Biography: Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman PDF Print E-mail
Richard Viguerie pioneered the use of computer technology with the art and science of direct mail marketing to build and fund grassroots groups ranging from ideological and political campaigns to charitable organizations.  For more than four decades, he has stood at the top of the profession of direct mail and direct marketing.

You might know him from his work with political causes and candidates, but the bulk of Viguerie’s work over the past four-and-a-half decades has been for charities.  Now, for the first time, he is offering his expertise – and that of his hand-picked team, some of the best direct marketers in the world – directly to non-profit organizations.

He has been called the “direct-mail kingping” (Publishers Weekly), “the father of political direct marketing” (Direct magazine),  the man who “perfected” direct mail as a way of bypassing the media and raising money (The Atlantic Monthly), the “inventor of political direct mail”  (Keith Olbermann, MSNBC), “the master of direct mail and fundraising” (Aaron Brown, CNN), and “the metaphorical Henry Ford of direct mail fundraising and political solicitation” (The New York Times).

Adweek called him “part social scientist, part propagandist, and part carnival pitchman.”  The  National Observer noted his “entrepreneurial brashness” and called him “dean of direct mailers.”  Viguerie, the Associated Press reported, “envisioned the letter as a tool to inform people and to induce them to take action, as well as to tap their pocketbooks.”

Richard Armstrong, author of  The Next Hurrah: The Communication Revolution in American Politics, said in Advertising Age that it was Viguerie who brought to political direct mail “the gimmicks, the hard sell, the bells and whistles that had been evolving in commercial direct marketing sales since Sears Roebuck was founded.”

The New York Times Magazine profiled Viguerie as “the direct-mail impresario who sends out 120 million letters per year” and the person who “may have understood the value of a name before anyone else in contemporary politics.”  A “raconteur” known for his “affability and wide-ranging intellect,” the Times noted, the “works diligently to find the precise message” and “interrupts his 13- to 15- work days only to study commercial marketing for two or three hours each afternoon.”

The late John F. Kennedy Jr’s magazine, George, declared the founding of Viguerie’s company one of the “100 defining moments” in American politics in the 20th Century.

Roger Craver, who has raised millions for liberal and progressive causes, said Viguerie “taught me about raising money and involving citizens.”

Lanny Davis, a top adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, called Viguerie a man of “integrity, character, and honor.”  Data-mining guru (and former Al Gore campaign manager) Hal Malchow declared that Viguerie is one of “the few who actually change the world in profound and far-reaching ways.”  Viguerie is, Malchow said, “the father of my profession,” “the creator of grassroots politics in America, a pioneer, and a visionary.”

Liberal Syndicated radio talk show host Ed Schultz recently explained why he has Viguerie as a frequent guest on his program:  “He’s an interesting dude, and when I ask him a question, I get an answer.”