Lyndon LaRouche, perennial presidential candidate and conspiracy aficionado, is dead at 96


Lyndon LaRouche Jr., a candidate for president every election from 1976 to 2004 — including one run from inside jail, in 1992 — died Tuesday, his political action committee confirmed Wednesday. He was 96. LaRouche was a “philosopher, scientist, poet, statesman," the PAC said in a statement, and "those who knew and loved Lyndon LaRouche know that humanity has suffered a great loss, and today we dedicate ourselves anew to bring to reality the big ideas for which history will honor him."
LaRouche's politics were hard to define — he began as a member of the Socialist Workers Party in the late 1940s and 1950s, ran for president first as a U.S. Labor Party candidate and then an independent or independent Democrat, and he called himself heir to the proto-Republican Whigs in 1986 — but he was best known for his enduring conspiratorial theories.
LaRouche, for exampled, maintained that the queen of England was involved in drug trafficking and the International Monetary Fund was "engaged in mass murder" by spreading AIDS, a disease he promoted other conspiracy theories about. He said the Holocaust was "mythical," The Associated Press notes, and called Zionism "cult nonsense." He claimed that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and 1984 Democratic presidential nominee Walt Mondale were Soviet "agents of influence" and more, as in this 1984 campaign ad.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In 1988, LaRouche was convicted of tax fraud and mail fraud, serving about nine years of his 15-year sentence. His followers, who solicited money and passed out leaflets at airports and other public places while he was in prison, were so devoted that loved ones reportedly hired "deprogrammers" to abduct them.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Gunman kills 1 detainee, wounds 2 at ICE facility
Speed Read A sniper shot three detainees at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office before fatally shooting himself
-
Trump DOJ reportedly rushing to indict Comey
Speed Read Former FBI Director James Comey oversaw the initial 2016 investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia
-
Man convicted of trying to assassinate Trump
Speed Read Ryan Routh tried to shoot President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course last September
-
Democrat wins Arizona seat, aiding Epstein drive
Speed Read Democrat Adelita Grijalva beat Republican businessman Daniel Butierez for the House seat in Arizona
-
Trump says Ukraine can win, UN nations ‘going to hell’
Speed Read In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, the president criticized the UN and renewable energy, plus made a sudden pivot on the war in Ukraine
-
Trump DOJ shut bribery case against ally Homan
Speed read The Justice Department closed a bribery investigation into President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan
-
Charlie Kirk honored as ‘martyr’ at memorial rally
Speed Read At a service for the slain conservative activist, speakers included President Donald Trump and many top administration officials
-
Judge says DOJ misled to deport Guatemalan kids
Speed read The Trump administration was barred from deporting hundreds of Guatemalan children