People for the American Way

Steve Jenkins

In 1981, Norman Lear, the successful television producer of All in the Family, Maude , and The Jeffersons , led an effort by concerned citizens from political, religious, entertainment, and progressive corporations to counter what they considered one-sided leadership and lobbying by the political Far Right (e.g., Heritage Foundation, Citizens for Excellence in Education, Concerned Women for America, Eagle Forum, Focus on the Family, Liberty Legal Institute, Christian Coalition, the Moral Majority). Lear, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, Notre Dame president Father Theodore Hesburgh, and others joined together to help fund and launch People For the American Way (PFAW) as a liberal-leaning think tank to confront attacks from what PFAW identified as right-wing extremist groups, like those examples named above. Lear and other PFAW leaders and supporters believed that liberal advocacy must confront the power and influence of the religious Right, and the forces supporting the agenda of the extreme right wing. ...

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