The Rise of a Populist Influencer in the Age of Print Media

There is a curious comfort in revisiting Phyllis Schlafly’s A Choice Not an Echo, the book that propelled Barry Goldwater to the Republican presidential nomination in 1964 and established Schlafly as a major national influencer. Half a century after its original publication, the book still crackles with a certain energy. Schlafly had a wonderful knack for the pithy phrase, the savvy slur, the damning detail. Mean-spirited and conspiratorial, she trained her guns on fellow Republicans, eager for factional conflict. It’s shameless propaganda. And yet, from a comfortable distance, it’s also a rollicking good read. It’s oddly reassuring to be reminded that the political sphere has its own enduring (if ugly) truths, and that shills and sophists will always be with us.

Should we, at least in part, lament this reality? It’s a hard question, and Schlafly represents a fascinating test case. She played a major role in bringing movement conservatism into the national spotlight. And she was a propagandist through and through, a true virtuoso of the paranoid style.

About the Author

Rachel Lu

Rachel Lu is an associate editor of Law & Liberty and a contributing writer at America magazine.

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There is a curious comfort in revisiting Phyllis Schlafly’s A Choice Not an Echo, the book that propelled Barry Goldwater to the Republican presidential nomination in 1964 and established Schlafly as a major national influencer. Half a century after its original publication, the book still crackles with a certain energy. Schlafly had a wonderful knack for the pithy phrase, the savvy slur, the damning detail. Mean-spirited and conspiratorial, she trained her guns on fellow Republicans, eager for factional conflict. It’s shameless propaganda. And yet, from a comfortable distance, it’s also a rollicking good read. It’s oddly reassuring to be reminded that the political sphere has its own enduring (if ugly) truths, and that shills and sophists will always be with us.

Should we, at least in part, lament this reality? It’s a hard question, and Schlafly represents a fascinating test case. She played a major role in bringing movement conservatism into the national spotlight. And she was a propagandist through and through, a true virtuoso of the paranoid style.