Rockford Institute is a conservative think-tank associated with paleoconservatism, based in Rockford, Illinois.[1] It is known for the John Randolph Club, and publishes Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture.
It was founded by Rockford College President John A. Howard in 1976 as a response to American social changes of the 1960s. Allan Carlson served as president until 1997. He left with John Howard to found The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, on offshoot of the Rockford Institute.[1] They took with them two publications: Religion and Society Report and Family in America. Thomas Fleming, editor of Chronicles, succeeded Carlson as president.[1]
The institute and Lutheran pastor Richard John Neuhaus invited Cardinal Ratzinger to give a lecture in New York in January 1988.[2] On May 5, 1989, Neuhaus and his Religion and Society Center were evicted from the institute's New York office after he complained about what he said were "the racist and anti-Semitic tones" of the institute's Chronicles magazine.[1][3] The charge, which was supported by other leading conservatives, was denied by the institute.[4] They said the office, called Rockford East, was closed for budgetary reasons and because of concerns that Neuhaus was not following institute policies.[4] According to liberal political commentator David Frum, the split was seen by leading conservatives as a sign of the division between the paleoconservative and the neo-conservative elements of the movement.[5]