 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Phyllis Schlafly, who became a “founding mother” of the modern U.S. conservative movement by battling feminists in the 1970s and working tirelessly to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, died on Monday at the age of 92, her Eagle Forum group said. Her death was confirmed by the Eagle Forum, the conservative organization she founded in 1975. Richard Viguerie, who masterminded the use of direct mail to finance right-wing causes, called her “the first lady of the conservative movement.” 
 
 On the left, Betty Friedan, the feminist leader and author, compared her to a religious heretic, telling her in a debate that she should burn at the stake for opposing the Equal Rights Amendment. In the 1960s, with her popular self-published book “A Choice Not an Echo” (it sold more than three million copies) and a growing legion of followers, she gave critical support to the presidential ambitions of Senator Barry Goldwater, the hard-right Arizonan who went on to lead the Republican Party to electoral disaster in 1964, but who planted the seeds of a conservative revival that would flower with the rise of Ronald Reagan.
– Conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly, best known for her successful campaign to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, has died at her home in St. Louis. She was 92. The author and activist attended scores of hearings in the 1970s to testify against the amendment, arguing that equal rights would disadvantage housewives. She threw a party when it expired in 1982, having been passed by both houses of Congress but only ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 states, reports Reuters. Schlafly—who worked at a munitions factory in World War II—earned a master's degree in political science and a law degree, unsuccessfully ran for Congress three times and founded the Eagle Forum conservative group while raising six children and presenting herself as a traditional housewife, the New York Times reports. When she spoke at gatherings nationwide, Schlafly loved to mock what she called "women's libbers" by saying: "I'd like to thank my husband, Fred, for letting me be here today." Historians say the ERA might have passed if it wasn't for Schlafly, who mobilized anti-feminist volunteers across the country and warned that the amendment could lead to gay marriage, women in combat, and unisex restrooms, the Los Angeles Times notes. She remained active in her later years and endorsed Donald Trump in March this year, saying: "We've been following the losers for so long," but "now we've got a guy who will lead us to victory." After her death, Trump issued a statement calling Schlafly "a patriot, a champion for women, and a symbol of strength." (In 2012, she warned men not to date feminists.)