Changes

During the Nixon Administration, Phillips headed the Office of Economic Opportunity, but he resigned in the spring of 1973, when Nixon, starting his second abbreviated term as president, declined to [[veto]] [[Great Society]] social programs launched by his [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] predecessor, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], who had been the successful vice-presidential candidate in 1960 against Nixon's running mate, [[Moderate Republican]] [[Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.]], of Massachusetts. Phillips was hopeful that Nixon could move the country to the right. He investigated spending on many federal programs and found that the money was being diverted to [[liberal]] advocacy groups. Nixon, however, felt forced to yield to the large Democratic majorities in Congress, whose members backed the Great Society.<ref name=nyt>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/us/politics/howard-j-phillips-dies-72-stalwart-conservative.html?_r=0|title=Howard J. Phillips Dies, 72; Stalwart Conservative|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|date=April 23, 2013|author=Bruce Weber|accessdate=June 6, 2020}}</ref>  In fact, after Phillips resigned from the OEO, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit subsequently voided the Phillips appointment on the grounds that the law establishing the office did not specifically permit the president to make an interim appointment. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://openjurist.org/482/f2d/669/williams-v-j-phillips |title=482 F2d 669: Harrison A. Williams, Jr. (U.S. Senator from [[New Jersey]]) v. Howard J Phillips |publisher=OpenJurist|accessdate=Une 6, 2020}}</ref>​

During the Nixon Administration, Phillips headed the Office of Economic Opportunity, but he resigned in the spring of 1973, when Nixon, starting his second abbreviated term as president, declined to [[veto]] [[Great Society]] social programs launched by his [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] predecessor, [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], who had been the successful vice-presidential candidate in 1960 against Nixon's running mate, [[Moderate Republican]] [[Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.]], of Massachusetts. Phillips was hopeful that Nixon could move the country to the right. He investigated spending on many federal programs and found that the money was being diverted to [[liberal]] advocacy groups. Nixon, however, felt forced to yield to the large Democratic majorities in Congress, whose members backed the Great Society.<ref name=nyt>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/us/politics/howard-j-phillips-dies-72-stalwart-conservative.html?_r=0|title=Howard J. Phillips Dies, 72; Stalwart Conservative|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|date=April 23, 2013|author=Bruce Weber|accessdate=June 6, 2020}}</ref>  In fact, after Phillips resigned from the OEO, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit subsequently voided the Phillips appointment on the grounds that the law establishing the office did not specifically permit the president to make an interim appointment. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://openjurist.org/482/f2d/669/williams-v-j-phillips |title=482 F2d 669: Harrison A. Williams, Jr. (U.S. Senator from [[New Jersey]]) v. Howard J Phillips |publisher=OpenJurist|accessdate=Une 6, 2020}}</ref>​

Phillips was present in 1960 at the age of nineteen at the launching by [[William F. Buckley, Jr.]] of the group, [[Young Americans for Freedom]],  which drafted the "Sharon Statement" of unyielding conservative principles in Sharon,  [[Connecticut]]. In 1968, he managed the successful senatorial campaign of Moderate Republican [[Richard Schweiker]] in [[Pennsylvania]], later a member of the Reagan [[Cabinet]]. After working in nearly all facets for the Republican Party, Phillips switched to the Democrat label in 1974 and that same year established the nonpartisan grass-roots public policy organization, the Conservative Caucus, which he chaired from its inception until 2011. The caucus opposed the transfer of the [[Panama Canal]] to the [[Republic of Panama]], a measure pushed to passage by U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]]. It also fought the [[SALT II]] treaty with [[Leonid Brezhnev]], leader of the Soviet Union, which it claimed would weaken American defenses in the [[Cold War]]. The caucus supported [[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] and the tax reductions of the 1980s.  In 1978, Phillips ran as an unsuccessful Democratic [[primary]] candidate for the [[United States Senate]] seat held by the Moderate Republican [[Edward Brooke]], the first [[African-American]] in the body since [[Reconstruction]], who supported the Great Society. Brooke was renominated but then unseated by the Democrat Paul Tsongas, who later attracted national attention as an unsuccessful challenger to [[Bill Clinton]] in the 1992 Democratic presidential primaries.<ref name=nyt/>

Phillips was present in 1960 at the age of nineteen at the launching by [[William F. Buckley, Jr.]] of the group, [[Young Americans for Freedom]],  which drafted the "Sharon Statement" of unyielding conservative principles in Sharon,  [[Connecticut]]. In 1968, he managed the successful senatorial campaign of Moderate Republican [[Richard Schweiker]] in [[Pennsylvania]], later a member of the Reagan [[Cabinet]]. After working in nearly all facets for the Republican Party, Phillips switched to the Democrat label in 1974 and that same year established the nonpartisan grass-roots public policy organization, the Conservative Caucus, which he chaired from its inception until 2011. The caucus opposed the transfer of the [[Panama Canal]] to the Republic of [[Panama]], a measure pushed to passage by U.S. President [[Jimmy Carter]]. It also fought the [[SALT II]] treaty with [[Leonid Brezhnev]], leader of the Soviet Union, which it claimed would weaken American defenses in the [[Cold War]]. The caucus supported [[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] and the tax reductions of the 1980s.  In 1978, Phillips ran as an unsuccessful Democratic [[primary]] candidate for the [[United States Senate]] seat held by the Moderate Republican [[Edward Brooke]], the first [[African-American]] in the body since [[Reconstruction]], who supported the Great Society. Brooke was renominated but then unseated by the Democrat Paul Tsongas, who later attracted national attention as an unsuccessful challenger to [[Bill Clinton]] in the 1992 Democratic presidential primaries.<ref name=nyt/>

In 1982, Phillips and the [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] political activist Clymer Wright urged Reagan to dismiss [[James A. Baker, III (DOS)]], a Houston [[attorney]] and close ally of then Vice President [[George Herbert Walker Bush]]. Reagan rejected the Wright-Phillips request, and in 1985, named Baker as [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]], at Baker's request in a job-swap with then Secretary [[Donald T. Regan]], a former Merrill Lynch officer who became chief of staff. Reagan also rebuked Phillips and Wright for waging a "campaign of sabotage" against Baker.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/05/us/briefing-186924.html|author=Phil Gailey and Warren Weaver, Jr.,|title=Briefing|publisher=''The New York Times''|date=June 5, 1982|accessdate=June 6, 2020}}</ref>​

In 1982, Phillips and the [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] political activist Clymer Wright urged Reagan to dismiss [[James A. Baker, III (DOS)]], a Houston [[attorney]] and close ally of then Vice President [[George Herbert Walker Bush]]. Reagan rejected the Wright-Phillips request, and in 1985, named Baker as [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]], at Baker's request in a job-swap with then Secretary [[Donald T. Regan]], a former Merrill Lynch officer who became chief of staff. Reagan also rebuked Phillips and Wright for waging a "campaign of sabotage" against Baker.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/05/us/briefing-186924.html|author=Phil Gailey and Warren Weaver, Jr.,|title=Briefing|publisher=''The New York Times''|date=June 5, 1982|accessdate=June 6, 2020}}</ref>​

Phillips strongly opposed the since modified [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA) and the globalist [[World Trade Organization]]. He supported a national version of [[California]]'s Proposition 187 (1994), which sought to end mandated subsidies for [[illegal aliens]]. He fought public funding of abortion and opposed the [[homosexual]] agenda. Phillips was the host of ''Conservative Roundtable,'' a weekly public affairs [[television]] program.​ More so than not, his positions did not come to political fruition.

Phillips strongly opposed the since modified [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA) and the globalist [[World Trade Organization]]. He supported a national version of [[California]]'s Proposition 187 (1994), which sought to end mandated subsidies for [[illegal aliens]]. He fought public funding of abortion and opposed the [[homosexual]] agenda. Phillips was the host of ''Conservative Roundtable,'' a weekly public affairs [[television]] program.​ More so than not, his positions did not come to political fruition.

Phillips and fellow conservatives [[Richard Viguerie]], known as the innovator of direct mail in the 1964 political campaign,  [[Paul Weyrich]] of [[The Heritage Foundation]], and Terry Dolan (1950-1986), founder of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, urged the Reverend [[Jerry Falwell]], pastor of the large Liberty Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, to form in 1979 the since disbanded [[Moral Majority]]. He later founded  the [[Council for National Policy]] with another conservative minister, [[Tim LaHaye]], a group akin to the liberal [[Council on Foreign Relations]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502114628/https://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6949&abbr=cs_|title=Who Is The Council For National Policy And What Are They Up To? And Why Don't They Want You To Know?|publisher=Americans United|author=Jeremy Learning and |date=October 2004|accessdate=June 6, 2020}}</ref>

Phillips and fellow conservatives [[Richard Viguerie]], known as the innovator of direct mail in the 1964 political campaign,  [[Paul Weyrich]] of [[The Heritage Foundation]], and Terry Dolan (1950-1986), founder of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, urged the Reverend [[Jerry Falwell]], pastor of the large Liberty Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, to form in 1979 the since disbanded [[Moral Majority]]. He later founded  the [[Council for National Policy]] with another conservative minister, [[Tim LaHaye]], a group akin to the liberal [[Council on Foreign Relations]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502114628/https://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6949&abbr=cs_|title=Who Is The Council For National Policy And What Are They Up To? And Why Don't They Want You To Know?|publisher=Americans United for Separation of Church and State|author=Jeremy Learning and Rob Boston|date=October 2004|accessdate=June 6, 2020}}</ref>

===Opposing Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter===

===Opposing Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter===