Lyndon LaRouche

Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. was a significant and controversial American political activist.

He founded the LaRouche movement and its primary organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). LaRouche was a perennial candidate for President of the United States. This means he ran for office in every election from 1976 to 2004. His political journey was marked by extreme shifts in ideology and belief. He moved from far-left socialist politics to far-right radical politics during his career. He was also widely known as a prominent conspiracy theorist.

LaRouche's early life shaped his intellectual interests. He was born in Rochester, New Hampshire, in 1922. His parents were Quakers, a religious group that emphasizes peace. Because of these beliefs, they forbade him from fighting even in self-defense. LaRouche described this period of his youth as "years of hell" due to school bullies. To cope, he spent much time alone reading philosophy. Between the ages of 12 and 14, he studied thinkers like Leibniz. He eventually attended Northeastern University but left in 1942.

During World War II, LaRouche's political and military views began to form. He was a conscientious objector, which is someone who refuses to fight for religious reasons. He joined a Civilian Public Service camp instead of the military. However, he later decided to enlist in the United States Army. He served in the Medical Corps in India and Burma.

After the war, he was influenced by Trotskyism, a branch of Marxist theory. He joined the Socialist Workers Party in 1949. In the 1950s, he worked as a management consultant in New York City.

In the 1960s, LaRouche began building his own political structures. He started teaching classes on dialectical materialism, which is a specific way of looking at the world. In 1968, he organized his supporters into the NCLC. The group aimed to build alliances between students, labor unions, and faculty. By 1973, the NCLC had over 600 members in 25 different cities. These cities included international locations like West Berlin and Stockholm.

The movement became highly regimented during this time. Many members gave up their regular jobs to devote themselves entirely to the group.

During the 1970s, the LaRouche movement developed a complex intelligence network. This network used various news services and magazines to gather and distribute information. One major publication was the Executive Intelligence Review, founded in 1974. Critics argued that the organization used these publications to gain access to government officials. LaRouche admitted that his followers sometimes impersonated reporters for security reasons.

Some government officials even noted that the group had an impressive private intelligence service. They maintained contacts with various leaders and military officials worldwide.

In the 1980s, the LaRouche movement reached a peak of political activity and influence. The group ran candidates in more than 4,000 elections during this decade. One estimate suggests the movement raised more than $200 million.

In 1986, LaRouchite candidates won Democratic primaries for state offices in Illinois. This event caused significant alarm among mainstream Democratic Party officials. During his presidential runs, LaRouche saw his highest vote counts in 1984. In the 1996 Democratic primaries, he received 5% of the nationwide vote. In 2000, he earned enough votes to qualify for delegates in some states.

LaRouche's career also involved significant legal challenges and criminal convictions. In the late 1980s, criminal investigations led to several convictions within his movement. LaRouche himself was convicted of fraud. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison but served five years from 1989 to 1994. Throughout his life, he frequently claimed he was a target of conspiracies. He alleged that figures like Queen Elizabeth II were targeting him. He remained a presence in American politics until his death in 2019.