Phyllis Schlafly

                Phyllis McAlpin Stewart Schlafly was a conservative activist with a foundation as a constitutional attorney. She was born on August 15, 1924, in St. Louis, Missouri, and died on September 5, 2016, in Ladue, Missouri. She founded Eagle Forum, Republican National Coalition for Life. She campaigned successfully against the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

                Schlafly authored or co-authored 27 books. One of her books had a great impact on the United States. Lee Edwards at The Heritage Foundation paid homage to Schlafly and shared how her book titled A Choice Not an Echo, published in paperback in 1964, had “a lasting effect on American politics.”

                In the spring of 1964 Sen. Barry Goldwater was campaigning for the Republican nomination for president but had not won a major election. He was running against the liberal Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller, who was favored by the early polls.

                Schlafly provided Goldwater with “an unusual weapon” – her book, A Choice Not an Echo. “More than 50,000 copies of  `A Choice Not an Echo' were handed out in key precincts up and down the state of California. Later surveys revealed that Gold water had edged Rockefeller in many of those precincts, providing the margin of victory for the conservative senator.”

                The lasting effect of the “little” book is shared by Edwards: “What difference did `A Choice Not an Echo’ make? If Goldwater had not won the California primary, he might not have won the Republican presidential nomination. If Goldwater had not been the 1964 nominee, Ronald Reagan would not have been given the opportunity to make his historic TV address `A Time for Choosing.’ If Reagan had not delivered that talk, he would not have been asked to run for governor of California. If he had not been governor of California, there would have been no President Reagan, no Reagan Revolution and no end to the Cold War without a short being fired.”

                Schlafly was a powerful woman before women’s lib was invented. She stood on her conservative principles, and she made a difference in our world. Six children were blessed to call her “Mother” - Andrew Schlafly, Bruce Schlafly, Anne Cori Schlafly, Liza Schlafly, Roger Schlafly, and John Schlafly.