George Wallace Rhetoric

Politics and rhetoric of George Wallace influenced later conservative leaders such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton and George Bush. All in which modified his political toolbox, knowns as the Southern Strategy, for example creating wedge issue in polarization, accommodating the public’s emotion and most importantly using technology to their advantage in communicating to the public. Though the utilization of the silent majority, new technology, and the southern strategy were effective, they were not appropriate. I will describe the powerful tactics taken from Wallace’s toolbox and how the presidents effected the use of political campaign to their discretion.

The views of television all started when George Wallace stood as a “traffic

cop” and insisting on two African Americans to enter the University of Alabama. As people around the world were seeing this in their “grainy black-and-white images of that day’s television” (page 4). George Wallace immediately understood how much of an impact television can be when seen by the public by a “visual and verbal impressions” (page 5). This was a start of a new political advantage to candidates as a clear three-minute clip could change how American citizens voted when voting day came around. George Wallace continued the drive towards social media like using newspaper ads and radio stations to show the public in what they are truly voting for. For example: the newspaper ad of “the little blond girl sitting on the beach surrounded by, not one not two but, seven African American adolescent boys” (page 48). Or the radio listeners when Wallace advertised “Suppose your wife is driving home at 11 o’clock at night. She he stopped by a highway patrolman. He turns out to be black. Think about it… Elect George Wallace” (page 48). Specifying that African Americans will soon be integrated at white public or private school and be someone in life like a highway patrolman. Suggesting that African Americans will rule America if they do not vote for George Wallace for Governor. Or even when Dukakis and Bush were running for presidency Bush never failed to bring back Willie Horton. Michael Dukakis wanted to allow the people in prison to have a “weekend pass” and when the news of Willie Horton came out of raping and killing a white couple Bush made commercial ads of what Dukakis wanted to enforce. Majority of people quickly changed their minds and wanted to vote for Bush in return of not having a weekend pass and feeling safer when in public. One of the commercial ads was “Escape of convicted murders who killed and robbed a screen graphic showed the number of 268 superimposed prison doors… The grainy and stylized film clip made it difficult to tell the race of ‘prisoners’ (actors hired for the ad), and there was no mention of Willie Horton” (page 77). When in all reality was crucially pinned on what race is was which was African American and how Willie Horton was what every white American would see in any other black person. Another example is how North Carolina senator Jess Helms pulled the race card on his television ads “In which a white worker crumpled a job rejection letter to the accompaniment of a somber voice: ‘You were qualified for that job, but it had to go to a minority because of quotas’” (page 83). No matter who was running for presidency, senator, governor or any government position, social media outlets were the primary source into informing the public in what the opposing view was for or against and then use that to their advantage.
Within the next two paragraph I will be informing you on specifically two different presidents and how they used social media outlets like television commercials, accommodating the publics emotions state and creating wedges between race and class.

Richard Nixon used technology in his campaign which put him way ahead of the lead by doing polls in which helped identify what and why the citizens of America were mad and what they would like to happen in regards of change. These polls were carried out by Princeton’s Opinion Research Corporation. “Nixon’s men know the tools of their trade. Television would allow minimum uncontrolled exposure of the candidate and an opportunity for maximum manipulation of the electorate” (page 25). One of Nixon’s media advisors told him before his nomination “Voters are basically lazy, basically uninterested in making an effort to understand what we’re talking about… Reason requires a high degree of discipline, of concentration… The emotions are more easily roused, closer to the surface, more malleable… It’s the aura that surrounds the charismatic figure more than it is the figure itself that draws followers. Our task is to build that aura” (page 25). Nixon used this information to fight for and gain information about what emotional unstable the public so that through his campaign could accommodate their feelings. He wanted to make his audience feel like he was one of them and in turn, would represent them and their values when elected. Television

was used to create the “chemistry of the voter and image of the candidate” to fight for crime, education and against welfare. He would also “play the confident line from now until November… we should exude confidence, not cockiness” (page 26). He knew television appearances could create the safety net for him and point finger to his opponent for the reason being that the public would be able to see him as a caretaker not a greedy old man. Given the information during class discussion and notes Nixon would wear different clothing throughout his campaigns to identify himself with the public he was in attendance of to get majority of the white ethnic vote. “Don’t think in terms of old-time ethnics, go for Poles, Italians, Irish, must learn to understand Silent Majority… don’t go for the Jews & Blacks” (page 44). Richard Nixon only won the election against George McGovern in 1972 because the silent majority he appealed to were against what McGovern was advertising. “The 1972 GOP campaign set the framework for the political struggles of the next two decades by convincing voters, particularly Wallace voters, that they faced the choice of Nixon, who seemed to favor the rich, or McGovern – who apparently supported shiftless poor blacks, left-wing protesters, and sexual degenerates. They did not hesitate in their choice” (page 54). The public voted on behalf of Nixon just because he was for the white people and how they felt about topics including African Americans, protestors, and sexual degenerates not because they liked him as a candidate. Nixon used technology to win his election and continue to use Wallace political toolbox.
Ronald Regan used Wallace all mighty toolbox to utilize the public’s anger to his advantage by accommodating their emotions and therefore gaining him more political support through television Technology was a very useful tool in the pocket of Ronald Raegan since he happened to come from an acting background.

The technology and his acting career helped him present himself as the character his campaign wanted him to be perceived as the white republican leader. “He had learned to ‘sell himself’ effortlessly as a man for all times… He is the ideal past, the successful present, the hopeful future all in one. He is conceiving because he has ‘been there’ – been almost everywhere in our modern American culture – yet he ‘has no past’… He had made pretending the easiest thing we do” (page 68). Television was used and always made Ronald Raegan look so much more appealing than anyone he was against. Therefore, using this to his advantage he flipped the table whenever he talked about his ideas on how great the people of America could be. What they, the public, could do and what he mostly likely wanted them to do to gain more support. He repealed the Rumford Act which “Prohibited an owner from offering property for sale or rent and then withdrawing it for religious reasons” (page 55). By doing this he created a wedge between the whites who believed that their freedom of property rights were being taken away. Then later taking a straight quote from Wallace’s campaign speech and saying “You

wouldn’t want to sell your house to a red-headed Kiwanian if you didn’t want to, would you?” (page 55). He continued the wedge by opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “Attacked the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 as a measure ‘humiliating’ to southerners – a description that… said a great deal about whom Governor Regan considered a southerner” (page 56). He had the silent majority on his side while focusing the blame on South African American. An important characteristic of Raegan was the ability to use people’s anger to his advantage and focusing it on to others. Raegan refocused the anger of the working-class people who had jobs and made a decent living without going on welfare checks compared to people on welfare getting high maintenance food with food stamps. “Reagan told a crowd of Fort Lauderdale whites, were rightly outraged when they waited in grocery lines while a ‘strapping young buck’ ahead of them bought T-bone steaks with food stamps” (pg.64). By doing this he created his wedge in separating on class from the rest, this gained him more political support by pointing finger to the government. He used the public’s emotional fear of being angry at the African American “young buck” however, if you vote for Regan he will make change to this outrageous cause that the government started. His acting was living proof that his character on television was a manipulative one to the public.
The way in which presidents use the Southern Strategy are all problematic but effective method that has been, and still is, used for winning presidential elections. Richard Nixon, Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton and George Bush were given the opportunity to go through these political tactics and leave their footprint in America. Through positive and negative change, they helped create the America that everyone can live in. Wallace tactics will always be in continuance whether they are right or wrong in winning a presidential election. Even now in the 21st century our current president is using social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to communicate to the younger generation with given only few characters. “Most public figures today, however, are simply a composite of our infinitely manipulable imagination” (page 81). These tactics will never die down because we as Americans have given our government our attention through massive media outlets and if we as Americans do not pay attention beyond the “entertainment” we will never strive to success as a country but continue to build upon Wallace Sothern Strategy.