The term "dog whistle" is used in Mr. Lopez's book as a metaphor for saying one thing that is audible to everyone, but in reality suggesting an unheard castigation of a racial group which those particularly addressed will hear. During his tenure as president, Lopez contends, President Ronald Reagan employed this strategy of "dog whistle politics" using such terms as "welfare queens," "strapping young bucks," and "states' rights."
In his effort to reduce federal spending, President Reagan sought to trim down certain government programs such as the welfare programs using similar methods that he had successfully employed as governor of California. One effort that Reagan made was that of seeking to eliminate fraud that existed in this program. When he spoke on this topic, Reagan employed what Lopez terms "dog whistle politics." For, he spoke during his campaign in 1980 of "welfare queens" who abused the system so much that they were driving Cadillacs and wearing fur coats. [This is a rather generalized reference to women such as African-American Linda Taylor who used 80 aliases and amassed a tax-free $150,000 a year.] Less subtly, he criticized the amount afforded people on food stamps when he alluded to "strapping young bucks" who purchased T-bone steaks with their food stamps.
According to Lopez, with these "dog whistles" Reagan tapped into the same technique used by George Wallace and Richard Nixon. In fact, like Wallace, Lopez further contends, Reagan spoke of states' rights with more than its denotation evident in his phrase. While Reagan did believe in reducing the power of the federal government and restoring more autonomy to the individual states, it could not be overlooked that he used this phrase when he addressed a crowd during his 1980 presidential campaign in Neshoba County, Mississippi, which is only seven miles from Philadelphia, Mississippi, a town associated with the murder of civil rights workers in 1964.
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