ST. LOUIS (AP) — Outspoken conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, who helped defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and founded the Eagle Forum political group, has died at age 92.
The Eagle Forum announced her death in a statement Monday. Her son John Schlafly says she died of cancer Monday afternoon at her home in St. Louis.
Schlafly rose to national attention in 1964 with her self-published book, “A Choice Not an Echo,” that became a manifesto for the far right. It chronicled the history of the Republican National Convention, sold three million copies and helped conservative Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater earn the 1964 GOP nomination.
She graduated from college at 19, while working at a factory during World War II, and later earned master’s and law degrees.
But she once said that perhaps her greatest legacy was the ultraconservative Eagle Forum, which she founded in suburban St. Louis in 1972.
