Contact: Bob Sturm, 703-396-6974; Ryan Rogge, 703-396-6971; After 6 PM Eastern & on weekends, 703-307-8176 or 703-674-6948;
rav@conservativehq.com
"On Saturday, Bill Rusher, a friend, a mentor, and a founding father of the conservative movement, died.
"In fact, Bill was the last of a relatively small group of conservatives whose intellect, energy, work, sacrifices, and passion for freedom came together in the 1940s and 1950s to launch, build, and nurture a cause that, in the 1940s, did not even have a name...
"Most conservatives today would not know of even a third of these men. But without them, there would have been no conservative movement in the 1960s, certainly no Goldwater presidential campaign, and probably no Governor or President Ronald Reagan...
"Almost from the beginning of Bill Buckley's launch of National Review, Rusher served as its publisher. Bill once told me he was Bill Buckley's contribution (one of many) to the conservative movement, serving as ambassador without portfolio to the fledgling young conservative movement.
"Bill was a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School who started his political career in New York politics. He was soon involved in the Young Republicans (YR's), and in helping his friend, the future Congressman John Ashbrook, become chairman of the national YR's in 1957.
"Besides helping take the leadership of the YR's away from the Eisenhower/Rockefeller wing of the party, Bill was a midwife and driving force in most all-important conservative projects in the mid 1950s through the 1980s.
"A short but incomplete list of his achievements would include helping build National Review to be the leading conservative voice in America, Young Americans for Freedom, the New York Conservative Party, the American Conservative Union, the Draft Goldwater Campaign, Reagan for President, and many others. "
NOTE TO EDITORS: Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called "one of the creators of the modern conservative movement" (The Nation) and one of the "conservatives of the century"(Washington Times). He is the author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause.
