On September 25, 1989, at an organizational meeting in Atlanta, Pat Robertson founded the Christian Coalition following his unsuccessful 1988 Republican presidential bid. Robertson recruited Ralph Reed, a twenty-eight-year-old doctoral student in history at Emory University, as the …
Pat RobertsonRalph ReedChristian Coalitionreligious-rightgrassroots-organizingelectoral-infrastructurestealth-candidatescultural-warfare
The Equal Rights Amendment expires on June 30, 1982, after failing to achieve ratification by 38 states, marking a stunning victory for Phyllis Schlafly’s decade-long STOP ERA campaign and establishing the template for modern conservative movement organizing. Despite 30 of the necessary 38 …
Phyllis Schlafly launches her STOP ERA campaign with an article titled ‘What’s Wrong with Equal Rights for Women?’ published in her February 1972 newsletter, fundamentally reshaping American conservative politics and pioneering the anti-feminist movement. After being asked to …
On April 22, 1970, approximately 20 million Americans—10% of the nation’s population—participated in the first Earth Day, the largest mass demonstration in American history to that point. Organized by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and coordinated by young activist Denis Hayes, Earth Day …
Senator Gaylord NelsonDenis HayesEnvironmental ActionPresident Richard Nixonenvironmental-regulationgrassroots-organizingpublic-healthsocial-movement
After losing a divisive fight for the presidency of the National Federation of Republican Women (for which she had served as first vice president since 1965), Phyllis Schlafly begins publishing The Phyllis Schlafly Report, a monthly newsletter intended to mobilize her supporters and inform them …
Phyllis SchlaflyEagle ForumNational Federation of Republican Womenconservative-movementpolitical-infrastructuregrassroots-organizingmedia-influence
Phyllis Schlafly self-publishes ‘A Choice Not an Echo,’ a 128-page polemic attacking the Republican establishment and supporting Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign. The book becomes an instant phenomenon, selling over three million copies by summer 1964 and bringing Schlafly …