Lee Atwater

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lee Atwater (1982)

Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater (born February 26, 1951 in Atlanta , Georgia , † March 29, 1991 in Washington, DC ) was an American political advisor and strategist. He worked for the Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush , for whom he developed novel and particularly aggressive campaign strategies, such as the targeted spreading of reputational rumors.

Family, education and work

Lee Atwater grew up with a sister in Columbia, South Carolina and received a bachelor's degree from Newberry College , a small Lutheran school in Newberry , South Carolina . He received his masters degree from the University of South Carolina . In the early 1970s he joined the Republican Party. As executive director of the College Republicans , Atwater met then-Chairman of the Republican National Committee , George HW Bush , who promoted him personally and politically.

Atwater had three children with his wife, Sally.

Consultancy

Atwater began his policy advice as the campaign manager of Senator Strom Thurmond when he was re-elected in 1978. Atwater's aggressive tactics came to the fore in particular from 1980 when he advised Republican congressional candidate Floyd Spence in the campaign against Democratic candidate Tom Turnipseed . They consisted, among other things, of deliberately manipulated votes in fake polls by supposedly independent pollsters. These were mainly intended to inform white residents of the suburbs that Turnipseed was a member of the NAACP . He also sent letters from Senator Strom Thurmond, according to which Turnipseed wanted to disarm America and defected to the Liberals and Communists.

In 1981, Atwater gave an anonymous interview to political scientist Alexander P. Lamis as a fellow Reagan employee . Portions of this conversation were reprinted in Lamis' book The Two Party South , later published in Southern Politics in the 1990s under Atwater's name. In November 2012, The Nation released the full-length interview in which Atwater provided information about the Republicans' Southern Strategy to use a coded racism language to bind the Democratic-voting, largely conservative whites of the southern states to the Republicans ( see Dixiecrats ). He explained:

You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger." By 1968 you can't say “nigger” - that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me - because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "Nigger, nigger."
You start [the campaign] in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger". In 1968 you can't say “nigger” - it hurts you. Falls back on you So start with things like "forced bus rides", "state rights" and stuff like that. You get so abstract that you talk about tax cuts and pure economic issues, and a by-product of those issues is that blacks are more negatively affected by them than whites. And in the subconscious, maybe that's part of the whole thing. I am not saying that. But I say if it gets that abstract, and it's encryption, we'll get away with the racial problem one way. Follow me - because when we sit there and say “we want to lower this” then it's more abstract than the forced bus rides and damn more abstract than “nigger, nigger”.
Atwater in the Oval Office with President Ronald Reagan in 1983

Ed Rollins , who led the campaign for Ronald Reagan to be re-elected as president in 1984 , reported on Atwater's methods in his 1996 book Bare Knuckles And Back Rooms . According to Rollins, Atwater waged a smear campaign against Geraldine Ferraro , Democratic Party's candidate for vice-president in 1984 , which, among other things, falsely claimed that Ferrari's parents were charged with various crimes in the 1940s. Ferraro then withdrew from the election campaign for a few days.

Lee Atwater (right) at a jam session to mark the inauguration of US President George Bush (left) on January 21, 1989

Atwater's most significant campaign was that of the 1988 presidential election . An aggressive media offensive, which also referred to the Willie Horton case in TV spots , helped George Bush overcome the initial 17 percentage point lead of his Democratic rival Michael Dukakis in polls and win a majority of the electorate. Horton was a life sentence murderer who admitted in prison to raping a woman while on leave. Atwater had announced prior to the campaign that it would "strip the bark of the little bastard [Dukakis] and make Willie Horton his running mate ." False rumors about Dukakis were spread in the media prior to the election. For example, Idaho Republican Senator Steve Symms alleged that Dukakis' wife Kitty burned a US flag to protest against the Vietnam War , and that Dukakis had been receiving treatment for mental illness. Atwater has not been proven to have started these rumors.

During the election campaign, George W. Bush , son of the soon-to-be president, moved into an office near Atwater's office. His job was to monitor the activities of Atwater and the rest of the staff. In her memoir, Barbara Bush wrote that her son and Atwater became close friends during this time. He was also a political mentor to Karl Roves , who would later become George W. Bush's campaign strategist. After the election victory, President Bush selected the controversial Atwater as chairman of the Republican National Committee , the federal party's organization.

Activity as a musician

In addition to his political career, he was also active as a musician. He particularly liked rhythm and blues (R&B). As a youth in Columbia, Atwater played in his rock band The Upsetters Revue. He played the background guitar for Percy Sledge for a short time in the 1960s . Even at the height of his political influence, he gave regular concerts in clubs and churches around Washington, solo or with blues musicians like BB King . With King and Carla Thomas , Isaac Hayes , Sam Moore and Chuck Jackson , he recorded an album called "Red Hot & Blue" in 1990 on the Curb Records label . Robert Hilburn wrote of the album in the Los Angeles Times : “The most entertaining thing about this whole Memphis-style greeting to R&B of the 50s and 60s is how it will amaze your friends. Play someone like 'Knock on Wood' or 'Bad Boy' without betraying the singer, and then look into their wide eyes when you say it's the controversial federal leader of the Republican Party ... Lee Atwater. "

Sickness and death

On March 5, 1990, Atwater collapsed at a fundraising event for Senator Phil Gramm . A malignant astrocytoma was found in his right brain. Shortly before his death, he converted to Catholicism and in a portrait in Life magazine in February 1991 apologized to Dukakis, among others. He died on March 29, 1991.

reception

In 1992 Robert Myers 'play Atwater: Fixin' to Die was first performed. The documentary Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (2008) also deals with Atwater's political advisory work.

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Lee Atwater  - Quotes
  • Aaron L. Haberman: Atwater, Harvey LeRoy. In: South Carolina Encyclopedia , April 15, 2016 (English; updated several times)
  • Roman Rome: Atwater, Harvey Leroy (“Lee”). In: The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives , Gale, 2001, online at Encyclopedia.com (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rick Perlstein: Exclusive: Lee Atwater's Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy. In: The Nation , November 13, 2012 (English).
  2. ^ A b Gravely Ill, Atwater Offers Apology. In: The New York Times , January 13, 1991.
  3. ↑ In the original: “The most entertaining thing about this ensemble salute to spicy, Memphis-style '50s and' 60s R & B is the way it lets you surprise your friends. Play a selection such as “Knock on Wood” or “Bad Boy” for someone without identifying the singer, then watch their eyes bulge when you reveal that it's the controversial national chairman of the Republican Party… Lee Atwater. ” Robert Hilburn: Album Review: 'Red Hot' Features a Celebrity Surprise. In: The Los Angeles Times , April 5, 1990 (English).
  4. ↑ James Hebert: Lee Atwater's sorrow for the road taken. ( Memento of the original from August 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: San Diego Union-Tribune , May 19, 2006. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sandiegouniontribune.com
  5. ^ Dana Stevens: Mr. Wedge Issue: A new documentary about Lee Atwater. In: Slate , September 26, 2008; Synopsis: Boogie Man. In: Frontline.
personal data
SURNAME Atwater, Lee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Atwater, Harvey Leroy (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American political advisor and strategist
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Atlanta , Georgia
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 1991
Place of death Washington, DC