Phyllis was raised as a devout Catholic in a poor family in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father, John Bruce Stewart, a machinist and salesman of industrial equipment, lost his sales job in 1932 and was unable to find permanent work until World War II. Phyllis’s mother, Odile Dodge, attended college and, before her marriage, worked as a teacher at a private school for girls in St. Louis. With her husband out of work, Odile worked as a librarian and a school teacher to help keep the family afloat.

Phyllis began college early, transferring from a Catholic college to Washington University in 1942, where costs at the time were kept artificially low for St. Louis residents. She supported her education by working as an ammunition tester on the night shift at the St. Louis Ordnance Plant, firing rifles and machine guns, and as a laboratory technician, investigating misfires.

She deepened her lifelong interest in politics while attending Washington University. After receiving her bachelor’s degree with honors at the age of 19, she went on to earn a master’s in government from Harvard University a year later and a JD from Washington University School of Law in 1978.

Phyllis worked in Washington, DC, for the American Enterprise Association (now, Institute) for a year before returning to St. Louis, where she served as a research director for two banks and worked in a campaign to return a conservative congressman to office.

She married her late husband, lawyer John Frederic Schlafly, Jr., in 1949. The mother of six children, Phyllis was named Illinois Mother of the Year in 1992.
In 1952, she made the first of two unsuccessful bids for Congress as a representative from Illinois. She came to national attention with the publication of her best-selling book, A Choice, Not an Echo (1964) and, within three years, founded The Phyllis Schlafly Report, a political newsletter, which is still being published. In 1972, she started the Eagle Forum, a national organization of citizens who participate as volunteers in the public policymaking process.

Perhaps best known for her leadership against the Equal Rights Amendment, Phyllis was appointed by President Reagan to serve as a member of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. She has also testified before more than 50 Congressional and state legislative committees on constitutional, national defense and family issues.

She is a prolific author, radio commentator and speaker on the college circuit. Her syndicated column appears in 100 newspapers; her radio commentaries are heard daily on 460 stations; and her radio talk show, “Phyllis Schlafly Live,” is heard weekly on 45 stations.

Named one of the 100 most important women of the 20th century by the Ladies’ Home Journal, today, at age 82, Phyllis continues to be an articulate and successful spokesperson for the conservative movement in the United States.