People for the American Way

People For the American Way
FoundedSeptember 4, 1980; 46 years ago (1980-09-04)
FounderNorman Lear
TypeAdvocacy group
Tax ID no.52-1366721
Legal status501(c)(4) social welfare organization
PurposeProgressive/liberal advocacy
LocationWashington, D.C.
Region served
United States
MethodMedia attention, direct-appeal campaigns
Lara Bergthold
President
Svante Myrick
Affiliations
  • People for the American Way Foundation
  • People for the American Way Voters Alliance
  • People for the American Way Action Fund
Revenue$6.5 million (2023)
Expenses$9.05 million (2023)
Websitepeoplefor.org

People for the American Way (PFAW /ˈpfɔː/) is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear, a self-described liberal who founded the organization in 1980 to challenge the Christian right agenda of the Moral Majority.

While publicly known as People for the American Way since its inception, the group only legally held this name from 1985 to 1998. From 1981 to 1985, the group's official name was Citizen for Constitutional Concerns Inc. The group was officially renamed "People for the American Way Foundation" in 1998.

History

PFAW was founded by the television producer Norman Lear in opposition to the publicized agenda of the Moral Majority, a prominent and influential American political organization associated with the Christian right. Officially incorporated on September 4, 1980, its co-founders included Democratic congresswoman Barbara Jordan, University of Notre Dame president Theodore Hesburgh and Time Inc. chairman and CEO Andrew Heiskell. PFAW began as a project of the Tides Foundation, a donor-advised fund that directs money to politically liberal causes.

Among the group's most frequent targets were Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robertson.

Though always publicly known as People for the American Way, the group was originally trademarked as "Citizens for Constitutional Concerns Inc." prior to officially taking the "People for the American Way" name in 1985.

Former presidents of PFAW include Arthur Kropp, Tony Podesta, and Ralph Neas.

Soon after its founding, PFAW launched an affiliated 501(c)(3) organization, People for the American Way Foundation, for the purpose of conducting more extensive educational and research activities for liberal causes. "People for the American Way Foundation" would also become the group's legal name in 1998. From 2004 to 2008, major donors to PFAW's foundation included George Soros' Open Society Institute, the Miriam G. and Ira D. Wallach Foundation, the Bauman Family Foundation, and the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund.

In 1998, the People for the American Way Voters Alliance was launched as a political action committee.

Activities

PFAW was responsible for the 1982 television special I Love Liberty, which was described by the Washington Post as "America's first left-wing patriotic rally." PFAW has also been active in battles over judicial nominations, opposing U.S. Supreme Court nominees Robert Bork and Brett Kavanaugh and supporting the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. PFAW is also active in federal elections, donating $339,874 to oppose Republican candidates in the 2014 election cycle and $351,075 to oppose Republican candidates in the 2016 election cycle.

Right Wing Watch

PFAW's Right Wing Watch project is a website that catalogs statements of public figures whom they label as right-wing, including politicians, preachers, and others, with a focus on hate speech and right-wing conspiracy theories. The web site was founded in 2007, expanding on PFAW's earlier practice of VHS recording clips from television programs such as Pat Robertson's The 700 Club, for distribution to news media. In 2013, evangelist and politician Gordon Klingenschmitt sent DMCA takedown notices to YouTube against Right Wing Watch's channel based on copyright claims. The Electronic Frontier Foundation provided legal counsel to Right Wing Watch to defend their channel and posts against YouTube's actions.

In 2014, HGTV withdrew from plans to produce a television series with Jason and David Benham after Right Wing Watch made an issue of their statements about homosexuality.

In 2018, Salon.com and The Daily Telegraph credited Jared Holt, a Right Wing Watch researcher, for causing the removal of Alex Jones's InfoWars program from multiple content distribution sites, including Apple, Inc, YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify. Afterwards, Holt said he received death threats.

In June 2021, Right Wing Watch's YouTube channel, which had been operating for about 10 years, was temporarily suspended by YouTube, who stated that the suspension had been an accident. At the time, the channel had about 47,000 subscribers.

Leadership

Michael Keegan served as the organization's president for 11 years through June 2020. On June 15, 2020, Ben Jealous succeeded Keegan as president, and Svante Myrick succeeded Jealous as president on November 14, 2022. Myrick abruptly resigned as mayor of Ithaca, New York, to take that position. Members of the group's board of directors include Cristela Alonzo, Alec Baldwin, Seth MacFarlane, Joel Madden, Bertis Downs IV, Dolores Huerta, Josh Sapan, Howie Klein, Alyssa Milano, David Saperstein, Margery Tabankin, Reg Weaver, and Carrie Mae Weems.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "People for the American Way[permanent dead link]". District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Government of the District of Columbia; accessed May 7, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Board of Directors Archived 2015-03-15 at the Wayback Machine". People for the American Way. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  3. 1 2 "People For The American Way - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. May 9, 2013. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  4. ↑ Lasley, Thomas J. II (2010). Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent. SAGE. p. 212. ISBN 9781412956642. Archived from the original on January 20, 2023. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  5. ↑ Day, Patrick Kevin (October 7, 2011). "Norman Lear Celebrates 30 Years of People For the American Way". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  6. ↑ Yingling, Jennifer (October 11, 2011). "At 89, Norman Lear still pushing for the 'American Way'". The Hill. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "People for the American Way and People for the American Way Foundation Records" (PDF). Library of Congress. 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2025.
  8. ↑ Reeves, Richard (May 13, 2009). "What is the American Way of Life?". Real Clear Politics. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
    - Djupe, Paul; Olson, Laura (2014). Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics. Infobase Publishing. p. 287. ISBN 9781438130200.
  9. ↑ "People For's Founding Mission Statement". People For the American Way. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  10. ↑ Evans, Will (September 30, 2008). "McCain, GOP Senators Challenged On Pay Equity For Women". NPR. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  11. ↑ 1976–2001: 25 Years of Working Toward Positive Social Change Archived 2016-10-20 at the Wayback Machine. Tides Foundation, 2001. p. 8. Retrieved August 26, 2016. "[Timeline, 1980] ... Norman Lear and others launch a Tides project: People for the American Way".
  12. ↑ "History". Tides. Archived from the original on May 4, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015. See also, Hewat, N. Campaigning for Educational Policy Reform: An Ecological Analysis of a 'People for the American Way' Grassroots Organizing Phenomenon, doctoral dissertation, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1986.
  13. ↑ Oster, Sharon M. (May 11, 1995). Strategic Management for Nonprofit Organizations: Theory and Cases. Oxford University Press. Retrieved June 22, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Arthur Kropp; President of People for the American Way". Los Angeles Times. June 19, 1995. Archived from the original on July 7, 2022. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  15. ↑ Miles, Sara. "Do YOU Know Tony Podesta?". Wired. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  16. ↑ "People for the American Way President Ralph Neas Discusses Opposition to Ashcroft for Attorney General". CNN. January 16, 2001. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  17. ↑ Glanz, James (March 11, 2000). "Survey Finds Support Is Strong For Teaching 2 Origin Theories". The New York Times.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  18. ↑ Evans, Will (September 30, 2008). "McCain, GOP Senators Challenged On Pay Equity For Women". NPR.org. Archived from the original on June 3, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  19. ↑ Goodstein, Laurie (November 5, 1998). "The 1998 Elections: Congress – The Right; Religious Conservatives, Stung by Vote Losses, Blame G.O.P. for Focusing on Clinton Archived 2018-01-31 at the Wayback Machine". The New York Times. nytimes.com. Retrieved November 2, 2018. The article characterizes PFAW's Voters Alliance as its "new political action committee".
  20. ↑ Shales, Tom (March 20, 1982). "Miss Liberty's Left Hand". Washington Post. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  21. ↑
  22. ↑ "President Trump's conservative court shift may slow down as liberal judges avoid retirement". USA Today. November 19, 2018. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  23. ↑ "People For The American Way". OpenSecrets. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  24. ↑ "People for the American Way Outside Spending". OpenSecrets. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  25. 1 2 3 "YouTube reinstates channel devoted to exposing conservative extremism". NBC News. June 30, 2021. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  26. 1 2 Baragona, Justin (June 28, 2021). "YouTube Bans and Then Unbans Right Wing Watch, a Media Watchdog Devoted to Exposing Right-Wing Conspiracies". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  27. ↑ Keegan, Michael (October 11, 2016). "Right Wing Watch: 10 Years Of Fighting The Right... With Their Own Words". HuffPost. Archived from the original on September 2, 2017. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  28. ↑ "Attempt to Silence the Political Speech at Right Wing Watch". Electronic Frontier Foundation. December 8, 2013. Archived from the original on December 20, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  29. ↑ "HGTV Drops Benham Brothers' 'Flip It Forward' After Anti-Gay Views Are Unearthed". HuffPost. May 8, 2014. Archived from the original on December 9, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  30. ↑ France, Lisa Respers (May 9, 2014). "Benham brothers lose HGTV show after 'anti-gay' remarks". CNN. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  31. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (August 8, 2018). "Meet Jared Holt, the guy who's getting Alex Jones kicked off the internet". Salon. Archived from the original on February 1, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  32. ↑ Bernal, Natasha (August 10, 2018). "The man who sparked the revolt against Infowars and Alex Jones with a single tweet". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on October 2, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  33. ↑ Bonn, Tess (August 9, 2018). "Researcher who helped kick Infowars's Alex Jones off Spotify received death threats". The Hill. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  34. ↑ Kurtz, Josh (June 8, 2020). "A New Gig for Ben Jealous Archived 2020-07-01 at the Wayback Machine". Maryland Matters. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  35. ↑ Marino, Pam (June 2, 2020). "Monterey County native Ben Jealous tapped to lead nonprofit fighting right-wing extremism Archived 2020-06-03 at the Wayback Machine". Monterey County Weekly. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  36. ↑ Ford, William J. (June 24, 2020). "Ben Jealous: ‘Racism is Tragic, Racism is Alive’ Archived 2020-06-27 at the Wayback Machine". The Washington Informer. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  37. ↑ "Svante Myrick Named President of People for the American Way - People for the American Way". November 14, 2022. Archived from the original on January 3, 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  38. ↑ Harris, Lee (January 23, 2023). "Wall Street's Big Bet on Rewiring America". The American Prospect. Retrieved January 23, 2023.