Bush Campaign Deploys Willie Horton Ad Weaponizing Racial Fear of Black Criminals

The Americans for Bush arm of the National Security Political Action Committee, working with Bush campaign consultants, began running the infamous ‘Weekend Passes’ advertisement featuring William Horton, a Black prisoner who committed crimes while on furlough from a Massachusetts prison. The ad was produced by Larry McCarthy, who had worked for Roger Ailes, and ran as an ‘independent expenditure’ with the Bush campaign claiming no involvement. Campaign manager Lee Atwater had stated: ‘If I can make Willie Horton a household name we’ll win the election’ and ‘By the time we’re finished, they’re going to wonder whether Willie Horton is Dukakis’s running mate.’ The ad used Horton’s mug shot and deliberately recast his name from ‘William’ to ‘Willie’ to play on racial stereotypes. Historian Tali Mendelberg wrote that ’the Bush campaign used the racial facts of the case intentionally—though subtly—as part of the overall strategy to recruit white voters without drawing the “racist” label.’ Horton later objected: ‘The name irks me. It was created to play on racial stereotypes: big, ugly, dumb, violent, black — “Willie.” I resent that. They created a fictional character — who seemed believable but did not exist.’ Combined with the related ‘Revolving Door’ ad (October 5), the Willie Horton campaign successfully tarred Dukakis with a soft-on-crime label. Bush won in a landslide on November 8. Before dying of a brain tumor in 1991, Atwater apologized: ‘I am sorry for both statements: the first for its naked cruelty, the second because it makes me sound racist.’