Who is Richard Viguerie?

The Washington Post called him “the Conservatives’ Voice of America.”

The Baltimore Sun called him the “architect of the New Right”, and The Edmonton Sun called him “the uncrowned king of the Right”.

The AFL-CIO News said that Viguerie “made it all possible” for Conservatives.

John F. Kennedy Jr.’s magazine George called the founding of Viguerie’s company one of the “defining political moments of the 20th Century.”

In December 1999, Viguerie was cited in the Washington Times as one of thirteen “Conservatives of the Century.”

Newt Gingrich once said of Viguerie: “Richard understands the values that help our government and economy serve the interests of the people. And he knows how to put those values into action”.
Richard A. Viguerie's Conservatives Betrayed


RICHARD A. VIGUERIE transformed American politics by developing technology that empowered tens of millions of grassroots Americans. For this achievement, he has been recognized as a founder of the modern conservative movement, and he has been honored for empowering people of all political persuasions.

A native of Pasadena, Texas, near Houston, Viguerie became involved in national politics as Executive Secretary of Young Americans for Freedom, the Conservative youth group founded by William F. Buckley, Jr.

In 1965, he started an advertising agency with one employee in an office over a fraternal lodge. Combining computer technology with political direct mail, he made possible hundreds of political candidacies and causes that could not have existed otherwise.

In many ways, Viguerie’s technology was the Internet of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. For the first time, regular people could combine millions of small contributions, offsetting the power of political fatcats. For the first time, small organizations could communicate messages effectively and affordably across the nation. For the first time, the Big Media had grassroots competition in the marketplace of ideas.

Viguerie’s efforts produced think tanks, magazines, newsletters, and dozens of organizations and successful political campaigns. Viguerie motivated millions of Americans to participate in politics for the first time.

Viguerie’s company has mailed more than two billion letters over the past 40 years. Ronald Reagan’s 1968 campaign manager Cliff White and journalist William Gill wrote in their book Why Reagan Won: “In every election from 1966 onward, the Viguerie Company and its score of imitators . . . brought information to millions of Americans, information that quite often the people could not obtain from newspapers or television or mass-circulation magazines.”
Richard A. Viguerie's Conservatives Betrayed

After the 1980 election, The New Republic magazine reported that “Several U.S. Senators owe their seats to Viguerie in some way.” And Washington Post political editor David Broder wrote that the New Right’s use of direct marketing techniques “may have tipped the entire political balance in their direction. To a remarkable degree, the story of that development is the story of one man – Richard Viguerie.”

The 1977 Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia explained his defeat: “It was a victory for Viguerie.” The Lt. Governor of California explained his 1982 defeat: “My undoing was started two years ago in the suburbs of Washington by Viguerie and in the suburbs of Los Angeles by the Reagan kitchen cabinet [informal advisers].” Congressman Jerry Patterson explained his 1984 defeat: “You think, ‘If only Ronald Reagan wasn’t on the ballot,’ or ‘If only he hadn’t had Richard Viguerie and his mass-mailing operation in Falls Church, I would have won.’”

Viguerie has appeared on countless television programs, including Nightline, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the Today show, Good Morning America, ABC’s This Week, Meet the Press, Face the Nation, C-SPAN BookNotes, PBS’s Now with Bill Moyers, Larry King, Evans & Novak and Lou Dobbs. He has been a commentator for ABC’s election night and Inauguration Day coverage. He debated David Duke on The Jesse Jackson Show, appeared on the pilot and other episodes of Politically Incorrect, and appeared as both guest and co-host on CNN’s Crossfire.

Alan Baron, former executive director of the Democratic National Committee, called Viguerie’s first book, The New Right, “a penetrating look at America’s newest potent political force.” Viguerie’s book The Establishment vs. The People was on The Wall Street Journal’s 1984 list of notable books of the year. Jon Stewart called Viguerie’s book America’s Right Turn (co-authored with David Franke) “very interesting,” and Michael Reagan called it “eye-opening” and “compelling.”
Richard A. Viguerie's Conservatives Betrayed

Viguerie's op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, USA Today, the Scripps-Howard newspapers, and literally hundreds of other publications.

He and his wife, Elaine, have three children and five grandchildren, and live in the Virginia countryside.