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The truth about the dangerous nuclear policy pushed by Mrs. America’s Phyllis Schlafly
BY TRISTAN GUYETTE, The Hill,  — 04/29/20 “I gotta know…how does a housewife with six children from Alton, Ill., become so interested in national defense and nuclear warfare?” opens the evening on the “Conservative Viewpoint,” a television show hosted by Phil Crane (played by James Marsden) in the new FX miniseries “Mrs. America.” 

In the show, the evening’s program features a beautiful Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett) as the fierce, iron-jawed opponent to communism and nuclear disarmament. Schlafly is no iron-jawed angel though, and the miniseries focuses on her efforts to halt the progress of women’s rights in 1960s America. 

I wondered: How does a woman with the convictions of Henry Kissinger and the features of Elizabeth Taylor figure into the history of the atomic era? Who is the real Mrs. America?  

Within the first few minutes of the series, Schlafly is already talking about national defense. On the topic of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT), the treaty that paved the way for its successors SALT II, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and the now endangered New START, Schlafly is blunt, “The only country who will comply with the pact is the United States!” 

This rhetoric is one we’ve heard repeated again, and again and again, through the decades. “Peace is wonderful. Try it. You’ll like it.” she mocks. Despite FX’s glamorization of Schlafly’s obvious wit and intelligence, the Ayn Rand-esque obliviousness to her own privilege is a clear parallel to the bootstrap mentality Republicans cling to fifty years later. 

The eerie correlations between episode one of “Mrs. America” and the talking points of today’s Phyllis Schlaflys — KellyAnne Conway, Candace Owens and Susan Collins, to name a few  — make this romanticizing even more unsettling. In the same scene that she argued in favor of new nuclear weapons — once calling them “a marvelous gift given to our country by a wise God” — she argues against equal rights amendments. 

……. Ending women’s liberation, and everything that comes with it, from abortions to homosexuality, was the second great passion of Schlafly’s life. The first was preaching a hawkish view of national defense that would put John Bolton to shame. Feminism, LGBTQ rights and abortion access might have triumphed over Mrs. America — Phyllis Schlafly —  but what about nuclear weapons? 

“Mrs. America” touches on Schlafly’s involvement with the nuclear weapons industry and her ultimate slight by President Ronald Reagan, who refused to appoint her to a position in government. She was too “controversial,” he claimed and that decision may well have saved the United States — and the planet — from an entirely different scenario than we live in now…….

While “Mrs. America” might put a syrup sweet lens on Phyllis Schlafly, viewers can’t help but question all of her views on feminism and they should be questioning her thoughts on national security as well. We don’t live in the arms race Schalfly longed for, but as the Trump administration jettisons treaties left and right, we’re getting dangerously close

The legacy of denuclearization started by Reagan is already being undone by Trump, who is rebuilding the nuclear sponge and has green-lit another ‘low-yield’ nuclear weapon that could fit in even his hands. 

New START, the latest iteration of arms control between the U.S. and Russia, expires in February 2021. Despite offers from Russia to extend the treaty for five years, no strings attached, Trump can’t withstand the allure of potential new toys. 

Surely we can all agree, if Phyllis Schlafly thought something was a bad idea it’s probably actually in all of our best interest, and the extension of New START is in the best interest of the planet.

Tristan Guyette is the national field manager of Beyond the Bomb, where they lead volunteers across the country to mobilize and advocate for sane nuclear policy through No First Use. https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/495218-the-nuclear-threat-behind-mrs-america-because-ms-stands-for-misery