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Vice-President waged one the most effective presidential campaigns in American electoral history. Democrats charge, however, that he played the race card. At issue were campaign ads the Republicans ran about a convicted murder, Willie Horton. These ads are still a matter of contention, but the issues involved are often not fairly stated by party partisans. There is no doubt that the Willie Horton ad campaign played a role in the reversal of fortunes in the polls. The ads proved particularly effective with the working-class Democrats that would decide the election. The precise importance and the appeal to voters is not alltogether clear.
Willie Horton and two accomplices robbed a gas station and srtabbed the defenless attendant, 17-year old, Joseph Fournier, 19 times (October 26, 1974). They left him to bleed to death in a trash can. He was arrested and convicted of First Degree murder. He was setenced to life in prison without parole. He served his sentence at the Northeastern Correctional Center in Concord, Massachusetts.
The Massachuseettes Legislature passed a law that allowed for 48-hour furloughs for fellons serving sentences (1972). Michael Dukakis was not responsible for the program. Francis Sargent was govenor at the time. The program released fellons on an "honor system" to see if they could stay out of trouble. It was thought that this would assist in their rehabilitation.
Horton became eligible for a furlough. He was released from Northeastern Correctional Center for an unguarded, 48-hour furlough (June 6, 1986). He never returned after the 48-hours. .
Horton disappeared for 9 months. Clifford Barnes who was 28 years old heard footsteps in his Oxon Hill, Maryland home. He assumed it was fiancée who must have returned early from a wedding party. Willie Horton appeared with a gun (April 3, 1987). Horton proceeded to torture Barnes for 7 hours. He punched, pistol-whipped, and kicked Barnes repeatedly. He also cut him axknive 22 times across his midsection. When Barnes' fiancée Angela did return, Horton assaukted her. He gagged her and then proceeded to savagely raped her twice. Finally Horton left. He stole Barnes' car, but was chased and captured by the police.
Horton was tried in Maryland for the assaults on Barnes and the rape of Angela ???. He was found guilty and sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 85 years. The sentencing judge declined to return Horton to Massachusetts to serve out his murder conviction there. The judge indicated, "I'm not prepared to take the chance that Mr. Horton might again be furloughed or otherwise released. This man should never draw a breath of free air again."
Studies show that convicted offenders in Massachusetts sentenced to "life without parole" spent less than 19 years in prison. A study conducted at the time showed that there were more than 80 Massachusetts convicts listed as escaped and still at large. This was misleading. Only four of the reported escapees had actually "escaped." Most had simply walked away during their 48-hour furloughs, prerelease centers, and other minimum-security programs. The individuals involved included convicts included murderers, rapists, armed robbers and drug dealers. The Willie Horton incident was not the only time that convicted fellons committed terrible crimes while out on furloughs. John Zukoski brutally beat and then murdered a 44-year-old woman (1970). He became eligible for furloughs and was subsequently paroled (1986). A few months after his release, he was arrested and indicted yet again for beating and raping another woman. Another example was First-degree murderer Armand Therrien. He was transferred from a medium security prison to a minimum-security one. This made him eligible for a work-release program. He then walked off and disappeared (December 1987).
Michael Dukakis served four terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1962-70). He was elected governor as a reformer (1974). During his first term a govenor, Dukakis commuted the sentences of 21 first-degree murderers and those of 23 second-degree murderers. After some of those individuals reoffended, he curtailed these commutations aand issued no commutations in his last 3 years as governor. Problems with the Massachusetts Furlough Programlaw caused the state Legislature to pass a bill to ban furloughs for first-degree murderers (1976). Governor Dukakis vetoed the bill saying that it would "cut the heart out of inmate rehabilitation." Dukakis failed tp win the DEmocratic primary in 1978, but won relection again in 1983. By that time, Massachusetts citizens had begun to complain about crimes committed by furloughed fellons. The Govenor and his aides vigorously defended the release programs. One state official maintained that furloughs were a "management tool" to help the prisons. According to him, a convict that had no hope of parole would create a dangers situation. "We would have a very dangerous population in an already dangerous system." This was unconvincing to many. The obvious question was, if armed guards are unable to control dangerous fellons inside prison cells, just how are unarmed citizens supposed to protect themnselves? Pressure mounted for reform. Citizens Against Unsafe Society publicized the problem and urged action. There was an enormous grassroots petition drive. As a result, the Massachuseyys Legislature passed another bill to outlaw the practice (April 28, 1988). The Govenor's aides advised him that that he had better not veto another bill passed by the legislature as it could affect his presidential campaign. Dukakis signed the bill into law (April 1988).
The Americans for Bush unit of the National Security Political Action Committee (NSPAC), began running a campaign ad entitled "Weekend Passes (September 21, 1988). The ad used the Horton case to attack Dukakis as weak on crime. The Willie Hirton ad was produced by media consultant Larry McCarthy, who had earlier worked for Roger Ailes. (Alies of course is now well known as Fox n McCarthy included a menacing mug shot of Horton, who is African-American. He chose the imagev to bring up whatvhereferred to as "every suburban mother's greatest fear." He also changed Horton's name from "William" to "Willie.
There is no doubt that the Willie Horton ads were effective, dramatically changing the public image of Govenor Dukakis. The question is if the ads were factual and why were they effective. Democrats insist that the ads were misleading if not patently untrue. They point out that the Massachsetts program was passed by the Legislature before Dukakis was elected govenor. This is true, but the Democrats are not being honest here. Govenor Dukakis stringly supported the Furlough Program and vetoes the Legislature's attempt to exempt First Degree murders. The next question is did Vice-Presidebt Bush and Atwater play the race card? Liberal Democrats and most blacks believe strongly that they did. It is with them an article of faith. One collumist uses the term "Willie Hortonized". [king] We tend to agree here out of personal experience with Atwater and the tone of the ad that they did. We do not agree, however, that the reactin of voters was entirely racial. We believe that race was certainly a factor, but we believe that a legitimate fear of crime was also important. The tendency of liberal Democrats to focus only on race is just one of many examples where they dismiss the values of the working-class Democrats that they need to win elections.
Bidinotto, Robert James. Getting Away with Murder (1988).
King, Colbert I. "The Next Willie Horton" Washington Post (May 3, 2008), p. A15.
Takesian, Steve. Willie Horton: True Crime and Its Influence on a Presidential Election
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