Special Section: 50 Faces for America's Future

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("a grinning dunce") and women's lib ("the most successful pestilence since Prohibition").

45. Richard A. Viguerie, 45, a prime mover of neoconservatism, has rediscovered an old means of communication to further his causes: direct mail. Viguerie circumvents the media with his two IBM computers and a treasure of mailing lists, including a 5,000-name "hit list" that can produce, almost overnight, $115,000 in contributions for conservative causes. He can flood a Senator, Representative or state Governor with 50,000 letters in a single delivery. Viguerie helped lead the heated battle against the Panama Canal Treaties, anathema to many middle-of-the-roaders—and lost narrowly. Now he is cranking up a major effort against the ratification of SALT II. Viguerie, who studied political science at the University of Houston in his home town, is a dedicated conservative who helps shape the movement's strategy. "We're still a bit on the sidelines," he says, "but our time will come."

46. Jim Wallis, 31. "If there ever was a time when the radical nature of the Bible needs to be lived out courageously, it is now," says Wallis, a Protestant religious leader and the editor of an evangelical magazine. A Detroit native and a graduate of the University of Michigan, Wallis was active in the civil rights and antiwar movements a decade ago. Then he turned to religion. After studying at the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill., Wallis founded Sojourners in 1975, a religious community now totaling 60 people who live together in a poor section of Washington, D.C. Sojourners runs day care centers, shelters for the indigent and a free clinic, and publishes a monthly magazine with 40,000 subscribers. Says Wallis, who spends nearly half his time lecturing throughout the country and abroad: "We're trying to live our vision."

47. Sarah Weddington, 34. "I want to see to it that women are not cut off from power positions," says Carter's special assistant on women's issues. A graduate of the University of Texas Law School and a Texas state legislator for five years, Attorney Weddington worked to reform the state's sexual abuse laws and equalize commercial credit requirements for women. In 1973, at the age of 28, she won the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed a woman's right to choose to have an abortion. Since Weddington replaced Midge Costanza last November, Carter has increased the number of women in top Administration spots; former Attorney General Griffin Bell raised female federal judgeships from 6% to 17%. "My purpose is to put women into the mainstream of life," says Weddington, which is precisely where she is.

48. Eliot Wigginton, 36, began in 1966 with 140 children and $440 in donations from the residents of Rabun Gap in the north Georgia mountains. Wigginton, who grew up in Georgia and was educated at Cornell, wanted to teach young people about the glories of the area's independent mountain folk. He named the project Foxfire, after a Georgia lichen that glows in the dark, and set up a course of study, which includes photography, folklore and music. The students interview elderly people about their lives and write stories for the Foxfire magazines and books. Published by Doubleday since 1972, the books have sold more than 4