States' rights (speech)

Ronald Reagan's "states' rights" speech given on August 3, 1980, was his first public address after the Republican National Convention officially chose him as the Republican nominee for the 1980 United States presidential election. The speech drew attention for his use of the phrase "states' rights" at the Neshoba County Fair, just a few miles from Philadelphia, Mississippi, a town associated with the 1964 murders of civil rights workers. Reagan said:

“

I believe in states' rights.... I believe we have distorted the balance of our government today by giving powers that were never intended to be given in the Constitution to that federal establishment.

”

He went on to promise to "restore to states and local governments the power that properly belongs to them." The use of the phrase was seen by some as a tacit appeal to Southern white voters and a continuation of Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy, while others argued it merely reflected his libertarian economic beliefs.

Criticism and support

Given the history of Philadelphia, and Reagan's use of the words "states' rights," often interpreted as a desire to return to pre-Civil Rights laws regarding segregation, many of Reagan's critics felt that he was at least insensitive to the concerns of blacks, or that he even was using this location and these words as a cynical, coded appeal to the white racist vote. Columnist Bob Herbert of The New York Times wrote, "Everybody watching the 1980 campaign knew what Reagan was signaling at the fair," and that it "was understood that when politicians started chirping about 'states’ rights' to white people in places like Neshoba County they were saying that when it comes down to you and the blacks, we’re with you". Paul Krugman, also of the Times, noted that a Republican national committee member from Mississippi had urged Reagan to speak at the county fair, as it would help win over “George Wallace inclined voters”, and wrote that this was just one of many examples of "Reagan’s tacit race-baiting in the historical record."

Eulogizing on Reagan's death, Washington Post columnist William Raspberry noted of the incident:

It was bitter symbolism for black Americans (though surely not just for black Americans). Countless observers have noted that Reagan took the Republican Party from virtual irrelevance to the ascendancy it now enjoys. The essence of that transformation, we shouldn't forget, is the party's successful wooing of the race-exploiting Southern Democrats formerly known as Dixiecrats. And Reagan's Philadelphia appearance was an important bouquet in that courtship.

Others, including the Washington Post editorial page, noted that there was nothing racist about Reagan's use of the phrase "states' rights" in the context of the speech; The New Republic criticized Jimmy Carter's allegations of racism, calling them "frightful distortions, bordering on outright lies." David Brooks of The New York Times called the attention paid to the "states' rights" phrase a "slur" and a "distortion." He wrote that the campaign had been somewhat forced by the county fair organizers who had announced Reagan's appearance, and that the "states' rights" phrase was used in the part of his speech, mostly about inflation and the economy, where he spoke about schools. Brooks wrote that Reagan had been courting black voters at that time, and he flew to New York City after the speech to deliver an address to the Urban League.

External links

• Recording of the "States' Rights Speech"
• "Transcript of Ronald Reagan's 1980 Neshoba County Fair speech" from The Neshoba Democrat
• "Recording of Reagan's Fair speech found" from The Neshoba Democrat