Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Social media Miscellaneous Other A Choice Not an Echo is a non-fiction book self-published in 1964 by movement conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly.

Schlafly published this book to support Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater in his presidential candidacy, hoping to help him triumph in the California primary, cementing his chances for obtaining the Republican party nomination.

[citation needed] Accordingly, Schlafly instead wrote a speech entitled "How Political Conventions Are Stolen" (which reflected on the liberal Rockefeller administration in New York and how it had outmaneuvered the party's Conservative wing) in December 1963 and delivered it throughout January and February the following year.

[3] By the weekend after publication, Schlafly's book had statewide distribution in California and eventually had sold over half a million copies by May of that year, helping to support Goldwater's campaign.

On the other side, the liberal wing of the Republican party demanded more efficient use of New Deal policies[4] and were led by Thomas E. Dewey, who Schlafly claims was subject to the will of the kingmakers.

"The Advertising Agent's Holiday" describes how Wendell Willkie, who was a registered Democrat, was marketed into becoming the 1940 Republican presidential candidate by the kingmakers, who were very prominent business and economic figures during the time.

[5] In this operation, prominent and financially powerful people were called and asked if they would like to send a telegram to the delegates at the Republican National Convention on their behalf.

In this chapter of her book, Schlafly focuses in on the work of the kingmakers' attempts to prevent Goldwater from securing the Republican popular vote.

For example, Schlafly references "The chief propaganda organ of the secret kingmakers, The New York Times",[5] demonstrating the tension between Goldwater and the Eastern establishment in the following sentence (extracted from a New York Times article written by Tom Wicker on August 11, 1963) : "The most bitter resistance to Senator Goldwater centers in the 'eastern, internationalist power structure that for two decades has dictated Republican nominations.

For example, the kingmakers posed candidates such as Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney whose main motivation to run for president would be to "do everything within my power to prevent him (Goldwater) from becoming the party's presidential choice.

[5] The book helped create space within the Republican Party for the modern conservative movement that eventually stopped the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.