Donald Ellis Wildmon (born January 18, 1938) is an ordained

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelica ...

minister, author, former radio host, and founder and chairman emeritus of the

American Family Association The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States.

and

American Family Radio American Family Radio (AFR) is a network of more than 180 radio stations broadcasting Conservative Christian-oriented programming to over 30 states.

Life and career

Wildmon was born in the

Ripley, Mississippi Ripley is a city in Tippah County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,395 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Tippah County. Colonel William Clark Falkner, great-grandfather of authors William Faulkner and John Faulkner, ...

, the son of Johnnie Bernice (née Tigrett), a schoolteacher, and Ellis Clifton Wildmon, a civil servant. Wildmon graduated from

Millsaps College Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. History The college was founded in 1889–90 by a Confederate veteran, Major Reuben Webste ...

in 1960. In 1961, he married Lynda Lou Bennett, with whom he has two sons and two daughters. From 1961 to 1963, he served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. He gained his

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

(M.Div.) from

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

Candler School of Theology Candler School of Theology is one of seven graduate schools at Emory University, located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A university-based school of theology, Candler educates ministers, scholars of religion and other leaders. It is also o ...

in 1965.Donald Wildmon
In June 1977, he moved to

Tupelo, Mississippi Tupelo () is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. With an estimated population of 38,300, Tupelo is the sixth-largest city in Mississippi and is considered a commercial, industrial, and cultural hub of North ...

, to establish the National Federation for Decency (NFD), the predecessor to the modern American Family Association, because after watching television one night in December 1976 he felt that no primetime television program was appropriate for his family with young children. With a membership of 1,400, NFD's first television advertiser boycott was during spring 1978 and against

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

for sponsoring ''

All in the Family ''All in the Family'' is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. Afterwards, it was continued with the spin-off series ''Archie Bunker's Place'', which picked up where ''All in ...

'', ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by ...

'', and ''

Three's Company ''Three's Company'' is an American sitcom television series that aired for eight seasons on ABC from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984. It is based on the British sitcom '' Man About the House''. The story revolves around three single room ...

''. Sears withdrew sponsorship of the latter two programs. In February 1980, Wildmon founded the Coalition for Better Television (CBTV), this time with the help of

Jerry Falwell Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American Baptist pastor, televangelism, televangelist, and conservatism in the United States, conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, ...

and claiming a nationwide membership of 5 million. However, CBTV disbanded and Wildmon started Christian Leaders for Responsible Television without Falwell's involvement. In 1986, the owners of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain pulled adult magazines from its stores after a boycott by the NFD.

Campaign for Decency

Throughout the late 1970s, Wildmon actively protested television series that he thought promoted immoral lifestyles. He spoke against such programs as ''

'', ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. T ...

'' and ''

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

''.

''Damned in the U.S.A.''

In 1991, the British television documentary ''Damned in the U.S.A.'', made for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's ''Without Walls'' arts series and directed by Paul Yule, about the then current state of censorship in the United States, chronicled the battle between Wildmon and artists

Andres Serrano Andres Serrano (born August 15, 1950) is an American photographer and artist. His work, often considered transgressive art, includes photos of corpses and uses feces and bodily fluids. His ''Piss Christ'' (1987) is a red-tinged photograph of a c ...

and

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-p ...

. The documentary won the International Emmy for Best Documentary, amongst several other awards. Wildmon sued the producers for $8 million in damages after a distributor got the rights to show the film in the United States, stating that he had signed a contract with the producers that prevented distribution in the USA. A federal court found that Wildmon's contract did not support his claim concerning distribution of the film and the documentary was released in 50 cities nationwide.

Illness and retirement

On August 18, 2009, Tim Wildmon released the news via email that his father had been admitted to the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo over the weekend of August 15–16, with what was thought to be a serious case of

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

. After running tests, however, doctors determined that he had

St. Louis encephalitis Saint Louis encephalitis is a disease caused by the mosquito-borne Saint Louis encephalitis virus. Saint Louis encephalitis virus is related to Japanese encephalitis virus and is a member of the family ''Flaviviridae''. This disease mainly affe ...

, a disease usually contracted from mosquitoes. He spent 121 days in the hospital and rehab, and later underwent surgery for cancer on his left eye. On March 3, 2010, it was announced that Wildmon was stepping down as chairman of the American Family Association. His son Tim was expected to become the new chairman.

Publications

* Wildmon, Donald E. (1975) ''Stand up to Life''. Abingdon. * Wildmon, D. (1985) ''Home Invaders''. David C. Cook. * Wildmon, D. (1986) ''The Case Against Pornography''. David C. Cook. * Wildmon, D. (and Randall Nulton; 1989) ''Don Wildmon: The Man the Networks Love to Hate''. Bristol. * Wildmon, D. (1997) ''Following the Carpenter: Parables to Inspire Obedience in the Christian Life''. Thomas Nelson. * Wildmon, D. (2009) ''Speechless: Silencing the Christians: How Secular Liberals and Homosexual Activists are Outlawing Christianity (and Judaism) to Force Their Sexual Agenda on America''. Richard Vigilante. * Friedeman, Matt. Wildmon, Donald E. (2001) ''In the Fight: A Mississippi Conservative Swings Back''. Well Writers' Guild.

References

External links

Don Wildmon's biography
on the