free speech rights. He served more than five months
in a federal prison for desecrating the U.S. flag after
he appeared at a court hearing wearing the flag as a
diaper. As a publicity stunt in 1984, Flynt briefly ran
for U.S. president. Flynt also sent a freeHustlersub-
scription to every member of Congress and the U.S.
Supreme Court.
Flynt’s crusade for the First Amendment also re-
sulted in two appearances before the U.S. Supreme
Court. In 1983, Flynt hurled obscenities at the U.S.
Supreme Court justices after they ruled against him
in a libel suit filed by the girlfriend of the publisher
ofPenthousemagazine, one of Flynt’s competitors.
He was arrested for contempt of court, but the
charges were later dismissed. In 1988, however, Flynt
won an important victory when the Court handed
down its landmarkHustler Magazine v. Falwelldeci-
sion. Jerry Falwell, a nationally known televangelist
from Lynchburg, Virginia, had sued Flynt for libel
over a satirical advertisement published inHustler
that portrayed the minister as an incestuous drunk.
The case was appealed all the way to the Supreme
Court, which decided in Flynt’s favor, ruling that, re-
gardless of how tasteless the speech may be, humor
and satire are protected by the First Amendment.
Impact Larry Flynt has been described as a van-
guard defender of the First Amendment by his sup-
porters and as an attention-grabbing smut peddler
by his critics. His tenacity in fighting for his free
speech rights, however, resulted inHustler Magazine
v. Falwell, a decision that has been hailed as an im-
portant First Amendment victory not only for Larry
Flynt but for the mainstream media as well.
Further Reading
Flynt, Larry.Sex, Lies, and Politics: The Naked Truth.
New York: Kensington, 2004.
Flynt, Larry, and Kenneth Ross.An Unseemly Man:
My Life as a Pornographer, Pundit, and Social Outcast.
Los Angeles: Dove Books, 1996.
Smolla, Rodney A.Jerr y Falwell v. Larr y Flynt: The First
Amendment on Trial.New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1988.
Eddith A. DashiellSee also Dworkin, Andrea; Falwell, Jerry; Pornog-
raphy.Food Security Act of 1985
Identification Federal agricultural legislation
Date Signed on December 23, 1985
By uniting the goals of the environmental movement and
farm support groups, the Food Security Act became the first
legislation to enact both conservation measures for farm-
lands and economic incentives for farm production.
In the decades prior to the 1980’s, important legisla-
tion existed to regulate the prices of agricultural
products, which could fluctuate widely, to insure
farm income, to provide loans to farmers, to set
guidelines for the conservation of farmland by pre-
venting erosion, and to adjust the total productive
acreage of the nation. After World War II, attention
focused also on the distribution of surplus products,
as well as restricting cultivated land through the cre-The Eighties in America Food Security Act of 1985 377
Larry Flynt speaks with reporters outside the U.S. Supreme Court
building in December, 1987.(AP/Wide World Photos)