Hulu’s miniseries, Mrs. America, threads a divisive needle throughout Episode Six. Phyllis Schlafly was known for joining together Christians of all denominations, as well as Jews and others, through not only The Phyllis Schlafly Report but through the organization she founded in 1972. Hollywood attacks her by insinuating that her efforts to join other conservative leaders were manipulative and hypocritical.
The episode erroneously paints Phyllis as accepting of other faiths only to further her “self-serving cause.” This bold move from Hollywood is an attack on the very core of Phyllis’s worldview. Phyllis proudly worked with people of all creeds throughout her time in politics. Her inclusivity is totally unmatched by the leftists of today.
The equally egregious misportrayal of Lottie Beth Hobbs’ character is intended not only to mock religious people, but also to slyly add that the STOP ERA women were a minority during the ERA fight. A careful play on words by Hollywood writers demonstrates this.
Their language insinuates that the feminists were the majority compared to Phyllis Schlafly’s STOP ERA movement. A prime example is Phyllis’s conversation with Jill Ruckelshaus. Jill states, “There are more of us than there are of you.” If this was the case, why did ERA fail? In a debate with Eleanor Smeal, Phyllis argued, “ERA was even beaten in the great liberal state of New York by more than 400,000 votes. When you put it up to the people, they don’t want it.” Hollywood twists not only the facts, but the numbers as well.
Hollywood is decisively slandering Phyllis Schlafly because of their hatred of all she stood for. Her belief in God and love for neighbor fostered the success of the STOP ERA movement. She was a dedicated woman of faith always signing her letters, “Faithfully, Phyllis Schlafly.” Hollywood can misportray and attack Phyllis’s Catholic faith and all the conservative thinkers of varying faiths who supported her, but the one thing they cannot deny is that the ERA’s push for power was crushed by God’s omnipotence working through Judeo-Christian housewives. As Phyllis Schlafly famously put it, “There had to be someone on our side more powerful than the president of the United States.” That someone is a power Hollywood can never destroy.