The Sharon Statement and the Growth of Conservatism

Matthew Kuchem / September 15, 2010

Fifty years ago in Sharon, Connecticut, a group of crack conservative leaders developed The Sharon Statement and formed Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). The succinct statement of these teens and twenty-somethings encapsulated the chief truths of America: freedom of the individual, limited government, the free enterprise system, strong national defense, and the genius of the Constitution.

Armed with the Sharon Statement, the Young Americans for Freedom forayed into new territory. Besides launching their new publication, The New Guard and successfully fighting liberals in academia, they took the communists head on. YAF out-demonstrated them at the White House, thwarted an American manufacturer’s trading with Communist Romania, and held a successful national signature drive that helped shoot down the nuclear test ban treaty in 1963. And those are just a few of the stories. (more…)