Twenty-five years on, the infamous Willie Horton ad continues to cast a long shadow over American politics. The 1988 campaign ad, created by Republican strategist Lee Atwater, was used by then-Vice President George H.W. Bush in his bid for the White House against Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. The ad focused on Horton, a black man serving a life sentence without parole for murder, who had been released as part of a Massachusetts weekend furlough program. During his furlough, Horton committed armed robbery and rape.
The Horton ad had a decisive role in the 1988 race, arguably dooming Dukakis’ chances of victory. It represented a new low in race card politics, manipulating white fear of black criminality to win elections. This was a tactic Atwater had learned from his mentor, the racist Sen. Strom Thurmond, and had been built upon the successes of Reagan-era racial scapegoating in the form of the “welfare queen.”
More recently, the spirit of the Horton ad visited the New York City mayoral race. Republican candidate Joe Lhota released an attack ad warning that if Democrat Bill de Blasio is elected, “recklessly dangerous agenda on crime will take us back to this.” The ad featured ominous black and white photos from the 1970s through the 1990s, including the image of a frightened white woman on a graffiti-filled subway car. De Blasio fought back, calling Lhota’s ad “disgusting, inappropriate and divisive,” and comparing it to Willie Horton.
The Willie Horton ad remains a troubling reminder of the power of race-baiting in American politics. It is a stark illustration of how the Republican Party has historically sought to exploit white fear of people of color to win elections. The ad’s legacy continues to haunt the political landscape, a reminder of the power of fear and division in the electoral process.
In 1989, Republican Party Chair Lee Atwater was appointed to the board of trustees at Howard University, only to be met with a level of protest not seen since the Vietnam War. Despite his professed love of Black music, Atwater was not accepted by the students. On his deathbed in 1991, Atwater repented for the damage he had done, and apologized to those he had defamed and destroyed for political gain.
The Southern Strategy, a tactic of using racial resentment to gain votes, has been employed by conservative Republicans for decades. In 1990, the “Hands” commercial was used by North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms in his reelection bid against a black challenger, former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt. This ad, one of the most divisive ever, featured an angry white man crumpling up a job rejection letter, claiming he was the best qualified but had lost out due to a racial quota. In 2000, the campaign of George W. Bush spread rumors of his then-rival, Senator John McCain, fathering a black baby out of wedlock. In 2006, the Republican National Committee financed a television commercial against the Senate bid of Harold Ford, Jr. in Tennessee, which was racially controversial and sexually suggestive.
With the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the Southern Strategy came full circle. The Republican Party had long viewed African-Americans as the beneficiaries of government, and Obama represented everything they had fought against: the product of an interracial marriage, presumed foreign, with Ivy League diplomas unfairly secured through affirmative action programs. In order to bring down Obama, the GOP was willing to shut down the government, and defund his crowning achievement, Obamacare. As politicians continue to stoke the fires of racial anger, anxiety and resentment, the Willie Horton ad remains a powerful reminder of the Southern Strategy.
