PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY, FOUNDER OF EAGLE FORUM, DIES AT 92
By
Kelleigh
Nelson
Posted 1:00 AM Pacific
September 6, 2016
© 2016 NewsWithViews.com
Phyllis Schlafly, founder of Eagle Forum in 1972, and the Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund, passed away today, September 5, 2016. America has lost one of her greatest conservative activists and a voice for America’s God given Constitutional freedoms. She has been in public service for her fellow Americans for over 70 years.
She
was a brilliant Constitutional lawyer and received her JD degree from
Washington University in 1978. Phyllis was married to Fred Schlafly
in 1949. He passed away in 1993. She is survived by her six children,
John, Bruce, Roger, Liza, Andrew, and Anne, and 16 grandchildren, and
three great grandchildren.
Mrs. Schlafly authored 27 books and thousands of articles. She spoke tens of thousands of times across the United States. Eagle Forum has been on the front lines of a great number of battles to preserve America’s freedoms and sovereignty.
She
came to national attention when millions of copies of her self-published
book,
A Choice, Not an Echo, were distributed in support of Goldwater's 1964
presidential campaign. As a Goldwater girl myself, I had a copy of the
original book. An updated and expanded 50th anniversary version of this
book came out in 2014. In this famous book, she 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. But we all know, Phyllis was long
ago proven right.
In the 1970s, Phyllis became an outspoken opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and was the organizer of the "STOP ERA" campaign. STOP was an acronym for "Stop Taking Our Privileges."
Schlafly condemned globalization through the World Trade Organization as a "direct attack on American sovereignty, independence, jobs, and economy ... any country that must change its laws to obey rulings of a world organization has sacrificed its sovereignty.”
In 2006, she came out against the North American Union knowing it would integrate Canada, America, and Mexico into one union where our currency would the same and our borders open, just as the European Union had done until Brexit.
Phyllis was a devout pro-life Catholic, and since the 1970s, had fought the ongoing battle to stop the call for another Constitutional Convention. In 1988, she wrote to Chief Justice Warren Burger asking for his response to an Article V Convention. Here is his famous and brilliant response to Mrs. Schlafly. She was staunchly opposed to the convention of states, the latest attempt at a Constitutional Convention. This was a subject which has concerned her for many decades.
Phyllis did not endorse a candidate in 2008, and took Mike Huckabee to task for leaving Arkansas in shambles. During the election, she endorsed John McCain, but said he had a lot to learn.
In 2016, Mrs. Schlafly introduced Donald J. Trump at a rally in St. Louis, Missouri. She strongly endorsed his candidacy for president. On August, 15th of this year, Mr. Trump called Phyllis to wish her a happy birthday and send her his best. They had a lovely conversation, and he thanked her again for her support.
Phyllis was thrilled to attend the Republican Convention in Cleveland as a delegate for Mr. Trump. She has attended every convention since 1952. This year she was proud to work to maintain the principled pro-life platform of the Republican party which she had worked so hard to achieve for decades.
Unfortunately, her endorsement of this conservative candidate led to a breach in the Eagle Forum board. Phyllis broke with six members, including her own daughter, Anne Cori, as well as Cathy Adams, the former short-term state chairman of the Texas Republican Party. They had endorsed Ted Cruz, and many of them wanted a Constitutional Convention as did Cruz, some were also pro-choice, including her own daughter, Anne. This was anathema to Mrs. Schlafly, and the members and supporters of Phyllis and Eagle Forum were horrified that these women would attempt this takeover at the close of Phyllis’s life.
Phyllis asked them to resign from the board, and withdrew her support for Adams' current bid for vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas at the pending state convention. She called Adams "disloyal" and claimed that Adams declined to return her telephone call regarding the dispute.
Unfortunately, these women proceeded with two lawsuits that took a great deal of time, effort, and funds from Phyllis’s personal savings. The stress of the betrayals took their toll.
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This year’s Eagle Forum Council Meeting was scheduled for September 16th through the 18th, in St. Louis, Missouri, with a roster of prominent speakers. Whether or not it will take place will depend upon the decisions of Phyllis’s family and the Eagle Forum leaders who loved her so.
Phyllis Schlafly’s family, the Eagle Forum members who loved her, and her many friends and acquaintances, including this writer, will mourn the loss of this valiant and courageous woman who throughout her life, and her 70 years in service, worked to save our beloved Republic in the best way she knew how.
Heaven rejoices, and we mourn. I know she heard, “Well done good and faithful servant,” as the Lord opened His Arms to welcome her home. God rest her soul; she is now joined again with her beloved husband.
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