Editing Sun Myung Moon (section)

==Move to United States==
{{main|Unification Church of the United States}}

In 1971, Moon moved to the United States, which he had first visited in 1965, and eventually settled into a 35-room mansion on an estate in [[Irvington, New York]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=education |first=Elaine Woo Elaine Woo is a Los Angeles native who has written for her hometown paper since 1983 She covered public |last2=Local |first2=Filled a Variety of Editing Assignments Before Joining "the Dead Beat"-News Obituaries – Where She Has Produced Artful Pieces on Celebrated |last3=national |last4=Figures |first4=International |last5=Mailer |first5=including Norman |last6=Child |first6=Julia |last7=in 2015 |first7=Rosa Parks She left The Times |date=2012-09-03 |title=Sun Myung Moon dies at 92; led controversial Unification Church |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-sep-03-la-me-sun-myung-moon-20120903-story.html |access-date=2024-08-30 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> He remained a citizen of South Korea, where he maintained a residence.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.tparents.org/Library/Moon/Photos/Mph-1954/TF-1965.jpg| title=Image of Moon's arrival| access-date=29 April 2006| format=JPG}}</ref> In 1972, Moon founded the [[International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences]], a series of scientific conferences.<ref name="excerpt"/><ref name=crimson>[http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=270162 Kety Quits Moon-Linked ICF Conference] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220035929/http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=270162 |date=20 February 2006 }} [[Harvard Crimson]], 10 August 1976.</ref> The first conference had 20 participants, while the largest conference in Seoul, in 1982, had 808 participants from over 100 countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icus.org/index.php?cat=info&top=purpose|title=ICUS|website=www.icus.org|access-date=28 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004023723/http://www.icus.org/index.php?cat=info&top=purpose|archive-date=4 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/image.htm Church Spends Millions On Its Image] ''[[The Washington Post]]''. 17 September 1984</ref> Participants included [[Nobel laureate]]s [[John Carew Eccles|John Eccles]] (Physiology or Medicine 1963, who chaired the 1976 conference)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1976/8/10/kety-quits-moon-linked-icf-conference-pa/|title=Kety Quits Moon-Linked ICF Conference - News - The Harvard Crimson|website=www.thecrimson.com|access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref>
and [[Eugene Wigner]] (Physics 1963).<ref name="Eugene Paul Wigner Papers">[http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/wigner.html Eugene Paul Wigner Papers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224080317/http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/wigner.html |date=24 February 2008 }} Princeton University Library</ref>

In 1974, Moon asked church members in the United States to support President [[Richard Nixon]] during the [[Watergate scandal]], when Nixon was being pressured to resign his office. Church members prayed and fasted in support of Nixon for three days in front of the [[United States Capitol]] under the motto: "Forgive, Love and Unite." On 1 February 1974, Nixon publicly thanked them for their support and officially received Moon. This brought the church into widespread public and media attention.<ref name="Introvigne, Massimo 2000, page 16"/>

In the 1970s, Moon, who had seldom before spoken to the general public, gave a series of public speeches to audiences in the United States, [[Japan]], and South Korea. The largest was a rally in 1975 against North Korean aggression in Seoul and a speech at an event organized by the Unification Church in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="Books.google.com"/><ref name="Washington 1976"/>

===''United States v. Sun Myung Moon''===
{{main|United States v. Sun Myung Moon}}

In 1982, following an [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] investigation, Moon was convicted in the United States of [[Conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]] and [[tax evasion]] by filing incorrect federal [[income tax]] returns totaling less than {{USD|8,000|long=no}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Sherwood |first1=Carlton |title=[[Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon]] |last2=Regnery |first2=Alfred S. |date=1991 |isbn=978-0-89526-532-6 |page=viii |chapter=Publishers preface|publisher=Regnery Gateway }}</ref> He refused to stay in Korea and returned to the United States. His conviction was upheld on appeal in a split decision. Moon was given an 18-month sentence and a {{USD|15,000|long=no}} fine. He served 13 months of the sentence at the [[Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury]], before being released on good behavior to a [[halfway house]].<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/profit.htm Moon's Japanese Profits Bolster Efforts in U.S.], Washington ''Post'', 16 September 2008.</ref>

The case was the center of national [[freedom of religion]] and [[free speech]] debates.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/08/21/clerics-urge-pardon-for-rev-moon/ | work=Chicago Tribune | title=Clerics Urge Pardon For Rev. Moon | date=21 August 1985 | access-date=22 March 2012 | archive-date=22 May 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522181349/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-08-21/news/8502240616_1_religious-freedom-rev-moon-religious-leaders | url-status=live }}</ref> Prof. [[Laurence H. Tribe]] of the [[Harvard University Law School]] argued that the trial by jury had "doomed (Moon) to conviction based on [[religious prejudice]]."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/24/nyregion/the-city-arguments-heard-in-moon-s-appeal.html | work=[[The New York Times]] | title=Arguments Heard in Moon's Appeal | date=24 March 1983}}</ref> The [[American Baptist Church|American Baptist Churches in the USA]], the [[National Council of Churches]], the [[National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus]], and the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] filed briefs in support of Moon.<ref>Raspberry, William, "Did Unpopular Moonie Get a Fair Trial?", ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 19 April 1984</ref> Many notable clergy, including [[Jerry Falwell]] and [[Joseph Lowery]], signed petitions protesting the government's case and spoke out in defense of Moon.<ref>[http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/augustweb-only/8-6-35.0.html "The Unification Church Aims a Major Public Relations Effort at Christian Leaders"], ''[[Christianity Today]]'', 19 April 1985.</ref><ref>[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1984/10/11/moons-financial-rise-and-fall-pbab/?dsq=48682316#comment-48682316 Moon's financial rise and fall], ''[[Harvard Crimson]]'', 11 October 1984.</ref> [[Carlton Sherwood]], in his book [[Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon|Inquisition]], stated that the conviction of Reverend Moon was viewed by Protestant pastors to be a humiliation of religious liberty.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sherwood |first=Carlton |title=[[Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon]] |publisher=Regnery Gateway |year=1991 |publication-place=Washington, D.C.}}</ref>

After his prison sentence, Moon began calling himself humanity's [[Messiah]] and officially conferred the title of "Messiah" on himself in 1992.<ref name=NPRExpose/><ref name="NYT OBIT" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kim |first1=Jack |title=Moon, self-declared messiah of Unification Church |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-religion-unification-moon-obit/moon-self-declared-messiah-of-unification-church-idUKBRE8810B120120902 |access-date=13 November 2021 |work=Reuters |date=2 September 2012 |language=en}}</ref>

===''The Washington Times''===
{{main|The Washington Times}}
In 1982, ''[[The Washington Times]]'' was founded by [[News World Communications]], an international media conglomerate associated with Moon, which also owned newspapers in South Korea, [[Japan]], and [[South America]], as well as the [[news agency]] [[United Press International]].<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/18/us/around-the-nation-sun-myung-moon-paper-appears-in-washington.html | title = Sun Myung Moon Paper Appears in Washington | work = [[The New York Times]] | date = 18 May 1982}}</ref> The political views of ''The Washington Times'' have often been described as [[conservative]].<ref name="Hall">{{cite news| last =Hall| first =Mimi| title =Bush, aides boost access of conservative media| work =USA Today| date =22 March 2001| url =https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2001-03-22-media.htm#more| access-date =25 July 2009 }}</ref><ref name="Glaberson">{{cite news| last =Glaberson| first =William| title =The Media Business; Conservative Daily Tries to Expand National Niche| work=[[The New York Times]]| date =27 June 1994| url =https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/27/business/the-media-business-conservative-daily-tries-to-expand-national-niche.html| access-date =25 July 2009 }}</ref><ref name="ojr.org">[http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/nikkiusher/200812/1604/ New business models for news are not that new], Nikki Usher, Knight Digital Media Center, 2008-12-17, "And the Washington Times' conservative stance pursues its agenda from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church."</ref> The ''Times'' was read by many Washington, DC insiders, including [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref name=nyt1994>[https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/27/business/the-media-business-conservative-daily-tries-to-expand-national-niche.html?pagewanted=all Conservative Daily Tries to Expand National Niche], [[New York Times]], 27 June 1994.  That kind of political access has given The Times, after nearly a decade of publication, its own genuine, if limited, place in the capital's rich media mix.  "It's the other half of the political picture, and without it I found I would be missing a lot of what was going on in conservative thinking," said Stephen G. Smith, news editor of the Knight-Ridder Newspapers bureau here. "While its circulation is small, its influence is out-sized."   But ''The Washington Times'' has always been and remains a very expensive and unsuccessful business, losing an estimated $35 million a year.  Part of The Times's problem is being the city's second-ranked daily newspaper during a deep advertising recession. The market is dominated in circulation and advertising by The Times's more liberal archrival, The Washington Post.  Almost since it was started in 1982, The Times has seen its average weekday circulation hover at about 100,000, compared with nearly 800,000 for The Post. And The Times estimates that about two-thirds of its subscribers also take The Post.</ref><ref>{{cite news| title =As the Rev. Moon goes, so goes the Washington Times?| newspaper =The Washington Post| date =2 September 2012| url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/post/as-the-rev-moon-goes-so-goes-the-washington-times/2012/09/02/a150051e-f535-11e1-86a5-1f5431d87dfd_blog.html| access-date =14 November 2012| first=Erik| last=Wemple}} ''The Washington Times'', it notes, took in $1 billion in subsidies over its first decade and was a favorite read for President Ronald Reagan.</ref> By 2002, Moon had invested roughly {{USD|1.7 billion|long=no}} to support the ''Times'',<ref>Ahrens, Frank, "Moon Speech Raises Old Ghosts as the Times Turns 20", Washington ''Post'', 23 May 2002. "As of this year, Moon and his businesses have plowed about $1.7 billion into subsidizing the Times, say current and former employees."</ref> which he called "the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.cjr.org/issues/2002/5/wash-chinni.asp |title=The Other Paper: The Washington Times's role |first=Dante |last=Chinni |year=2002 |magazine=Columbia Journalism Review |access-date=29 April 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060419012416/https://www.cjr.org/issues/2002/5/wash-chinni.asp |archive-date=19 April 2006}}</ref>