Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr. (born September 8, 1922) is an American political activist and founder of a network of political committees, parties, and publications known collectively as the LaRouche movement. Often described as a political extremist, he has written prolifically in his publications on economic, scientific, and political topics, as well as on history, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, largely promoting a conspiracist view of history and current affairs. LaRouche was a perennial presidential candidate from 1976 to 2004, running once for his own U.S. Labor Party and campaigning seven times for the Democratic Party nomination, though he failed to attract appreciable electoral support. He was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in 1988 for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tax code violations, but continued his political activities from behind bars until his release in 1994 on parole. Ramsey Clark, his chief appellate attorney and a former U.S. Attorney General, argued that LaRouche was denied a fair trial but the Court of Appeals unanimously rejected the appeal. Members of the LaRouche movement see LaRouche as a political leader in the tradition of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Other commentators, including The Washington Post and The New York Times, have described him over the years as a conspiracy theorist, fascist, and anti-Semite, and have characterized his movement as a cult. Norman Bailey, formerly with the National Security Council, described LaRouche's staff in 1984 as one of the best private intelligence services in the world, while the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, wrote that he leads "what may well be one of the strangest political groups in American history.