Richard Viguerie

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Richard Viguerie

Born	1933-09-23 Golden Acres, Texas
Spouse	Elaine O. Viguerie
Children	3
Website http://www.conservativehq.com/ http://www.conservativesbetrayed.com/ http://www.grassrootsfreedom.com/ http://www.ultimateronpaul.com/

Richard A. Viguerie (born on September 23, 1933 (1933-09-23) (age 74) in Golden Acres, Texas, USA, North America) ^[1] is a conservative figure head and writer in American politics. He is the current chairman of conservativehq.com.

In Viguerie's own words:

"Pioneered political use of computerized direct mail. That technology was the Internet of its day: it enabled conservatives to get around liberals' dominance of the mass media; it allowed thousands of conservative candidates, organizations and causes to get their messages to grassroots Americans."^[2]

1 Biography
2 Books
3 Current issues
4 Clients
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Biography

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Viguerie has been dubbed the "funding father" of modern conservative strategy.^[3]^[4]

Viguerie worked for the Christian evangelist Billy James Hargis in his early career.

In an autobiographical note, Viguerie wrote that in 1961 he became executive secretary of the conservative youth group, Young Americans for Freedom:

"Since 1965, owner of direct marketing/advertising companies such as American Target Advertising. Political/campaign strategist, activist and conservative spokesman and writer."^[2]

Viguerie founded Conservative Digest magazine in 1975 and served as its publisher for ten years. Opposing President Gerald Ford's election, Viguerie in 1976 unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination of the American Independent Party (that had been formed eight years earlier by George Wallace).^[5]

In 1977, Viguerie worked on a project to raise money for Sun Myung Moon's Children's Relief Fund, which reportedly only received 6.3% of the $1,508,256 raised. $920,000 went to Viguerie according to New York State charity auditors.^[6]^[7]

Viguerie sought the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1985, but did not receive the nomination at the GOP state convention.

Asked by Campaigns and Elections in May 2000 what his immediate goals were, Viguerie answered:

"To use the Internet to involve Americans in the political process, to help conservatives gain an advantage over the left. To fight against government's use of power, to fight for individual rights and responsibilities, and to fight to extend the blessings of liberty throughout the world."^[2]

Writing in The Nation, David Corn noted that Viguerie "raised money for Judicial Watch" and is associated with Larry Klayman, who is a conservative lawyer and activist and who was a failed candidate for the Republican nomination for US Senate in Florida back in 2004.^[8]

Viguerie has long been associated with conservative activist Howard Phillips through creation of the Moral Majority in 1979.

In January of 2008, Viguerie launched http://www.ultimateronpaul.com , a website designed to promote the 2008 presidential candidacy of US Congressman Ron Paul, whom Viguerie described as "truly a principled conservative in the grand tradition of Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan" and who "has differentiated himself from all the other candidates, whose allegiance is to Big Government Republicanism."^[9]

[edit] Books

Books by Richard Viguerie

The New Right: We're Ready to Lead^[10]
The Establishment vs. the People : Is a new Populist Revolt on the Way?^[11]
Conservatives Betrayed: How the Republican Party Hijacked the Conservative Cause^[12]
America's Right Turn: How Conservatives Used New and Alternative Media to Take Power^[13]

[edit] Current issues

In May 2006, Viguerie said regarding conservatives' ability to maintain a majority in the U.S. House and Senate:^[14] ^[15] "There is a growing feeling among conservatives that the only way to cure the problem is for Republicans to lose the Congressional elections this fall."

Viguerie's comment on the Mark Foley scandal: "This isn't an isolated situation. It is only the most recent example of Republican House leaders doing whatever it takes to hold onto power. If it means spending billions of taxpayers' dollars on questionable projects, they'll do it. If it means covering up the most despicable actions of a colleague, they'll do it."^[16]^[17]

Viguerie is fighting the The Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 through his petition website known as Grassroots Freedom^[18]

When Viguerie spoke at a conference of Libertarian Party state chairs in March 2007 [1], he stated the following about the 2006 United States general elections: "Whenever conservatives are unhappy, bad things happen for the Republican Party."

In 2007, Viguerie co-founded the American Freedom Agenda, described as "a coalition established to restore checks and balances and civil liberties protections under assault by the executive branch". [2]

On January 15, 2008, Christian Newswire reported that Viguerie had announced the launch of http://www.UltimateRonPaul.com, stating that "Ron Paul is truly a principled conservative". [3]