Lee Atwater

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Harvey LeRoy "Lee" Atwater (February 27, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an American political consultant and strategist for the Republican Party.

He served as an advisor to US president Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, as well as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Atwater's zealous campaign tactics ignited controversy.

Early life

Atwater was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Alma "Toddy" (Page), a school administrator, and Harvey Dillard Atwater, an insurance adjustor. Ann and Joe were his two siblings. He grew up in Aiken, South Carolina. When Lee was five years old, his three-year-old brother Joe (who had no resemblance to him other than "striking blue eyes") died of third-degree burns after he pulled a deep fryer full of hot oil onto himself.

Atwater, a teenager in Columbia, South Carolina, performed in The Upsetters Revue, a rock band. And during his political prominence, he would often appear in clubs and church basements, solo or with B.B. King of the Washington, D.C. area. On Curb Records, Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes, Sam Moore, Chuck Jackson, and King appeared on his album, Red Hot & Blue. In the Los Angeles Times on April 5, 1990, Robert Hilburn wrote about the album: "The most interesting part of this ensemble's salute to fiery Memphis-style 1950s and 1960s R&B is how it surprises your colleagues." Play a selection such as 'Knock on Wood' or 'Bad Boy' for someone without identifying the artist, then watch their eyes well up as you reveal that it is the Republican Party's unpopular national chairman, Lee Atwater.' Atwater briefly served as backup guitar for Percy Sledge in the 1960s.

Atwater attended A.C. Flora High School. Atwater graduated from Newberry College, a small private Lutheran church in Newberry, South Carolina, where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity in 1973. Atwater served as the governor of the South Carolina Student Legislature at Newberry. In 1977, he received a Master of Arts degree in communications from the University of South Carolina.

Personal life

In 1978, Atwater married Sally Dunbar (1951-2021). Sara Lee, Ashley Page, and Sally Theodosia had three children. In 2014, his widow ran for Superintendent of Education for South Carolina. Former President George H.W. had endorsed her. Bush.

During a fundraising breakfast for Senator Phil Gramm on March 5, 1990, Atwater suffered a seizure. In his right parietal lobe, doctors discovered a grade 3 astrocytoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. At Montefiore Medical Center in New York City and later conventional radiation therapy at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., he underwent interstitial implant radiation – then a new one. He was left feeling sick on his left side, disabled his voice discrimination, and his face and body were swollening due to his treatment.

Atwater converted to Roman Catholicism, with the support of Father John Hardon and, in an act of repentance, Atwater wrote a number of public and written letters to individuals who had been opposed throughout his political career. "It's really important to me that I let you know that out of everything that has happened in my career," Tom Turnipseed said in a letter from June 28, 1990. "My illness has taught me so much about humanity, love, brotherhood, and marriages that I never understood or never would have understood." So, from that perspective, there is some truth and good in everything."

Atwater wrote a Life article in February 1991:

In the essay, Atwater apologised to Michael Dukakis for the 1988 presidential election campaign's "naked cruelty."

Ed Rollins appeared in Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story in 2008.

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Political career

Atwater rose to prominence in the South Carolina Republican Party during the 1970s and 1980s, campaigning for Governor Carroll Campbell and Senator Strom Thurmond. Atwater, a Southern California native, became well-known for executing hard-edged campaigns based on emotional wedge issues.

During the 1980 Congressional races, Atwater's innovative tactics were first demonstrated. He served as a campaign consultant for Republican nominee Floyd Spence in his bid for Congress against Democratic nominee Tom Turnipseed. Atwater's tactics in the campaign included push polling by so-called independent pollsters to alert white suburbanites that Turnipseed is a member of the NAACP. Senator Thurmond's last-minute letters tell voters that Turnipseed will dearm the US and hand it over to liberals and Communists. "We know that Turnipseed has undergone psychiatric therapy," Atwater announced at a press conference. Turnipseed "got hooked up to jumper cables," Atwater told reporters later, referring to electroconvulsive therapy that Turnipseed underwent as a youth. Spence went on to win the competition.

Atwater, a 1980 student, moved to Washington and became an aide in the Ronald Reagan administration, under former Reagan administration aide Ed Rollins. Rollins oversaw Reagan's re-election bid in 1984, and Atwater took over the campaign's deputy director and political director. In his 1996 book Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, Rollins refers to Atwater's work several times. Atwater ran a dirty tricks operation against Democratic vice president Geraldine Ferraro, including publicizing the fact that Ferraro's parents were indicted on numbers running in the 1940s. Atwater was also described as "ruthless," "Ollie North in civilian clothes," and someone who "just had to drive in one more stake."

The day after the 1984 presidential election, Atwater became a senior partner at Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly.

Atwater became closely affiliated with Vice President George H. Bush, who chose Atwater to handle his 1988 presidential campaign during his time in Washington.

Atwater conducted an unidentified interview with political scientist Alexander P. Lamis as a member of the Reagan administration in 1981. Parts of the interview were published in Lamis' book The Two-Party South, which was later reprinted in Southern Politics in the 1990s with Atwater's name revealed. In the October 6, 2005 issue of The New York Times, Bob Herbert spoke about his interview. The Nation magazine published a 42-minute audio recording of the interview on November 13, 2012. James Carter IV, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, had requested and was given access to these tapes by Lamis' widow. Atwater spoke about the Republican Southern strategy: the Southern strategy:

Reagan did not have to make racial arguments, according to Atwater, whose arguments transcended the "Southern Strategy"'s racial prism.

Atwater's most notable campaign was in 1988, when he served as the campaign manager for Republican nominee George H. W. Bush.

Former Republican Governor Francis Sargent's 1972 proposal to a felon furlough scheme was initiated by Dukakis. The Massachusetts legislature passed a bill in 1976 prohibiting furloughs for first-degree murderers. Governor Dukakis vetoed the bill. Willie Horton, who was serving a life term for stabbing a baby to death during a robbery, was released on weekend furlough, during which he kidnapped a young couple, tortured the woman and repeatedly assaulted her. Horton was then the face of Atwater's ad campaign against Dukakis.

During a presidential primary debate, Democratic candidate Al Gore first brought the issue of furlough for first-degree murderers. However, Gore never referred specifically to Horton. Dukakis tried to sell himself as a centrist Democrat from Massachusetts' liberal state. The Horton ad campaign only reinforced the public's general belief that Dukakis was too liberal, which helped Bush to take the lead in early public opinion polls and gain both the electoral and popular vote by landslide margins.

Despite Atwater's explicit acceptance of the use of the Willie Horton campaign, the Bush campaign never ran a single commercial with Horton's image; rather, they ran a similar but generic ad. The first commercial was produced by Americans for Bush, an independent group led by Larry McCarthy, and Republicans profited from the national media's coverage. Atwater, who was referring to Dukakis, has announced that he would "strip the bark off the little bastard" and "make Willie Horton his running mate." Atwater's challenge was to answer the question, "Where was George?" Democrats' campaign slogan was used as a rallying cry in an attempt to make the appearance that Bush was a young and unexperienced candidate. In addition, Bush had critics in the Republican base, who remembered his pro-choice positions in the 1980 primary, and that the more the campaign pursued Dukakis' liberal positions, the better his base turnout would have been.

During the election, a number of charges regarding Dukakis' personal life surfaced, including the unsubstantiated assertion that his wife Kitty had burned a United States flag to protest the Vietnam War and that Dukakis had been treated for a mental disorder. For the first time, Robert Novak of Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story reveals that Atwater attempted to convince him to spread these mental-health stories.

The 1988 Bush campaign beat 40 states despite a 17-point deficit in midsummer polls.

During that campaign, future President George W. Bush ran a different office from Atwater's, where his job was to serve as his father's eyes and ears. "I was an allegiance enforcer and a listening ear," Bush wrote in his autobiography. Barbara Bush's book says that the younger Bush (whom Atwater's "Junior") and Atwater became "great friends."

Atwater was named chairman of the Republican National Committee after the election. Jim Wright, a Democrat, was forced to resign as Speaker of the House shortly after Atwater took over the RNC, and Tom Foley was recalled as Speaker of the House.

The RNC began sending out a memo to Republican congresspeople and state party chairpeople on the day Foley officially became Speaker. "Tom Foley: Out of the Liberal Closet" was circulated by the RNC. Foley's voting record was compared to that of openly gay congressman Barney Frank, with a subtle suggestion that Foley was gay as well. It was designed by RNC communications director Mark Goodin and House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich. In fact, Gingrich had been attempting to persuade several journalists to print it. Both political parties strongly condemned the memo. "This is not politics," Republican Senate leader Bob Dole said in a address to the Senate chamber. This is garbage."

Atwater defended the memo initially, calling it "no big deal" and "truly accurate" and "factually accurate." However, he claimed that he had not approved the memo just a few days later. Goodin was fired by Atwater, who was under pressure from Bush to fire him, and B. Jay Cooper replaced him.

Atwater, following Bush's victory, began focusing on coordinating a public relations campaign against Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. In the 1992 presidential election, Atwater viewed Clinton as a major potential threat to Bush. At the time of Atwater's illness, he was supporting Representative Tommy Robinson's campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination to oppose Clinton in the fall. Ex Arkla Gas CEO Sheffield Nelson lost the primary to Robinson.

Atwater became a member of the Howard University Board of Trustees, which was historically black. When students protested Atwater's appointment, the university attracted national attention. Student protesters destabilized Howard's 122nd birthday celebrations and subsequently occupied the university's administration building. Both Atwater and Howard President James E. Cheek resigned within days.

Atwater had also sluggishly criticized David Duke's candidacy for the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1989. "David Duke is not a Republican as far as I'm concerned..." He is a performer, a charlatan, and a political opportunist looking for a party that will defend his views of racial and religious bigotry and intolerance. We condemn him and his views, and we're taking steps to show that he is disenfranchised from our party," the speaker said.

Musical career

In 1988, Atwater and a group of friends opened Red Hot & Blue in Arlington, Virginia. In the dining room, the restaurant, which has since expanded to a chain, served Memphis BBQ and performed Memphis blues jazz.

Atwater produced a 1990 album with B.B. On Curb Records' Red Hot & Blue, the King and others are referred to as king and others. In an episode of Late Night with David Letterman, he appeared with Paul Shaffer and his band.

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