The Truth about Reagan’s 1980 Campaign Launch

In Part 1 we explored the content of Reagan’s speech and the national media’s relative disinterest in it. Delivered to a small segment of Central-East Mississippi, this brief address was heard by few. Yet, decades later, pundits cite this moment to explain twentieth-century American politics, attempting to link Republican electoral dominance with the nefarious racial politics of the alleged “Southern Strategy.” Without this, the Party Switch Myth has no connection to the modern Republican Party, since Reagan is an integral foundation. To make this tenuous connection, they must also ignore what Reagan and his team planned and executed during the first week of the general election campaign. The following is an excerpt from the upcoming book Dismantled: The Party Switch Myth.

After a day of rest, Reagan returned to his planned launch schedule and actual strategy on Tuesday, August 5th by meeting with civil rights leader Vernon Jordan, president of the Urban League.¹ Jordan was recovering in a New York hospital from an assassination attempt, an event that shifted the schedule of Reagan's Urban League speech to after his Mississippi stop. Their meeting lasted 45 minutes, or three times the duration of the Neshoba speech.²

This visit and the ensuing week were part of a deliberate, strategic campaign involving hundreds of strategy sessions, dozens of consulting efforts, press releases, speechwriters, and coordination with long-term national party and election strategies. This was detailed in Reagan’s strategist Richard Wirthlin in a 176-page document that meticulously explained the 1980 campaign.³ The importance of these early campaign events was evident, and they were extensively covered by the national media.⁴

Nowhere in what would become known as Reagan’s campaign “black book” was the speech in Neshoba county, because it simply wasn’t part of the campaign strategy. It was done as a favor to local Republicans and rescheduled because of the attempt on Vernon Jordan’s life.⁵

After the Jordan meeting, Reagan delivered what his campaign deemed a "major address" to the civil rights organization. This 30-minute speech, double the length of the Neshoba event, was filled with specific policy proposals that articulated his strategic vision.⁶ With national media closely watching, Reagan addressed civil rights leaders and Urban League members, outlining his intentions and policy goals:

Reagan added to these prepared remarks, “I am committed to the protection and enforcement of the civil rights of black Americans. This commitment is interwoven into every phase of the programs I will propose."⁷ Why has this event and clear pronouncement of principles disappeared from relevance?

After his address to the civil rights organization, Reagan toured the dilapidated areas of the South Bronx alongside the media, promising to create jobs where Carter had not.⁸ He then traveled to Chicago to meet executives from the nation's largest black-owned publishing firm, including EBONY and JET magazine.⁹ The campaign emphasized to the national media that these efforts were part of a broader strategy, “to make inroads in the black community.”¹⁰

What did Reagan tell the editorial board of JET and EBONY magazine during the over-hour-long meeting (more time spent in total at the Mississippi Fairgrounds)? JET reported in their August issue:¹¹

Aware of potential misinterpretations of his Mississippi speech, Reagan took care to clarify his positions, particularly about decentralizing federal programs:

This indicates a concerted effort towards the public to clarify possible misconceptions and suggests that the editors at JET and EBONY were not even fully aware of the backdrop against which Reagan discussed these issues. Reagan’s campaign aimed to make his intentions unmistakably clear: