I voted for this great American for president not once, but twice. He was a great conservative and will be missed.
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HOWARD PHILLIPS
Howard Phillips, a founder of the New Right and the Religious Right, died on Saturday, April 20. A visionary leader dedicated to the principles of constitutional limited government, individual liberties, family values and a staunch defense of the life of the unborn.
He forged a career launching many conservative nonprofit organizations and a new political party dedicated to providing conservatives greater opportunities in American politics.
Phillips, whose Christian faith was a guiding influence throughout his life, was known to his constituents and colleagues as a man of uncompromising principle and integrity and to his family and friends as a man of charm, wit and loyalty.
Born on February 3, 1941, Howard Phillips was raised in Boston, Massachusetts, where he attended Boston Latin School and later, Harvard College. Phillips’ entry into the political arena began early, often getting him in hot water during his two outspoken years as President of the Harvard Student Council (1960-62), a position to which he was twice elected. He was a leading participant in the 1960 conference in Sharon, Connecticut which created Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). During the 1960’s and 1970’s, YAF served as a training ground for many future conservative activists and leaders.
In 1964, Phillips was elected Chairman of the Boston Republican Committee. His focus on strong precinct organization was a foreshadowing of his later emphasis on national grass roots organizing. Richard Schweiker hired Phillips to manage his successful 1968 campaign against Pennsylvania Senator Joe Clark. Phillips was then chosen by the Nixon administration to hold a series of positions, culminating in his appointment as acting director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. His effort to shut down OEO and end its subsidies to leftist advocacy groups was thwarted by a Democratic Congress, and Phillips resigned when Nixon reneged on a promise to veto funding for the agency. Subsequently, Phillips sought a non-governmental mandate to oppose the high jacking of Federal tax dollars through Great Society programs.
Phillips formed The Conservative Caucus (TCC) in 1974 to provide conservatives with a nationwide grass roots voice. He made “defunding the left” a priority cause for The Conservative Caucus (and The Conservative Caucus Foundation, founded in 1976), and by 1980 it had become a common battle cry of the conservative movement. During the next few years, he held meetings in all 435 congressional districts, promoting in each the establishment of a local caucus of conservatives. TCC quickly became a leading organization in the fight for prayer in the schools and against the treaties to turn over the Panama Canal Zone and the U.S.-built Canal to Panama. Although the treaties narrowly passed in the face of public hostility, Phillips pointed to the political price paid by its supporters, many of whom were defeated in 1978 and 1980.
He went on to lead a similar and successful campaign against President Carter’s SALT II treaty, visiting all 50 states to turn public opinion against the treaty. He played a key role in what became known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Phillips promoted the necessity of developing a defense against nuclear missiles, and helped set in motion the events which led President Reagan to announce the beginning of SDI in March, 1983. Phillips then stepped up his campaign for the abrogation of the ABM Treaty, so that a missile-defense system could be legally deployed. That effort bore fruit when President George W. Bush abrogated the treaty and began deployment of the system which is now being used to protect the western United States against a possible attack from North Korea. TCC’s “Victory Over Communism” project included strong attempts to provide U.S. assistance to anti-Communist freedom fighters, especially in Afghanistan, Angola, and Nicaragua. A key victory was the repeal of the Clark Amendment, which had prohibited U.S. aid to the anti-Communist forces in Angola.
The Conservative Caucus was a key part of what became known as the New Right, along with Paul Weyrich’s Committee for a Free Congress, Terry Dolan’s National Conservative Political Action Committee, and the direct mail marketing of Richard Viguerie. His determination to stand on principle was best shown by his willingness to oppose even popular Republican presidents when they chose to appease liberals. Phillips strongly opposed Reagan’s nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court, and later was the only conservative to testify against the nomination of David Souter by George H. W. Bush. (Phillips correctly predicted that the long public record of support for legal abortion by both O’Connor and Souter would make them solid pro-abortion votes on the court.)
In 1987, Phillips led the opposition to Reagan’s Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. By 1990, Phillips became convinced that neither major party would ever enact truly conservative policies in Washington, and that a new political party was the necessary approach. He led in the formation and became the first presidential candidate of the U.S. Taxpayers Party (later renamed the Constitution Party) in 1992, and was nominated again in 1996 and 2000.
Phillips retired as Chairman of The Conservative Caucus in 2011 as his health deteriorated, but continued to pay close attention to political developments.
Phillips did not spend all his time on politics. He was a theater buff and passed his love of Broadway on to his children with frequent trips to New York. He was a lifetime fan of the Boston Braves, continuing to follow the team even when they moved to Milwaukee and later to Atlanta. He once attended a Braves game in Atlanta in seats provided by home run king Hank Aaron.
His love for his family was well-demonstrated, despite the demands of his jobs and political campaigns. He played an active role in educating his children, and participated in home-schooling not only his youngest son, Samuel, but also some of his grandchildren. Dinner time in the Phillips household was characterized by education as part of the dining process with challenges when the children were young (spelling bees and state capital competitions) to readings from great books as they matured.
Phillips is survived by his wife of 49 years, Margaret, and his six children, Douglas, Amanda Lants, Bradford, Alexandra, Jennifer, and Samuel, as well as 18 grandchildren and his sister, Susan Phillips Bari.
Family and friends are invited to Mr. Phillips Life Celebration at Money and King Funeral Home, 171 W. Maple Ave., Vienna, VA on Saturday, April 27, from 3 to 5 p.m. and on Sunday, April 28, from 3 to 7 p.m.
Funeral Services will be held at McLean Bible Church, 8925 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA on Monday, April 29, at 11 a.m. Interment private.
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Published in The Washington Post on April 24, 2013
Howard J. Phillips, conservative activist and three-time presidential candidate, dies at 72
By Emily Langer,Published: April 24
Howard J. Phillips, a paladin of conservatism who helped lead the New Right movement in the 1970s and later ran three times as a third-party presidential candidate to defend the bedrock values he believed many Republicans had abandoned, died April 20 at his home in Vienna. He was 72.
He had frontotemporal dementia, said his sister, Susan Phillips Bari.
Long involved in Republican campaigns and causes, Mr. Phillips rose to prominence in Washington when President Richard M. Nixon named him acting director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. Mr. Phillips’s chief task, widely understood at the time, was to dismantle the social programs created through Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty.
A federal judge ultimately ruled such action to be illegal, and, to Mr. Phillips’s profound disillusionment, Nixon complied. Mr. Phillips resigned. He had been in office for only months but long enough to conclude that the conservative movement desperately needed a new burst of energy.
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