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Eagle Forum

ESTABLISHED: 1972
EMPLOYEES: 15
MEMBERS: 80,000
PAC: Eagle Forum PAC

Contact Information:
ADDRESS: PO Box 618 Alton, IL 62002
PHONE: (618) 462-5415
FAX: (618) 462-8909
E-MAIL: eagle@eagleforum.org
URL: http://www.eagleforum.org
PRESIDENT: Phyllis Schlafly

WHAT IS ITS MISSION?

A lobbying and political education group, the Eagle Forum states it has been "leading the profamily movement since 1972." Through its efforts, the Eagle Forum seeks to advance its conservative agenda of a less intrusive national government, free enterprise, traditional morality, and other issues. According to the organization's mission statement, the Eagle Forum's mission is "to enable conservative and profamily men and women participate in the process of self-government and public policymaking so that America will continue to be a land of individual liberty, respect for family integrity, public and private virtue, and private enterprise."

HOW IS IT STRUCTURED?

Phyllis Schlafly is the founder and president of the Eagle Forum, and plays a major role in determining the group's agenda. Schlafly and the organization's national administration communicate with the 80,000 members of the Eagle Forum through the organization's publications, and its state affiliates. While members can communicate their concerns to the national organization through these and other channels, there is no formal method for setting policy, which is primarily determined by the president and other executives.

The Eagle Forum's Operations Center is located in Alton, Illinois. To better conduct the organization's work with Congress and the federal government, the Eagle Forum also has an office in Washington, D.C. The Eagle Forum's Education Center, located in St. Louis, Missouri, manages the organization's educational efforts and publishes the Education Reporter, a monthly journal of national reports on education-related issues. The Eagle Forum has a staff of approximately 13 employees at these three offices.

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS

The Eagle Forum's primary activity is persuading lawmakers to enact legislation that addresses the concerns of the organization. Through the Eagle Forum PAC, the organization provides campaign funding to candidates who support the organization's views. Representatives of the Eagle Forum, most notably President Schlafly, speak before Congress to present the concerns of the organization and its members, and otherwise lobby Congress on behalf of conservative issues. Through the organization's Web site and periodicals, the Eagle Forum encourages its members to petition and write congressional members in support of particularly important or urgent conservative issues.

The Eagle Forum also engages in a number of educational activities designed to raise public awareness of conservative issues and alert conservatives to issues of concern. Activities in this arena are also led by Schlafly. Her weekly radio commentary is carried on 270 stations across the United States and her newspaper column is syndicated to more than 100 newspapers. She is also the author of sixteen books on issues ranging from national defense to child care.

PROGRAMS

Most of the Eagle Forum's programs are designed to assist its lobbying efforts, by informing the public and gaining support for conservative issues. One such program is the Eagle Forum's Score Board, which rates how U.S. senators and representatives voted on issues of importance to the organization. Through Score Board, the Eagle Forum can keep its supporters informed of who in Congress is working for, and against, their agenda, information which supporters can then use when it comes time to vote for their congressional representatives.

The Eagle Forum Court Watch project was initiated to counter what the Eagle Forum sees as disturbing trends in the federal judiciary. The Eagle Forum believes that liberal federal judges are abusing their power by issuing rulings that force their views on the public, without any legal or constitutional justification. To stop these judges, the Eagle Forum Court Watch works to publicize judicial rulings and opinions that it considers unconstitutional in their scope. The project also gathers information on potential court appointees, and lobbies Congress to oppose the appointment of liberal activist judges.

BUDGET INFORMATION

Not made available.

HISTORY

Phyllis Schlafly was already a prominent conservative author and lawyer when she founded the Eagle Forum in 1972. Schlafly believed "progressive" political and social developments of the 1960's had contributed to an antifamily atmosphere in the United States. Schlafly founded the Eagle Forum as a way of advocating conservative, traditional profamily values. One of the first objectives of the Eagle Forum was the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

The ERA was designed to add an amendment to the United States Constitution that would assure women the same political, legal, and economic rights as men. First introduced in 1923, it finally passed Congress in 1972. However, for a constitutional amendment to become law, the amendment must be ratified, or approved by 38 states. After the ERA was passed in Congress, it went to the states, where it struggled to win approval.

Phyllis Schlafly viewed the ERA as "the principal legislative goal of the radical feminists." She believed the ERA, along with Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal, were two direct assaults on the U.S. family. The Eagle Forum spent 10 years fighting the ERA. Because of its work opposing the amendement, the Eagle Forum could take partial credit for the ERA's defeat. The proposed amendment effectively died when the time limit designated for the its approval expired in 1982 without the approval of the 38 states necessary for ratification.

In the 1970s, the Eagle Forum was part of a coalition of conservative political organizations that became known as the "New Right." Members of the New Right each had their own cause: some wanted lower taxes; others struggled to overturn Roe vs. Wade; and some worked for increased defense spending. During this decade, the Eagle Forum worked for all of these issues, thus establishing itself as a general advocate for the New Right. The election of Republican Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980 brought even greater voice and visibility to the Eagle Forum. Many of the Eagle Forum's policies were enacted by the Reagan administration. The Eagle Forum supported President Reagan's national defense budget, tax cuts, and conservative social positions, and the organization became closely aligned in the public's mind with the administration.

With the election of Democrat Bill Clinton to the presidency in 1992, the Eagle Forum was once again opposed to the policies of the administration in charge. However, the congressional elections of 1994 gave Republicans a majority in Congress after years of being the minority party. While this meant that the Eagle Forum enjoyed greater influence in Congress than it had previously, it did not affect the Eagle Forum's intense campaign against the Clinton administration. The Eagle Forum was vocal in its opposition to President Clinton's early efforts to reform the U.S. health care system and opposed his administration's proposals on issues from taxes to health care. As Clinton appointed new federal judges that the Eagle Forum considered dangerous liberals, the organization became increasingly concerned about the effects that rulings by these judges could have on the nation. In response, the group formed the Eagle Forum Court Watch project. The Eagle Forum was disappointed by Clinton's reelection in 1996, and called for his impeachment based on allegations of illegal fund-raising during his campaign. They supported the 1998 impeachment of Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice, and were disappointed when the Senate failed to convict the president and remove him from office. In 1999 the Eagle Forum called for an end to U.S. involvement in Kosovo, only to see the United States engage in a major military operation there.

CURRENT POLITICAL ISSUES

In the 1990s the Eagle Forum lobbied vocally on a wide variety of policy issues. In the arena of domestic policy, the Eagle Forum has rejected tax increases and lobbied instead for tax cuts. The organization believes that the federal government is too large and too intrusive in the lives of U.S. citizens, and should drastically reduce its size and cut its spending. In line with these views, the Eagle Forum was among the opposition that defeated President Clinton's health care reform measures in 1994.

In matters of foreign policy, the Eagle Forum believes that the United States should be much less involved in the affairs of other countries. The organization does not believe that the U.S. should act as a "police force for the world" by sending U.S. troops to restore order in the world's trouble spots. Accordingly, the Eagle Forum disagreed with decisions to send U.S. soldiers to intervene in conflicts in Bosnia, Somalia, and Kosovo. The Eagle Forum also opposes the signing of United Nations (UN) and other international treaties, which it believes endanger the sovereignty and independence of the United States by forcing it to comply with global laws.

Case Study: Global Warming

In 1992 nations around the world began to develop what became known as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The purpose of the UNFCCC was to combat the greenhouse effect, an atmospheric phenomenon that traps heat in the earth's atmosphere. The greenhouse effect occurs when solar radiation, which has entered the earth's atmosphere, becomes trapped by gases such as carbon dioxide to create a heating effect. Many scientists believe that in the past hundred years, the release of large amounts of carbon dioxide and other chemicals into the atmosphere by automobiles and industrial manufacturing has increased the greenhouse effect. These scientists are concerned that if this unnatural increase continues, it will cause global warming, or a permanent rise in temperatures around the world. This would have serious effects on global weather patterns and sea levels.

When diplomats convened in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, they agreed that global warming was a serious problem that required immediate attention. Accordingly they drafted what became known as the Kyoto Protocol. The authors of the Kyoto Protocol felt that global warming can be averted by reducing worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The protocol set limits on greenhouse gas emissions by the nations that would sign it. It also called for its signatories to take other steps to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as planting more trees, which absorb carbon dioxide. The Kyoto Protocol was the first agreement produced by the UNFCCC that established legally binding emissions limits on its participants.

The Eagle Forum strongly opposed the UNFCCC and stated that there were a number of reasons that the United States should not ratify the Kyoto Protocol. First and foremost, the Eagle Forum pointed out that the greenhouse effect and global warming are only theories of what is happening, and what might happen, to the earth. While there is scientific evidence to support these theories, there is also scientific evidence that disputes them. The Eagle Forum, citing studies that claim the greenhouse effect does not exist, argued that the UNFCCC is unnecessary.

The Eagle Forum also opposed the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol because the organization feels they are harmful to the U.S. economy. In order to control greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, supporters of the Kyoto Protocol proposed a system of economic controls, starting with the government increasing taxes on fuels and energy sources that produce emissions. The tax increase would raise consumer prices, thus lowering product demand. In turn, manufacturers would decrease production, which would lead to less emissions. The Eagle Forum argued that these higher prices would also force many U.S. industries that rely on cheap fuels to close or relocate to countries whose emissions laws were not as strict.

For these reasons, the Eagle Forum has fought the UNFCCC since it began in 1992 . The Eagle Forum sees the Senate as its best chances for defeating the Kyoto Protocol. Before the Kyoto conference had even begun, the Senate passed a resolution stating that it did not intend to sign any agreement that bound the United States to emissions limitations, unless it also restricted the emissions of developing nations. The Kyoto Protocol did not include such restrictions and many senators urged President Clinton not to sign it. The Eagle Forum considered the placing of restriction on developed countries such as the United States, without similar limitation on developing nations of Asia or Africa, to be unfair. The organization went so far as to question the true motives for the treaty, claiming that it was really intended to redistribute wealth from richer nations to poorer ones.

Despite the protests of the Eagle Forum and the Senate, President Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol on November 12, 1998. However, the treaty could not be binding until it was ratified by a Senate vote. In light of the strong opposition to the treaty in that body, Clinton decided not to submit the treaty to the Senate for a vote until additional restrictions for developing nations would be included. While the president had hoped these restrictions would be added in 1999, Senate support for the treaty is doubtful. It is certain, however, that the Eagle Forum will exert its full influence to block any ratification efforts.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Global governance will remain a major issue for the Eagle Forum in the future. In addition to continued opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, the Eagle Forum hopes to see U.S. troops pulled out of volatile regions such as the former Yugoslavia. To this end, the Eagle Forum will also push for stronger limitations on the use of executive orders by the president. The organization feels that these orders are being used to unconstitutionally take over a variety of rights and privileges that are reserved for Congress, such as the ability to legislate and form international treaties.

GROUP RESOURCES

The Eagle Forum can be contacted by mail at Eagle Forum, PO Box 618, Alton, IL, 62002; and by phone at (618) 462-5415. The Eagle Forum also maintains a Web site at http://www.eagleforum.org. The Web site contains information about the organization, its policies, and founder Phyllis Schlafly. Through the Web site, one can also join the Eagle Forum mailing list, and receive E-mail updates.

Radio Live with Phyllis Schlafly is the Eagle Forum's daily radio broadcast. On the radio show, Schlafly discusses major issues in the news, and topics of concern to the Eagle Forum. Visit http://www.eagleforum.org/radio for a list of radio stations that carry Radio Live, as well as recordings of recent shows.

GROUP PUBLICATIONS

The Phyllis Schlafly Report is the main publication of the Eagle Forum. It is a monthly issues-oriented newsletter sent to Eagle Forum members. It contains Eagle Forum articles on issues of the day, such as tax cuts and U.S. involvement in Bosnia. The Eagle Forum also publishes a monthly journal called the Education Reporter. This journal provides updates on federal, state, local and judicial actions and rulings that affect education, and articulates the Eagle Forum's opinions on education policy. Both of these periodicals are available by subscription to the general public.

The Eagle Forum offers for sale a number of books by Phyllis Schlafly. Available titles include Pornography's Victims and Child Abuse in the Classroom. Also available is The Sweetheart of the Silent Majority, a biography of Phyllis Schlafly. All Eagle Forum publications can be ordered on-line at http://www.eagleforum.org/order; by mail at Eagle Forum, PO Box 618, Alton, IL 62002; by phone at (618) 462-5415; or by fax at (618) 462-8909.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beinart, Peter. "Degree of Separation." New Republic, 3 November 1997.

"Green Blues." National Review, 4 May 1998.

Gingrich, Newt. "Conservatism Now!" National Review, 22 December 1997

Jacobson, Louis. "The Eagle Has Landed." National Journal, 25 October 1997.

Jacoby, Henry D., Ronald G. Prinn, and Richard Schmalensee. "Kyoto's Unfinished Business: Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change Incomplete." Foreign Affairs July-August 1998.

McGinnis, John. "The Origin of Conservatism." National Review, 22 December 1997.