Your Influence Counts ... Use It! The SPOTLIGHT by Liberty Lobby

Reprinted from www.libertylobby.org, home of The SPOTLIGHT archive

Liberty Lobby ...

... A united voice for patriotic Americans.

Liberty Lobby was conceived in 1955 as a pressure group for patriotism -- a lobby to fight the orgainized, special-interest lobbies (both foreign and domestic) that proliferate in the nation's capital.

Since then, numerous other lobbies and groups have tried to emulate that basic concept.

Liberty Lobby has been unique, however, in that it is strictly devoted to advancing the interests of America's consumers, taxpayers and voters (the nation as a whole), a plan and program that no other lobby could claim as its own.

Not only was Liberty Lobby intended to function as a lobbying force in the nation's capital, but also as a source of information and as a clearing house for grassroots patriotic efforts around the country, both complementing and uniting their efforts.

Once the populist Institution's philosophical program had been put forth, however, it was necessary to provide for the resources needed to launch Liberty Lobby as the effective force it was intended, and proved, to be.

From 1955-1958 intensive coast-to-coast fund-raising efforts were undertaken. Patriotic leaders from around the nation closed ranks, eager to set the populist Institution in motion.

A major advance came when on June 23, 1958, Liberty Lobby's Research Department was established. The Washington beachhead was thus broached.

On August 30, 1958, another milestone: Liberty Lobby published the first congressional voting analysis ever issued by a patriotic organization, laying the groundwork for thousands of similar voting records compiled yearly by others.

Liberty Lobby continues to issue its own Liberty Ledger, compiling the voting records of all senators and congressmen.

Liberty Lobby's former building

Liberty Lobby's first legislative victory came on March 6, 1959, when the fledgling populist lobby orchestrated defeat of a Senate bill (drawn up by Rockefeller Republican Sen. Jacob Javits of New York) that would have barred from the mails all citizen groups which disagreed with the liberal Supreme Court.

By mid-1959, a formal office for Liberty Lobby was established in the nations capital. Col. Eugene Pomeroy agreed to serve as the Washington secretary of the office.

Shortly thereafter, the populist Institution's founding Board of Policy (BOP) was set in motion, composed of a group of highly selected patriots of national stature.

Founding chairman of the BOP was the late Col. Curtis B. Dall who assumed the post in 1960. The chairmanship is now held by veteran populist author, editor and organizer Vince Ryan who has been with Liberty Lobby since 1978. The secretary of the BOP is Anne Cronin, who has been with Liberty Lobby since 1964. She came to the populist Institution right out of college. Treasurer of Liberty Lobby is Willis A. Carto. He has held that office since he founded the Institution in 1955.

With Col. Dall, the founding members of the BOP were charged with the responsibility of formulating Liberty Lobby's stands on the issues.

On November 24, 1960 the first issue of the monthly Liberty Letter (a newsletter which ultimately evolved into the weekly SPOTLIGHT newspaper) was released.

The purpose of Liberty Letter was unique, in that it was designed to promote political action, not just education. At this time there were just 2,000 subscribers.

On January 22, 1966, control of Liberty Lobby's BOP was turned over to Americans who signed an oath of loyalty to the U.S. constitution and who pledged regular financial support to Liberty Lobby.

The BOP's first national convention was held on January 6-7, 1967, in Washington, D.C. where more than 300 attendees met to continue expansion of Liberty Lobby's efforts.

Since coming to Washington in 1961, Liberty Lobby grew exponentially:

  • From 2,000 to some 100,000 paid members and subscribers at present (although for several years during the early 1980s paid circulation actually surpassed one-third of a million readers);
  • From one unpaid employee to over 60 employees;
  • From a rented desk in the National Press Building to its own headquarters two blocks from the Capitol Building;
  • From an annual operating budget of $10,000 to $5 million. Numerous major outreach efforts were also undertaken during the subsequent several decades:
  • Issuance of a special 1964 campaign report, LBJ: A Political Biography, which made history for this type of publication by distributing 14 million copies, published and distributed from several locations around the country.
  • As a result of the LBJ report, Liberty Lobby's monthly Liberty Letter skyrocketed to some 150,000 subscribers - a phenomenon unlike anything yet seen in the populist movement.
  • Publication of 48 special Emergency Liberty Letters highlighting major legislative emergency campaigns, urging patriots to take action on important matters before Congress.
  • Lobbying congressional offices and appearing before congressional committees on a regular basis. 1n 1965 alone, a Liberty Lobby spokesman appeared before congressional committees no less than 15 times.
  • Preparation and distribution of several paid television documentaries and paid public service announcements broadcast over national radio.
  • In June of 1968, Liberty Lobby played the primary role in launching the still-vibrant national "tax rebellion" which infuriated then IRS Commissioner Mortimer Caplin. The populist Institution issued 300,000 copies of a special report entitled The Great Tax Fraud resulting in a major tax reform bill signed into law.
  • In the mid-1970s Liberty Lobby launched a daily national radio program which, at its peak, a decade later, was heard over more than 400 radio stations around the country.
  • Entitled This is Liberty Lobby, the broadcast reached millions of Americans on a regular basis and helped the populist Institution grow by leaps and bounds.
  • In 1973 Liberty Lobby established its popular silver minting and selling division, Liberty Trust, today the oldest private mint in the U.S. specializing in pure silver.
  • In 1975 the BOP voted to establish a national weekly newspaper, now known as The SPOTLIGHT, to replace the monthly Liberty Letter. (The Liberty Letter has since re-emerged as a regular special green wrap-around newsletter sent exclusively to members of the BOP.) The SPOTLIGHT, received free by all BOP members in good standing, soon evolved into "must" reading for tens of thousands of Americans who subscribe yearly.
  • In 1988 the populist Institution re-instituted its radio outreach program, which has grown expansively. BOP members responded generously and enthusiastically and provided Liberty Lobby with loans and contributions which brought the radio outreach effort into being. Starting out as satellite radio programming under the auspices of the North America One Satellite Radio Network, the project blossomed almost instantaneously. Today, Liberty Lobby's radio call-in talk forum, Radio Free America (hosted by Tom Valentine), is heard over international short-wave radio. It also is heard on AM and FM stations around the country and on satellite.
  • In 1990 Liberty Lobby established the Populist Action Committee, a non-partisan, Constitutionally-oriented, America First PAC dedicated to helping patriots seeking office not only on the Populist Party ticket, but as independents and in the ranks of the major parties.

The above is just a sketchy overview of some of the populist Institution's major efforts over the years.

Throughout its history, Liberty Lobby has been engaged in some of the big battles in official Washington and around the country. Just to mention a few:

  • The fight against NAFTA and GATT for protection of American jobs and industry;
  • The advancement of the Sovereignty Proposal calling for Constitutional interest-free loans by Congress to local governments for the purpose of initiating jobs-creating capital projects and to pay off existing loans;
  • Derailing the proposed Conference of the States, another high-level sceme to dismantle the American republic;
  • The efforts to expose the Bilderbergers and Trilateralists and the Council on Foreign Relations and their insidious influence on world affairs;
  • Defeat of the proposed Constitutional convention to rewrite the supreme law of the land;
  • Combating encroaching power grabs by the United Nations and other global government bodies that undermine American sovereignty;
  • Promotion of an America First foreign policy, particularly in the realm of Middle East affairs;
  • Defeat of the Atlantic Union, the purpose of which was to merge the United States with Western Europe;
  • Advancement of the concept of a "Taxpayers Bill of Rights" (ultimately enacted into law);
  • Spearheading the drive for audit reform and the ultimate abolition of the Federal Reserve banking monopoly;
  • The fight for tougher immigration laws and control of illegal aliens.

These again are just a few of the highlights, but they illustrate the essence of Liberty Lobby's populist and nationalist agenda, a record of consistency and success.

Liberty Lobby now moves forward, more vibrant than ever, into the twenty-first century and its fifth decade of service to the American people.

To help us in our fight, please join the Board of Policy (BOP).