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Exclusive: Lee Atwater's Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy

The Nation · 590K views · 2012-11-13 · 1:40

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Overview

A short audio clip of a 1981 interview in which Republican strategist Lee Atwater explains to a political scientist how the party could win racist voters without using overtly racist language. It was published by The Nation with analysis by Rick Perlstein.

On Hacker News

HN commenters cite it as a primary source for the Southern Strategy and coded racial language, in Atwater's own words.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2017–2022

Topics

US politics & electionsSocial issues & culture
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lee atwaterrepublican politicsdog whistlesrace and politicsprimary source

What people said

softcactus · 2022-07 · Reference

> Lol I enjoy how often people on HN descend to personal attacks as opposed to discussion on the merits. Not a personal attack, it was just an observation. > You realize this was a democratic rallying cry until the 60s? Democrats were the ones trying to limit who votes, hanging, and burning towns. I don't like the Democratic party either, but this ignores the party switch that occurred during the Nixon election. If you want to learn more about the Southern Strategy look up Barry Goldwater and Republican campaign strategist Lee Atwater. "States Rights" has traditionally been the rallying cry of racist regressives, regardless of party affiliation. > I encourage you to read source material. What I’m reading from you is exceedingly partisan and not really a balanced view or even historical view; it’s mostly propaganda. I don't like either mainstream US party, also you don't know anything about the history literature I consume. The primary sources I consume inform my views. Here's one from the mouth of Lee Atwater, the aforementioned strategist: [VIDEO] > Ah that 1619 project… the Marxist rewrite of American history. I have never read the 1619 project. I mostly read books written about the specific histories of commodities like lumber or tobacco or oil, but if you know anything about US history you understand why Slavery is so important and how it shaped our institutions and discourse. It's not "Marxist". But being so quick to dismiss a retelling of US history with slavery is a gi

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scarface74 · 2018-02 · Reference

Yes and after Lyndon Johnson - a Democrat signed the civil rights act, the south turned against the Democratic Party. But here is the southern Strategy in Lee Atwater’s own words. [VIDEO] And you have heard of Strom Thurman haven’t you?

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pdkl95 · 2017-10 · Reference

> it's not hard to tell when someone is trying to slip the N-word Coded language like "states rights"[1][2] sill slips by a lot of people today. [1] [LINK] [2] [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by The Nation, played through YouTube.

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