the Democrats a new source of strength that when combined with overwhelming minority support, helped elect Bill Clinton to the presidency in 1992 and again in 1996.

Critics of Schlafly pointed out that she was not a typical housewife, as she was heavily involved in political causes.

Broadcast media

In broadcast media, Schlafly provided commentaries on Chicago news radio station WBBM from 1973–75, CBS Morning News from 1974-75, and CNN from 1980-83. In 1983, she began creating syndicated daily 3-minute commentaries for radio. In 1989, she began hosting a weekly radio talk show, Eagle Forum Live.

Viewpoints

Social viewpoints

In November 1977, she was an opposition speaker at the 1977 National Women's Conference with Lottie Beth Hobbs, Dr. Mildred Jefferson, Nellie Gray, and Bob Dornan.

Schlafly told Time magazine in 1978, "I have cancelled speeches whenever my husband thought that I had been away from home too much."

In an interview on March 30, 2006, she attributed improvement in women's lives during the last decades of the 20th century to labor-saving devices such as the indoor clothes dryer and disposable diapers.

She called Roe v. Wade "the worst decision in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court" and said that it "is responsible for the killing of millions of unborn babies".

Schlafly focused political opposition to the ERA in defense of traditional gender roles, such as only men fighting in war. She argued that the Equal Rights Amendment would eliminate the men-only draft and ensure that women would be equally subject to conscription and be required to serve in combat, and that defense of traditional gender roles proved a useful tactic. In Illinois, the anti-ERA activists used traditional symbols of the American housewife, and took homemade foods (bread, jams, apple pies, etc.) to the state legislators, with the slogans, "Preserve us from a congressional jam; Vote against the ERA sham" and "I am for Mom and apple pie."

The historian Lisa Levenstein said that, in the late 1970s, the feminist movement briefly attempted a program to help older divorced and widowed women. Many widows were ineligible for Social Security benefits, few divorcees received alimony, and, after a career as a housewife, few had any work skills with which to enter the labor force. The program, however, encountered sharp criticism from young activists who gave priority to poor minority women rather than to middle-class women. By 1980, NOW downplayed the program, as they focused almost exclusively on ratification of the ERA. Schlafly moved into the political vacuum, and denounced the feminists for abandoning older, middle-class widows and divorcees in need, and warned that the ERA would unbalance the laws in favor of men, stripping legal protections that older women urgently needed.

Honorary degree and protests

On May 1, 2008, the trustees of Washington University in St. Louis, announced that Schlafly would receive an honorary degree at the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2008. This news was met with objection from some students and faculty, who complained she was anti-feminist and criticized her work in defeating the Equal Rights Amendment.

In a letter, fourteen law professors complained Schlafly's career demonstrated "anti-intellectualism in pursuit of a political agenda."

While the trustees' honorary-degree committee unanimously approved who would be honored, five student-members of the committee complained, in writing, that they were required to vote for the five people to be honored, as a slate, rather than individually, and thought that the selection of Schlafly was a mistake, despite her prominence as a famous graduate of Washington University. In the days before the graduation ceremony, Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton explained the trustees' decision to award Schlafly an honorary degree with the following statement of disclaimer:In bestowing this degree, the University is not endorsing Mrs. Schlafly's views or opinions; rather, it is recognizing an alumna of the University whose life and work have had a broad impact on American life and have sparked widespread debate and controversies that in many cases have helped people better formulate and articulate their own views about the values they hold.

At the May 16, 2008, commencement ceremony, Schlafly was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, yet faculty and students protested to rescind Schlafly's honorary degree. During the ceremony, hundreds of the 14,000 people in attendance, including one-third of the graduating class and some faculty, silently stood and turned their backs to Schlafly in protest. In the days before the commencement there were protests regarding the awarding of an honorary degree; Schlafly described the protesters as "a bunch of losers". Moreover, after the ceremony, Schlafly said that the protesters were "juvenile" and "I'm not sure they're mature enough to graduate." As planned, Schlafly did not address the graduating class, nor did any other honored guest, except for the commencement speaker, news commentator Chris Matthews of MSNBC.

Personal life

On October 20, 1949, she married attorney John Fred Schlafly Jr., a member of a wealthy St. Louis family. His grandfather, August, immigrated in 1854 from Switzerland. In the late 1870s, the three brothers founded the firm of Schlafly Bros., which dealt in groceries, Queensware (dishes made by Wedgwood), hardware, and agricultural implements. Fred and Phyllis Schlafly were both active Catholics. They linked Catholicism to Americanism and often exhorted Catholics to join the anti-communist crusade. She was also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Fred and Phyllis Schlafly moved across the Mississippi River to Alton, Illinois, and had six children: John, Bruce, Roger, Liza, Andrew, and Anne. When her husband died in 1993, she moved to Ladue, Missouri. In 1992, their eldest son, lawyer John Schlafly, was outed as gay by Queer Week magazine. He acknowledged that he was gay and stated that he agreed with his mother's opposition to same-sex marriage and extension of civil rights protection to gays and lesbians. Their son Andrew, also a lawyer and activist, created the wiki-based Conservapedia. Their daughter Anne Schlafly Cori, married to the son of Nobel-winning scientists Carl and Gerty Cori, is chairman and treasurer of Eagle Forum.

Schlafly was the aunt of conservative anti-feminist author Suzanne Venker; together they wrote The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know – and Men Can't Say.

Schlafly died of cancer on September 5, 2016, at her home in Ladue, Missouri, at the age of 92.

Published works

Schlafly was the author of 26 books on subjects ranging from child care to phonics education. She wrote a syndicated weekly newspaper column for Creators Syndicate.

Schlafly's published works include:

A Choice Not an Echo (Pere Marquette Press, 1964) ISBN 0-686-11486-8

Grave Diggers (with Chester Ward) (Pere Marquette Press, 1964) ISBN 0-934640-03-3

Strike from Space: A Megadeath Mystery (Pere Marquette Press, 1965) ISBN 80-7507-634-6

Safe Not Sorry (Pere Marquette Press, 1967) ISBN 0-934640-06-8

The Betrayers (Pere Marquette Press, 1968) ISBN B0006CY0CQ

Mindszenty the Man (with Josef Vecsey) (Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation, 1972) ISBN B00005WGD6

Kissinger on the Couch (Arlington House Publishers, 1974) ISBN 0-87000-216-3

Ambush at Vladivostok, with Chester Ward (Pere Marquette Press, 1976) ISBN 0-934640-00-9

The Power of the Positive Woman (Crown Pub, 1977) ISBN 0-87000-373-9

The Power of the Christian Woman (Standard Pub, 1981) ISBN B0006E4X12

Equal Pay for Unequal Work (Eagle Forum, 1984) ISBN 99950-3-143-4

Child Abuse in the Classroom (Crossway Books, 1984) ISBN 0-89107-365-5

In popular culture

Phyllis Schlafly, nicknamed "Phyllis Housefly", is referenced in Chapter 2 of Stephen King's 1986 novel It. When characters Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty were discussing perceived homophobia in Derry, Adrian states that homophobia exists in every town in America due to being the age of "Ronnie Moron and Phyllis Housefly". The adult audience of 1986 would have recognized this as references to Ronald Reagan and Phyllis Schlafly.

Phyllis Schlafly is mentioned extensively in the seventh episode of the third season of the comedy TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, titled "Marvelous Radio". Set in 1960, the episode sees Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) agreeing to participate in a live radio commercial for Schlafly. Initially, Midge is enthusiastic about the prospect of supporting a woman running for Congress. However, after learning about her views, which are portrayed as ultra-conservative and antisemitic, she changes her mind and refuses to speak her part, while already at the recording studio with the broadcast about to start.

The FX miniseries Mrs. America also partially focuses on Schlafly's life and activism, with Cate Blanchett as her. Though some praise the series for its accuracy, Schlafly's family members, among other critics, dispute the accuracy of several accounts in the series.

Schlafly is briefly referred to in the Margaret Atwood novel The Testaments. The 2019 sequel to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments is set in a dystopian theocratic state in which women are segregated by caste and social function, including wives, housekeepers, teachers, and impregnable women. In this setting there is a "Schlafly Café" which is open to women in the "Aunt" or teacher caste.

Electoral history

U.S. House

1952

1960