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By today’s standards he seems mild. Even Obama praised him. Along with Lincoln, Republicans trot Ronald Reagan out every time Democrats praise the communication wizardry of Obama, Clinton, or Kennedy, (files.mastodon.social)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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By today’s standards he seems mild. Even Obama praised him. Along with Lincoln, Republicans trot Ronald Reagan out every time Democrats praise the communication wizardry of Obama, Clinton, or Kennedy, or the stalwart composition of FDR or integrity of Truman. In reality, Reagan was an impenetrable facade of congeniality who was quite hostile to civil rights.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Despite his public congeniality, Reagan was quite hostile to civil rights. He had a history of it leading back to his testimonies for the House Un-American Activities Committee—-tasked with weeding out and blackballing suspected Communist sympathizers.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ronald Reagan, prior to his political career, testified in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on October 23, 1947. At the time, Reagan was working as the president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). During his testimony, he expressed his concerns about communist influence within Hollywood and the entertainment industry.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Reagan named several individuals whom he believed to be members of the Communist Party or associated with communist activities. His testimony was notable for his strong anti-communist stance and his efforts to purge
suspected communist sympathizers from the industry.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

While some praised Reagan’s actions, considering them a defense of American values and national security, others criticized his participation in the HUAC hearings as contributing to the climate of fear and blacklisting during the McCarthy era.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Reagan’s activities in front of the HUAC reflected his firm opposition to communism and foreshadowed his later political career, where he to advocate against his opponents, with coding language alluding to their un-Americaness.

This eventually led him to the governorship of California.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The Democratic presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson marked a significant turning point with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These landmark legislations caused a seismic shift within the Democratic Party. Subsequently, the Democrats experienced a loss of support from the Solid South in national presidential elections for the majority of the subsequent fifty years.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

While some Democrats had already switched to the Republican Party prior to these acts, the number of defections increased significantly after Johnson's signing. This led to a period of profound reconfiguration within the political parties. However, the transformation did not occur instantly.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In the 1960s & early 1970s, white Southerners were still in the process of transitioning away from the Democratic Party (while newly enfranchised black Southerners voted & continued to vote Democratic). During the 1972 presidential primaries, former AL Governor George Wallace, known for his staunch support of segregation, ran as a Democrat, even as Richard Nixon employed a Southern strategy that appealed to the racism of Southern white voters.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Today the South is solidly Republican. In every presidential election since 1964 -- save the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 -- Dixie has been the heart of GOP presidential politics. The white Southern vote was key to the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994, and President George W. Bush was elected in 2000 because he carried every Southern state.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ronald Reagan was key to the South's transition to Republican politics. Goldwater got the ball rolling, but Reagan was at his side from the very beginning. During the 1964 campaign, Reagan gave speeches in support of Goldwater and spoke out for what he called individual rights -- (states' rights). Reagan also and portrayed any opposition as support for totalitarianism -- (communism).

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Reagan expressed opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, referring to the latter as "humiliating to the South." During his 1966 gubernatorial campaign in California, he made a promise to repeal the Fair Housing Act, stating "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, he has a right to do so."

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@Deglassco Reagan was a second rate actor, third rate politician and friend of the worst Prime Minister ever.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reagan's extensive use of dog-whistle racism, which consisted of subtly coded messages, received insufficient media coverage at the time and has largely been disregarded in contemporary narratives. One group of people he continually harangued were people on public assistance, who he unilaterally relegated to “leech“ status.

While Governor of California, Reagan repeatedly targeted social service programs and “throwing the welfare bums out.”

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In 1976, Reagan sought the GOP nomination against the incumbent Gerald Ford. Reagan's campaign was on the ropes until the primaries hit the Southern states, where he won his first key victory in NC. Throughout the South that spring and summer, Reagan portrayed himself as Goldwater's heir while criticizing Ford as a captive of Eastern establishment Republicans fixated on forced integration.

Reagan lost the nomination to Ford in 1976.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

But when the former CA governor ran for President again in 1980, he began his campaign in Philadelphia, MS., where 3 civil rights workers were brutally killed by white supremacists. It was at that sore spot on the racial map that Reagan revived talk about states' rights & curbing the power of the federal government.

In front of a predominantly white audience numbering in the tens of thousands, Reagan proclaimed, "I believe in states' rights".

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reagan's rhetoric surrounding welfare programs and his portrayal of "welfare queens" perpetuated racial stereotypes.

To many it sounded like code for announcing himself as the candidate for white segregationists. Indeed, during his campaign for the Presidency, the Ku Klux Klan endorsed Reagan (after his Philadelphia MS speech). Reagan only repudiated the endorsement under pressure.

https://youtu.be/UlpqIkoehVA

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

By the time Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency in 1980, the Republican Party had firmly established its hold on white Southerners. He won.

After he defeated President Carter, a native Southerner, Reagan led an administration that seemed to cater to Southerners still angry over the passage of the Civil Rights Act after 16 years.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Reagan team condemned busing for school integration, opposed affirmative action and even threatened to veto a proposed extension of the Voting Rights Act (the sequel to the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed a year later and focused on election participation).

Again, his emphasis on "states' rights" was seen as a veiled reference to opposing civil rights legislation and appealing to white voters who were resistant to desegregation efforts.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

During his presidency, Ronald Reagan's justice department aligned itself with segregationists by offering support to Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist institution that sought federal funds despite practicing racial discrimination. In 1983, when the Supreme Court ruled against Bob Jones, Reagan responded by significantly weakening the Civil Rights Commission as an act of retaliation.

https://youtu.be/PkVCppsIyrA

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Critics argue that Ronald Reagan utilized the War on Drugs as a racially charged wedge issue, contributing to racial disparities within the criminal justice system. Reagan's administration implemented policies that disproportionately targeted minority communities, particularly African-Americans.

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https://youtu.be/Gj8gAQ_cQ7Q

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

One notable aspect was the differential treatment between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, signed into law by Reagan, established significantly harsher penalties for crack cocaine, which was more prevalent in low-income urban communities, predominantly impacting African-Americans.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@Deglassco So important to remember that so much of the shit that we are in today is because of this fucker.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The sentencing disparities resulted in disproportionate rates of incarceration for African-Americans, perpetuating racial inequalities within the criminal justice system. Critics argue that Reagan's administration, through its rhetoric and policies, perpetuated racial stereotypes and contributed to the stigmatization and criminalization of minority communities, further exacerbating existing racial divides.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In 1971, the day after the United Nations voted to recognize the People’s Republic of China, then–California Governor Ronald Reagan phoned President Richard Nixon at the White House and vented his frustration at the delegates who had sided against the United States.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

“Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said.

“Yeah,” Nixon interjected. Reagan forged ahead with his complaint:

“To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!”

Nixon gave a huge laugh.

https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/013

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ronald Reagan’s use of racist dog whistles during his political campaigns was primarily through the use of coded language and symbolic gestures that appealed to racial biases and fears without explicitly mentioning race.

These tactics allowed Reagan to tap into racial resentments and gain support from white voters who harbored racial biases, effectively leveraging racist dog whistles to advance his political agenda.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@[email protected]

So much to be angry about where Reagan is concerned.

What angers me the most, as a child during his Presidency, living in a rural farm community, we were taught that he was the greatest world leader ever.
Much like right wing media has gaslit the MAGA folks, back then we too were gaslit. It wasn't until my college years that I fully understood the truth, and it still angers me that so many were fed lies for so long.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@Deglassco as if we needed more reason to despise him!

Appreciate these threads.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@Deglassco @[email protected] @[email protected] Ronnie Raygun sold us a LARGE bill of goods. My guess he was following the script of his Federalist Society (or previous organization - ?John Birch?) handlers.
"Aw, shucks. I'm just reading what they tell me..."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@Deglassco @[email protected] @[email protected] Love these history lessons, Elisabeth! Thank you! I'm old enough to remember Reagan as Governor of California: "When you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all," and "If they want a bloodbath, we'll give 'em a bloodbath" (referring to demonstrators in Berkeley). A thoroughly unpleasant character with a Hollywood smile to cover up all his bigotry and ignorance.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@Deglassco @[email protected] @[email protected]
The line from Reagan to Trump is straight, unbroken, and lined with White Supremacy supporting oligarch money.