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Richard Viguerie became the father of political direct marketing because he hated asking people for money.

In 1961 the then “green Texan,” as he describes himself, arrived in New York to be executive secretary of Young Americans for Freedom, a group founded on the Connecticut estate of the late conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr.

The group was in debt so Viguerie's new boss handed him three names to call for money: Eddie Rickenbacker of Eastern Air Lines and World War I fame; Charles Edison, son of the inventor; and J. Howard Pugh, founder of Sun Oil Co.

“I called all of these gentlemen and went to see one or two of them and they were generous and gave me nice checks,” says Viguerie, now 74. “But I discovered quickly I didn't like asking people for money so I started writing letters. That seemed to work, so I hired a secretary or two more [and bought] a mimeograph machine. Then I sort of fell in love with the whole direct marketing/direct mail scene.”

Indeed he did. After Barry Goldwater lost the 1964 presidential election, Viguerie left Young Americans for Freedom and started his own political DM agency.

He adds that though he didn't know nearly as much as he thought he did in the '60s about direct mail, he at least knew his No. 1 challenge would be building a list.

However, he knew of a potential political gold mine. Presidential candidates at the time were required by law to report the names and addresses of donors of $50 or more to the clerk of the House of Representatives.

“So I went down there and sure enough there were thousands and thousands of people who had given $50 or more to Barry Goldwater. So I started writing the names down on legal pads,” he says. To speed the process, he hired some staff to write the names and addresses on index cards with him. By the time the clerk threw them out two months later, Viguerie had 12,500 names.

“That allowed me to quit my job because I had those 12,500 names,” he says. He then bought two lists of donors to conservative political causes to push the list over 100,000 names.

He also had a wide-open field — for years.

“In those days no one was doing ideological political direct mail,” Viguerie says. “And that was pretty much the way it was for 15 years. Toward the end of the '70s a few of my employees wandered off and set up a competing company or two. That was the first competition I had since '65.”

And while Viguerie may be the father of political DM, he also had some pretty impressive help. When he started his company, Viguerie took a one-week direct marketing course from Ed Mayer, who was inducted into the DMA Hall of Fame in 1978 for his educational activities.

According to Viguerie, he and Mayer hit it off and Mayer began consulting for Viguerie's firm every month for the next 10 years.

Mayer died in 1975.

“He was having dinner with Bob Stone, of all people. He wasn't feeling well, went to lay down and passed away,” Viguerie says. “Five weeks later I get a call on what would then pass for a cell phone. The guy said: ‘Your guru just died. Can I be your new guru?’ And I said: ‘You've got the job.’ It was Dick Benson.”

According to his DMA Hall of Fame induction entry in 1996, Benson was the first DMer to do a merge/purge (before computers), the first to do a four-color brochure, and the first to run a direct mail sweepstakes.

“I was taught by two of the best,” Viguerie says.

Viguerie believes direct mail allowed conservatives to get around the liberals' dominance of mass media. He credits direct mail with helping propel Ronald Reagan into office in 1980.

“In my opinion, Reagan could not have been nominated or elected without direct mail,” he says. “Direct mail leveled the playing field for conservatives. Without direct marketing, liberals would have dominated politics for the last 40 years.”

However, once the power of political DM became apparent, it didn't take those from the other side of the political spectrum long to catch on.

“In November 1980 I thought, ‘It took me 15 years to achieve whatever it was I achieved, so it's going to take the Democrats 15 years.’ Not so,” he says. “Within three or four years, much to my surprise, the left had caught up with the conservatives. And in my opinion, the left as a general rule does a better job of direct mail and Internet marketing today than conservatives do.”