Richard A. Viguerie

Back in the 1960s, conservatives – whether political candidates, policy groups, or activist organizations – had no way to get their message past the filter of the liberal mainstream media and into the hands of the American people.

At that time young conservative activist Richard Viguerie discovered that political candidates had to register their campaign donors with state offices ⎯ information that was in the public domain. Collecting those names and addresses by hand, state-by-state, was the beginning of what is now the largest list of active charitable and conservative donors in the world: Viguerie Political Lists.

Starting in 1965, Richard Viguerie grew his list from 12,500 conservative donors to 125,000 – a 1,000% increase – in just one year. Before long, Viguerie’s direct mail agency and lists enabled conservatives to bypass the mainstream media and connect with tens of millions of Americans on a “personal level” regarding issues they cared passionately about. 

Viguerie’s “secret weapon” soon had a major role in reshaping America’s political landscape.

As Viguerie’s lists continued to grow, they helped trigger major political upset wins for conservatives⎯most famously the 1980 Reagan Revolution, along with the 1994 conservative sweep of Congress, and the 2010 “shellacking” of the Obama administration and Reid/Pelosi Congress.

Through his direct marketing agency, American Target Advertising, Inc., Viguerie was not only the first in political direct mail fundraising, but is still the proven leader at building large organizations rapidly.