People for the American Way

History

PFAW was founded by the television producer Norman Lear in opposition to the publicized agenda of the Moral Majority, a prominent and influential American political organization associated with the Christian right. Officially incorporated on September 4, 1980, PFAW began as a project of the Tides Foundation, a donor-advised fund that directs money to politically liberal causes.

Among the group's most frequent targets were Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robertson.

Though always publicly known as People for the American Way, the group was originally trademarked as "Citizens for Constitutional Concerns Inc." prior to officially taking the "People for the American Way" name in 1985.

Former presidents of PFAW include Arthur Kropp, Tony Podesta, and Ralph Neas.

Soon after its founding, PFAW launched an affiliated 501(c)(3) organization, People for the American Way Foundation, for the purpose of conducting more extensive educational and research activities for liberal causes. "People for the American Way Foundation" would also become the group's legal name in 1998.

In 1998, the People for the American Way Voters Alliance was launched as a political action committee.

Activities

PFAW was responsible for the 1982 television special I Love Liberty, which was described by the Washington Post as "America's first left-wing patriotic rally." PFAW has also been active in battles over judicial nominations, opposing U.S. Supreme Court nominees Robert Bork and Brett Kavanaugh and supporting the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. PFAW is also active in federal elections, donating $339,874 to oppose Republican candidates in the 2014 election cycle and $351,075 to oppose Republican candidates in the 2016 election cycle.

''Right Wing Watch''

PFAW's Right Wing Watch project is a website that catalogs statements of public figures whom they label as right-wing, including politicians, preachers, and others, with a focus on hate speech and right-wing conspiracy theories. The web site was founded in 2007, expanding on PFAW's earlier practice of VHS recording clips from television programs such as Pat Robertson's The 700 Club, for distribution to news media. In 2013, evangelist and politician Gordon Klingenschmitt sent DMCA takedown notices to YouTube against Right Wing Watchs channel based on copyright claims. The Electronic Frontier Foundation provided legal counsel to Right Wing Watch to defend their channel and posts against YouTube's actions.

In 2014, HGTV withdrew from plans to produce a television series with Jason and David Benham after Right Wing Watch made an issue of their statements about homosexuality.

In 2018, Salon.com and The Daily Telegraph credited Jared Holt, a Right Wing Watch researcher, for causing the removal of Alex Jones's InfoWars program from multiple content distribution sites, including Apple, Inc, YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify. Afterwards, Holt said he received death threats.

In June 2021, Right Wing Watch's YouTube channel, which had been operating for about 10 years, was temporarily suspended by YouTube, who stated that the suspension had been an accident. At the time, the channel had about 47,000 subscribers.

Leadership

Michael Keegan served as the organization's president for 11 years through June 2020. On June 15, 2020, Ben Jealous succeeded Keegan as president, and Svante Myrick succeeded Jealous as president on November 14, 2022. Myrick abruptly resigned as mayor of Ithaca, New York, to take that position. Members of the group's board of directors include Cristela Alonzo, Alec Baldwin, Seth MacFarlane, Joel Madden, Bertis Downs IV, Dolores Huerta, Josh Sapan, Howie Klein, Alyssa Milano, David Saperstein, Margery Tabankin, Reg Weaver, and Carrie Mae Weems.

References

References

1. (May 2020)
2. (9 May 2013). "People For The American Way - Nonprofit Explorer".
3. "[http://www.pfaw.org/about-us/board Board of Directors] {{Webarchive. link. (2015-03-15 ". People for the American Way. Retrieved May 7, 2016.)
4. "[http://www.pfaw.org/about-us/staff Staff] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-05-15 ". ''People for the American Way. Accessed on May 7, 2016.)
5. Lasley, Thomas J. II. (2010). "Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent". [[Sage Publishing.
6. (October 7, 2011). "Norman Lear Celebrates 30 Years of People For the American Way". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
7. Yingling, Jennifer. (2011-10-11). "At 89, Norman Lear still pushing for the 'American Way'".
8. (May 13, 2009). "What is the American Way of Life?". Infobase Publishing.
9. "People For's Founding Mission Statement".
10. (September 30, 2008). "McCain, GOP Senators Challenged On Pay Equity For Women". [[NPR]].
11. ''[https://www.tides.org/fileadmin/user/pdf/Tides_25-Years_2000.pdf 1976–2001: 25 Years of Working Toward Positive Social Change] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-10-20 ''. Tides Foundation, 2001. p. 8. Retrieved August 26, 2016. "[Timeline, 1980] ... Norman Lear and others launch a Tides project: People for the American Way".)
12. "History". Tides.
13. Oster, Sharon M.. (May 11, 1995). "Strategic Management for Nonprofit Organizations: Theory and Cases". Oxford University Press.
14. (2015). "People for the American Way and People for the American Way Foundation Records". Library of Congress.
15. (June 19, 1995). "Arthur Kropp; President of People for the American Way".
16. "Do YOU Know Tony Podesta?".
17. (January 16, 2001). "People for the American Way President Ralph Neas Discusses Opposition to Ashcroft for Attorney General". [[CNN]].
18. Glanz, James. (March 11, 2000). "Survey Finds Support Is Strong For Teaching 2 Origin Theories". [[The New York Times]].
19. Goodstein, Laurie (November 5, 1998). "[https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/05/us/1998-elections-congress-right-religious-conservatives-stung-vote-losses-blame.html The 1998 Elections: Congress – The Right; Religious Conservatives, Stung by Vote Losses, Blame G.O.P. for Focusing on Clinton] {{Webarchive. link. (2018-01-31 ". ''[[The New York Times]]''. nytimes.com. Retrieved November 2, 2018. The article characterizes PFAW's Voters Alliance as its "new political action committee".)
20. Shales, Tom. (March 20, 1982). "Miss Liberty's Left Hand". [[Washington Post]].
21. (November 19, 2018). "President Trump's conservative court shift may slow down as liberal judges avoid retirement". [[USA Today]].
22. "People For The American Way". [[OpenSecrets]].
23. "People for the American Way Outside Spending". [[OpenSecrets]].
24. (30 June 2021). "YouTube reinstates channel devoted to exposing conservative extremism".
25. Baragona, Justin. (2021-06-28). "YouTube Bans and Then Unbans Right Wing Watch, a Media Watchdog Devoted to Exposing Right-Wing Conspiracies". [[The Daily Beast]].
26. Keegan, Michael. (11 October 2016). "Right Wing Watch: 10 Years Of Fighting The Right... With Their Own Words". [[HuffPost]].
27. (December 8, 2013). "Attempt to Silence the Political Speech at Right Wing Watch". [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]].
28. (May 8, 2014). "HGTV Drops Benham Brothers' 'Flip It Forward' After Anti-Gay Views Are Unearthed". [[HuffPost]].
29. France, Lisa Respers. (May 9, 2014). "Benham brothers lose HGTV show after 'anti-gay' remarks". [[CNN]].
30. Marcotte, Amanda. (August 8, 2018). "Meet Jared Holt, the guy who's getting Alex Jones kicked off the internet". [[Salon (website).
31. Bernal, Natasha. (August 10, 2018). "The man who sparked the revolt against Infowars and Alex Jones with a single tweet". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
32. Bonn, Tess. (August 9, 2018). "Researcher who helped kick Infowars's Alex Jones off Spotify received death threats". [[The Hill (newspaper).
33. Kurtz, Josh (June 8, 2020). "[https://www.marylandmatters.org/2020/06/08/a-new-gig-for-ben-jealous/ A New Gig for Ben Jealous] {{Webarchive. link. (2020-07-01 ". ''Maryland Matters''. Retrieved June 28, 2020.)
34. Marino, Pam (June 2, 2020). "[http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/blogs/news_blog/monterey-county-native-ben-jealous-tapped-to-lead-nonprofit-fighting-right-wing-extremism/article_f1ce2b0c-a526-11ea-bd4e-9fc429764767.html Monterey County native Ben Jealous tapped to lead nonprofit fighting right-wing extremism] {{Webarchive. link. (2020-06-03 ". ''[[Monterey County Weekly]]''. Retrieved June 28, 2020.)
35. Ford, William J. (June 24, 2020). "[https://www.washingtoninformer.com/ben-jealous-racism-is-tragic-racism-is-alive/ Ben Jealous: ‘Racism is Tragic, Racism is Alive’] {{Webarchive. link. (2020-06-27 ". ''[[The Washington Informer]]''. Retrieved June 28, 2020.)
36. (14 November 2022). "Svante Myrick Named President of People for the American Way - People for the American Way".
37. Harris, Lee. (2023-01-23). "Wall Street's Big Bet on Rewiring America".