Viguerie motivated millions of Americans to participate in politics for the first time, greatly expanding the base of active citizenship. He is our era’s equivalent of Tom Paine, using a direct mail letter rather than a pamphlet to deliver his call to arms. George magazine credited this as one of the defining political movements of the 20th century.
Viguerie has mailed more than 4 billion letters in his 50-plus-year direct marketing career. 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.”
The AFL-CIO News said that Viguerie made it all possible for conservatives, and The Washington Post called him “the conservatives’ Voice of America.” In 1979, Time magazine named him one of 50 future leaders of America. In 1981, People magazine named him one of the 25 most intriguing people of the year. In a December 1999 op-ed for The Washington Times, Dr. Lee Edwards cited Viguerie as one of 13 “Conservatives of the Century.”
Viguerie’s latest book is Takeover. The Republican Party failed to win key elections because it failed to deliver on its promises to roll back the tide of big government. In Takeover, Viguerie outlines the way to establish limited government constitutional conservatism as the governing philosophy of the Republican Party and bring sanity back to Congress and the White House
Viguerie is the chairman of American Target Advertising, a 52-year-old direct marketing agency based in Northern Virginia. His pioneering use of direct mail in politics continues to enable candidates and causes to raise money from millions of small contributors, rather than from a few “fat cats.”
“When the history of American Conservatism is written, it should be noted the second most influential man in terms of the Conservative Movement and country, after Ronald Reagan, is direct communication wizard and conservative activist Richard A. Viguerie.”
– Roger Stone
“The father of political DM [direct marketing]”
– Direct Magazine
“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.”
– Newt Gingrich
“The conservatives’ Voice of America”
– The Washington Post
The “architect of the New Right”
– The Baltimore Sun
One of 13 “Conservatives of the Century”
– Dr. Lee Edwards, The Washington Times
“One of the creators of the modern conservative movement”
– Alexander Cockburn, The Nation
“Richard Viguerie is simply the best! He and his talented staff enabled us to set fundraising records that helped carry us to victory in November.”
– Hon. Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General of Virginia, 2010-2014
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