Lee Atwater

Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater (February 26, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an American Republican political consultant and strategist. Atwater is notorious as the very definition of smashmouth politics, in which every effort is made to destroy the reputations, careers and lives of political opponents.

Related Topics:
February 26 - 1951 - March 29 - 1991 - American - Republican - Political consultant - Smashmouth politics

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Atwater was a trusted advisor of U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He was also a political mentor and close personal friend of Karl Rove, another leading Republican political consultant who has also been frequently accused of political dirty tricks. Atwater's skills at attack politics brought him and his candidates success. His opponents characterized him as "the Darth Vader of the Republican party", "the happy hatchet man", and "the guy who went negative for the sheer joy of it."

Related Topics:
U.S. Presidents - Richard Nixon - Ronald Reagan - George H. W. Bush - Karl Rove - Dirty tricks - Darth Vader - Republican

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Atwater's aggressive tactics were evident in 1980, when he was a consultant for Republican candidate Floyd Spence in his campaign for Congress against Democratic nominee Tom Turnipseed. Atwater's tactics in that campaign included push polling in the form of fake surveys by "independent pollsters" to "inform" white suburbanites that Turnipseed was a member of the NAACP. He also sent out last-minute letters from Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) telling voters that Turnipseed would disarm America and turn it over to liberals and Communists. At a press briefing, Atwater planted a "reporter" who rose and said, "We understand Turnipseed has had psychotic treatment." Atwater later told the reporters off the record that Turnipseed "got hooked up to jumper cables" - a reference to electroconvulsive therapy that Turnipseed underwent as a teenager.

Related Topics:
Floyd Spence - Tom Turnipseed - Push polling - NAACP - Strom Thurmond - Electroconvulsive therapy

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"Lee seemed to delight in making fun of a suicidal 16-year-old who was treated for depression with electroshock treatments," Turnipseed recalled. "In fact, my struggle with depression as a student was no secret. I had talked about it in a widely covered news conference as early as 1977, when I was in the South Carolina State Senate. Since then I have often shared with appropriate groups the full story of my recovery to responsible adulthood as a professional, political and civic leader, husband and father. Teenage depression and suicide are major problems in America, and I believe my life offers hope to young people who are suffering with a constant fear of the future." http://www.turnipseed.net/atwaterart.htm

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Bob Herbert reported in the October 6, 2005 edition of the New York Times of a 1981 interview with Lee Atwater in which he explains the GOP's Southern Strategy: "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 you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.

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"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.' " http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/06/opinion/06herbert.html

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Ed Rollins, who managed Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign, tells several Atwater stories in his 1996 book, "Bare Knuckles And Back Rooms." According to Rollins, Atwater ran a dirty tricks operation in 1984 against Vice-Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. This included the accurate allegation that Ferraro's parents had been indicted - but never convicted (this fact, of course, went unmentioned)- of numbers running in the 1940s. Ferraro disappeared for a few days to 'recover' from the accusation. Rollins also described Atwater as 'ruthless', 'Ollie North in civilian clothes,' and one who 'just had to drive in one more stake.'

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Atwater's most noted campaign was the 1988 presidential election. A particularly aggressive media misinformation program, including a television advertisement related to the case of Willie Horton, a convicted murderer who subsequently committed a rape while on a furlough from a life sentence in a Massachusetts prison, led to George H. W. Bush overcoming Michael Dukakis's 17% lead in early public opinion polls and win both the electoral and popular vote. Although Atwater clearly approved of the use of the Willie Horton issue, the Bush campaign never actually ran a commercial with Horton's picture. The infamous commercial was by an ostensibly independent group managed by Floyd Brown.

Related Topics:
1988 presidential election - Willie Horton - Rape - Life sentence - George H. W. Bush - Michael Dukakis - Public opinion poll

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During the election, a number of false rumors were reported in the media about Dukakis, including the claim by Idaho Republican Senator Steve Symms that Dukakis's wife Kitty had burned an American flag to protest the Vietnam War, as well as the claim that Dukakis himself had been treated for a mental illness. Atwater is frequently accused of having initiated these rumors, although there is no direct proof that he did so.

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During that election, future president George W. Bush, the then vice president's son, took an office across the hall from Atwater's office, where his job was to serve as "the eyes and ears for my dad," monitoring the activities of Atwater and other campaign staff. In her memoir, Barbara Bush said that George W. and Atwater became "great friends."

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After the election, Atwater was named chairman of the Republican National Committee. This appointment was controversial, but Atwater's time as chairman was short, for in 1990, he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

Related Topics:
Republican National Committee - 1990 - Brain tumor

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Shortly before his death he said he had converted to Catholicism and, in an act of repentance, issued a number of public and written apologies to individuals he had attacked during his political career, including Dukakis. In a letter to Tom Turnipseed dated June 28, 1990, he stated, "It is very important to me that I let you know that out of everything that has happened in my career, one of the low points remains the so called 'jumper cable' episode," adding, "my illness has taught me something about the nature of humanity, love, brotherhood and relationships that I never understood, and probably never would have. So, from that standpoint, there is some truth and good in everything." http://www.turnipseed.net/atwaterart.htm

Related Topics:
Catholicism - Repentance

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In a February 1991 article for Life Magazine, Atwater wrote:

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:My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The '80s were about acquiring -- acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn't I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don't know who will lead us through the '90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul.

Related Topics:
Moral decay - Spiritual vacuum

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