Lyndon LaRouche

Lyndon LaRouche
LaRouche, circa 1988
Born
Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr.

(1922-09-08)September 8, 1922
Rochester, New Hampshire, U.S.
DiedFebruary 12, 2019(2019-02-12) (aged 96)
Other namesLyn Marcus
EducationNortheastern University (no degree)
OrganizationNational Caucus of Labor Committees
Political party
MovementLaRouche movement
Spouses
  • Janice Neuberger
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1954; div. 1963)​
  • ​
    (m. 1977)​
Signature
Leader of the U.S. Labor Party
In office
1973–1979
Preceded byParty established
Succeeded byParty dissolved

Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC).[1][2][3][4] He was a prominent conspiracy theorist and perennial presidential candidate.[5][6] He began in far-left politics in the 1940s and later supported the civil rights movement; however, in the 1970s, he moved to the far-right.[4][5][6] His movement is sometimes described as, or likened to, a cult.[7][8][9] Convicted of fraud, he served five years in prison from 1989 to 1994.[5][6]

Born in Rochester, New Hampshire, LaRouche was drawn to socialist and Marxist movements in his twenties during World War II. In the 1950s, while a Trotskyist, he was also a management consultant in New York City.[10] By the 1960s, he became engaged in increasingly smaller and more radical splinter groups. During the 1970s, he created the foundation of the LaRouche movement and became more engaged in conspiratorial beliefs and violent and illegal activities. Instead of the radical left, he embraced radical right politics and antisemitism.[10][11] At various times, he alleged that he had been targeted for assassination by Queen Elizabeth II, Zionist mobsters, his own associates (who he said had been drugged and brainwashed by CIA and British spies), in addition to others.[12][13]

It is estimated that the LaRouche movement never exceeded a few thousand members, but it had an outsize political influence,[7] raising more than $200 million by one estimate,[5] and running candidates in more than 4,000 elections in the 1980s.[10] It was noted for disguising its candidates as conservative Democrats and harassing opponents.[10][7] It reached its height in electoral success when Larouchite candidates won the Democratic primaries for the 1986 Illinois gubernatorial election and related state offices; this alarmed Democratic Party officials, whose national spokesman called the Larouchites "kook fringe".[14] The defeated mainstream Democratic candidates ran in the general election as members of the Illinois Solidarity Party; the Larouchite Democrats all finished a distant third. Later in the 1980s, as part of the LaRouche criminal trials, criminal investigations led to convictions of several LaRouche movement members, including LaRouche himself. He was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment but served only five.

LaRouche was a perennial candidate for President of the United States. He ran in every election from 1976 to 2004 as a candidate of third parties established by members of his movement, peaking at around 78,000 votes in the 1984 United States presidential election.[7][15] He also tried to gain the Democratic presidential nomination. In the 1996 Democratic Party presidential primaries, he received 5% of the total nationwide vote. In 2000, he received enough primary votes to qualify for delegates in some states, but the Democratic National Committee refused to seat his delegates and barred LaRouche from attending the Democratic National Convention.[16][17]

  1. ^ Severo, Richard (February 13, 2019). "Lyndon LaRouche, Cult Figure Who Ran for President 8 Times, Dies at 96". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 14, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  2. ^ "Cult Leaders Use Mind Control". Tulsa World. March 14, 1993. Archived from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  3. ^ Kathlyn Gay, ed. (2011). American Dissidents: An Encyclopedia of Activists, Subversives, and Prisoners of Conscience. ABC-CLIO. pp. 377–380. ISBN 978-1598847659. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  4. ^ a b Atkins, Steven E. (2011). Encyclopedia of Right-Wing Extremism In Modern American History. ABC-CLIO. p. 108. ISBN 978-1598843507. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c Walker, Jesse (December 29, 2019). "Lyndon LaRouche: The Conspiracist Who Earned a Following". Politico. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d Smith, Timothy R. (February 13, 2019). "Lyndon LaRouche Jr., conspiracy theorist and presidential candidate, dies at 96". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 30, 2022. He built a political organization often likened to a cult and ran for president eight times, once while in prison for mail fraud.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Atkins 2011, p. 109.
  10. ^ a b c d Berlet, Chip (2010). Culture wars : an encyclopedia of issues, viewpoints, and voices. Roger Chapman. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. p. 315. ISBN 978-1849727136. OCLC 671568128.
  11. ^ Atkins 2011, pp. 108–109.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Blum, October 7, 1979 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Mintz, John (January 13, 1985). "Group Makes Political Inroads". The Washington Post.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Norrander, Barbara (2006). "The Attrition Game: Initial Resources, Initial Contests and the Exit of Candidates during the US Presidential Primary Season". British Journal of Political Science. 36 (3): 487–507. doi:10.1017/S0007123406000251. ISSN 0007-1234. JSTOR 4092259.