A Black paper likened Reagan’s 1966 record to Wallace’s racism

Evidence

Reagan, an FBI informer during the McCarthy era, plunged into California politics in 1964 to support the repeal of the Rumford Fair Housing Act, which sought to eliminate racial discrimination in the rental and sale of residential properties. On the federal level, Reagan opposed both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, positions that prefigured his opposition to affirmative action, which he characterized as “reverse discrimination.” By the time Reagan geared up his campaign for governor in 1966, the Los Angeles Sentinel, an African American newspaper, wrote that, despite the candidate’s protestations that he was not a racist, “Mr. Reagan is rapidly assuming the stature as the outstanding American spokesman for racism.” The paper continued: “Judged by his actions alone, and discounting his words of self-praise, Mr. Reagan cannot be distinguished from Governor George Wallace of Alabama.” — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 147

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Reagan’s states’ rights rhetoric signaled racial backlash — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 286; Reagan used racially coded language that racists understood without spelling out — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 148; Reagan’s backlash rhetoric repudiated civil rights through coded attacks — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 211 (+1 more)

Related

• Reagan’s states’ rights rhetoric signaled racial backlash (similarity 0.82)
• Reagan’s backlash rhetoric repudiated civil rights through coded attacks (similarity 0.82)
• Reagan used racially coded language that racists understood without spelling out (similarity 0.80)
• George Wallace’s 1968 New York rally drew fascist groups and violent street clashes. (similarity 0.78)
• Reagan used color-blind rhetoric to commemorate a sanitized King (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Reagan’s states’ rights rhetoric signaled racial backlash #corroborates (0.90) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 286
• Reagan’s backlash rhetoric repudiated civil rights through coded attacks #corroborates (0.90) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 211
• Reagan used racially coded language that racists understood without spelling out #corroborates (0.85) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 148
• George Wallace’s 1968 New York rally drew fascist groups and violent street clashes. #expands (0.75) — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1331