Rockford Institute

The Rockford Institute was founded in 1976 by Rockford College president John A. Howard as a response to American social changes of the 1960s. Allan Carlson served as president until 1997. He and Howard left to found The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society which opposes abortion, divorce, and homosexuality, promoting instead the "child-rich, married parent" family,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21091976/corbett_aide_who_edited_journal_quits/|title=Corbett aide who edited journal quits|last=Columbius|first=Angela|date=2012-01-18|work=Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=2018-06-19|page=A4|language=en}} an offshoot of the Rockford Institute. It was located in Rockford, Illinois.

Thomas Fleming, editor of Chronicles, succeeded Carlson as president of the Rockford Institute. The institute also retained the Ingersoll Prize, which the Rockford Institute had established in 1983 to honor conservative thinkers.{{Cite news |last=Suplee |first=Curt |date=1984-08-29 |title=Powell, Kirk Win Ingersoll Prizes |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1984/08/29/powell-kirk-win-ingersoll-prizes/e62cea7d-bacc-4f7c-a3f4-1eaf1ee13e4c/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |issn=0190-8286}} Fleming, a founding member of the League of the South, was described as a neo-Confederate by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).{{Cite web |last=Piggott |first=Stephen |date=January 26, 2016 |title="Mainstream" Conservatives With Large Audiences Promote White Nationalists |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/01/26/%E2%80%9Cmainstream%E2%80%9D-conservatives-large-audiences-promote-white-nationalists |access-date=2023-06-06 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en}}

In 1988 the institute and Richard John Neuhaus, a Lutheran pastor, invited Cardinal Ratzinger to give a lecture in New York in January.{{cite news|title=PROMOTER OF THE DOCTRINE VATICAN'S CARDINAL RATZINGER DEALS WITH DOGMA AND DISPUTES IN US VISIT|first=James L. |last=Franklin|work=Boston Globe|date=1988-02-01|page=2}} On 5 May 1989 Neuhaus and his Religion and Society Center were evicted from the institute's New York office after he complained about what he said were "the racist and anti-Semitic tones" of Chronicles.{{cite news|title=Father Richard Neuhaus; Vocal US Lutheran pastor and civil rights activist who became a leading Catholic conservative commentator|work=The Times|location=London (UK)|date=2009-01-16|page=75}} The charge, which was supported by other leading conservatives, was denied by the institute.{{cite news|title=Magazine Dispute Reflects Rift on U.S. Right|last=BERNSTEIN|first=RICHARD|work=New York Times|date=1989-05-16|page=A.1}} They said the office, called Rockford East, was closed for budgetary reasons and because of concerns that Neuhaus was not following institute policies. The split was seen by leading conservatives as a sign of the division between the paleoconservative and the neo-conservative elements of the movement.{{cite news|title=Cultural Clash on the Right|first=David |last=Frum|work=Wall Street Journal|date=1989-06-02|page=1}}{{Cite journal |last=Tabachnick |first=Rachel |last2=Cocozzelli |first2=Frank L. |date=Fall 2013 |title=Nullification, Neo-Confederates, and the Revenge of the Old Right. |journal=Public Eye |issue= |pages=2–8}}

The John Randolph Club (1989–1995) was a project of the Rockford Institute to promote alliances between paleoconservatives and paleolibertarians.{{cite web |last=Slobodian |first=Quinn |title=Anti-'68ers and the Racist-Libertarian Alliance: How a Schism among Austrian School Neoliberals Helped Spawn the Alt Right |url=https://www.academia.edu/39530020 |access-date=2021-03-17}} The club has been described as neo-Confederate, promoting secession, and favoring white Southerners.{{Cite book |last=Slobodian |first=Quinn |title=Crack-up capitalism: market radicals and the dream of a world without democracy |date=2023 |publisher=Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company |isbn=978-1-250-75390-8 |edition=First |location=New York}} Founding members included the radical libertarian Murray Rothbard, Jared Taylor of the white nationalist journal American Renaissance, the white nationalist Peter Brimelow, the writer Samuel Francis, and the journalist and politician Pat Buchanan. It was named for John Randolph (described by the historian Quinn Slobodian as "a slaveholder whose catchphrase was 'I love liberty, I hate equality'"). Chronicles promoted the club's activities.

In 2018 the Rockford Institute merged with the Charlemagne Institute (renamed from Intellectual Takeout in 2018), which became the new publisher of Chronicles. {{As of|2021}} Devin C. Foley is listed as the Charlemagne Institute's chief executive officer.{{cite web |date=2021-02-28 |title=Who We Are – About |url=https://www.charlemagneinstitute.org/about/who-we-are/ |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228052538/https://www.charlemagneinstitute.org/about/who-we-are/ |archive-date=2021-02-28 |access-date=2021-05-19 |website=Charlemagne Institute}}

{{Further|Chronicles (magazine)}}

Chronicles is a U.S. monthly magazine published by the Rockford Institute. Its full current name is Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. The magazine is known for promoting anti-globalism, anti-intervention, and anti-immigration stances within conservative politics, and is considered one of the leading paleoconservative publications.PaleoConservatives: New Voices of the Old Right, by Joseph Scotchie, pgs. 1 – 75.{{Cite web |last=Francis |first=Samuel |date=2002-12-16 |title=The Paleo Persuasion |url=http://www.amconmag.com/article/2002/dec/16/00025/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406100307/http://www.theamericanconservative.com/article/2002/dec/16/00025/ |archive-date=2012-04-06 |website=The American Conservative}}{{Third-party inline|date=November 2022|reason=Both cited sources are by writers for the magazine}}

{{As of|2017}}, the executive editor was Aaron D. Wolf"Chronicles", June 2017, p. 3 and, {{as of|2012|lc=on}}, Srđa Trifković was editor for foreign affairs.Chronicles, September 2012, p. 4. Contributors over the years have included the conservative activist Peter Gemma.{{cite web |title=The Council for National Policy: Selected Member Biographies, Peter B. Gemma, Jr. |url=http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.g.htm#gemma |access-date=2016-05-23 |publisher=seekgod.ca |archive-date=9 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309194817/http://www.seekgod.ca/cnp.g.htm#gemma |url-status=dead }}{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable (WP:NOTRS).|date=August 2023}} {{As of|2021}}, its website names Paul Gottfried as its Interim Editor-in-Chief and Edmund Welsch as Executive Editor, and was hosted by (and listed as a programme of) the Charlemagne Institute.{{cite web |date=2021-05-06 |title=About Us – About |url=https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/about/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506213631/https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/about/ |archive-date=2021-05-06 |access-date=2021-05-19 |website=Chronicles}}

In 2000, James Warren of The Chicago Tribune called Chronicles "right-leaning" and wrote, "There are few publications more cerebral". He described a Chronicles article criticizing the finances of Donald Trump, who was then considering a Reform Party presidential campaign.James Warren. "[https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-02-25-0002250349-story.html Chronicles Trumps Donald's Aspirations]", The Chicago Tribune, 25 February 2000. Retrieved 8 September 2019.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) described Chronicles in 2017 as "a publication with strong neo-Confederate ties that caters to the more intellectual wing of the white nationalist movement",{{Cite web |title=Meet Jessica Vaughan, the anti-immigrant movement's representative at tomorrow's Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on DACA |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/10/02/meet-jessica-vaughan-anti-immigrant-movement%E2%80%99s-representative-tomorrow%E2%80%99s-senate-judiciary |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en}} and in another article said it was "controversial even among conservatives for its racism and anti-Semitism".{{Cite web |title=Garrett Hardin |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/garrett-hardin |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en}}

• Leopold Tyrmand 1977–1985{{cite web | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E5DF1738F931A15750C0A963948260 | title=Leopold Tyrmand, 64, Editor Who Emigrated From Poland | work=The New York Times| date=1985-03-22 | access-date=2015-01-19 | author=Obituary }}[http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=1059&theme=home&page=1&loc=b&type=cttf/ "A brief history of Chronicles" by E. Christian Kopff], First Principles Journal ([https://web.archive.org/web/20171107210404/http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=1059&theme=home&page=1&loc=b&type=cttf/ Wayback machine link])
• Thomas Fleming, 1985
• Paul Gottfried

{{portal|Conservatism}}

• Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Previous versions of the Rockford Institute website
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020402073825/http://www.rockfordinstitute.org/ |title=The Official Website of Chronicles |date=2 April 2002 }} — combination of Rockford Institute, Chronicles, and the Center for International Affairs up to 2002
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207145452/http://www.rockfordinstitute.org/ |title=The Rockford Institute |date=7 February 2012 }} — official website up to 2012
• [https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/ Chronicles Magazine web site]

{{Conservatism US footer}}

{{Conservatism footer}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1976 establishments in Illinois

Category:Culture of Rockford, Illinois

Category:Political and economic think tanks in the United States

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Illinois

Category:Paleoconservative organizations

Category:Conservative organizations in the United States