The Chassler Connection

It was either the hottest story--or the weirdest coincidence--in the history of publishing. In the staid pages of Woman 's Day last month, the wife of an Illinois minister preached passionately about how the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution would help housewives. In the Ladies' Home Journal, the wives of seven 1976 presidential contenders voted 5 to 2 for the ERA and told why. (Only Cornelia Wallace and Nancy Reagan were against it.) The ardently feminist Ms. ran a story by Actor Alan Alda explaining how the amendment could benefit men. In fact, one kind of article or another explaining the ERA appeared in the July issue of 34 women's magazines.

It was not, of course, an accident, but the inspiration of Sey Chassler, 56, editor in chief of Redbook. After state equal rights amendments went down to defeat in New York and New Jersey last November, Chassler got on the phone and set up a meeting with the editors of Ms., McCall's, Woman's Day, Glamour and Cosmopolitan to discuss running stories on the ERA timed for the Bicentennial. The group then wrote the editors at other women's magazines asking them to join the effort. Even Chassler was impressed by the concerted response in print. Says he: "Most of the editors are women, and of course women are far more decisive than men."

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