# Ronald Reagan was a white supremacist (new Reagan-Nixon tape) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 31, 2019, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923 "2019-07-31T11:48:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/21 "2019-07-31T14:11:44Z")
Further evidence that racism and “white supremacy” are not acceptable in US society and have not been for quite a while. If they were acceptable, Reagan would have said this in public and the thoughts would not be broadly condemned today. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/22 "2019-07-31T14:12:08Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Now that you have told me that a man I never voted for and who has been dead for a long, long time was a racist, what exactly is it that you want me to do? IOW, how did you expect to influence the behavior of others by passing this along? You must abase yourself publicly every time you see a person of color, and pledge all future earnings to black liberation. Obviously! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/23 "2019-07-31T14:21:36Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > You must abase yourself publicly every time you see a person of color, and pledge all future earnings to black liberation. Obviously! 😉 I don’t know where the idea that you lack humor started, but the people who say that are clearly wrong. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/24 "2019-07-31T14:24:14Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Do you think Reagan would have referred to educated middle-class African-Americans as “monkeys”? > > I think this quote indicates that there’s a high likelihood that he might have done so in private to a confidante that he thought shared the belief. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The “hateful ideology related to neo-Naziism” you’re referring to wants to exterminate non-white people, unless I’m missing something. That’s pretty different – I don’t believe Reagan had any interest in exterminating non-white people. But based on this rhetoric, and other things he said and did (like his policy towards apartheid and South Africa), I think it’s pretty clear that he was comfortable with “the white raced as the exclusive [or perhaps near-exclusive/functionally exclusive] owners of political and social power”. Both of those statements seem to be wild conjectures not supported by the evidence you provided in the OP. They may even be true for all I know, but they aren’t supported either by that evidence or any other evidence I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/25 "2019-07-31T14:34:10Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I don’t know where the idea that you lack humor started, but the people who say that are clearly wrong. Thank you! I suspect that many who disagree with me see me as strident and perhaps harsh with my views, but I recognize that we’re all people, and very few of us are monsters. Even most racists and white supremacists are just people who have been exposed to a profoundly bigoted (IMO) society and culture and just internalized much or all of it rather than recognizing and fighting agaainst the bad parts. I focus on this stuff because I think it’s so harmful, not because the people who tolerate or even support it are all evil. They’re mostly just wrong, but they’re still just people – highly flawed people who probably love their families and neighbors and would likely stop to help a bleeding person on the side of the road. Growing up in Louisiana and Arkansas, I knew many such folks. They weren’t evil, but they were wrong in a way that is profoundly harmful to society and to many other Americans, when such beliefs are so commonly held. IMO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/26 "2019-07-31T14:35:37Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Both of those statements seem to be wild conjectures not supported by the evidence you provided in the OP. They may even be true for all I know, but they aren’t supported either by that evidence or any other evidence I’ve seen. YMMV, but I think it’s supported by this quote, Reagan’s policy towards South Africa, and other words and policies. It’s still conjecture, but I think it’s conjecture supported by words and actions. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/27 "2019-07-31T14:50:30Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > A white man’s racism is synonymous with white supremacy. What else should we call it? No, the terms are not synonymous. White supremacy involves the belief that white people should be in control, should be dominant. It’s possible to be racist without holding that particular belief. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/28 "2019-07-31T14:58:43Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Now that you have told me that a man I never voted for and who has been dead for a long, long time was a racist, what exactly is it that you want me to do? IOW, how did you expect to influence the behavior of others by passing this along? I endorse this question. Many old, white guys were/are racist. Is that somehow new information? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/29 "2019-07-31T15:03:20Z")
He made a racist joke about some people he was angry with. It was a different time and people were much looser with ethnic and racial jokes. He was a national political figure for decades, wrote columns, had a radio spot, gave thousands of speeches, and one racist joke is the evidence that he was a white supremacist. It has nothing to do with anything now. Lots of democrats were openly saying horribly racist things back then and it tells you nothing about how democrats feel now. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/30 "2019-07-31T15:08:55Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > That’s not white supremacist in the least; it’s xenophobic, certainly. It used to be common, and maybe still is, for Americans to think of the people of Africa as primitive savages, running around with a spear and a loincloth and a bone in their nose. If you’re old enough, you may remember seeing black “savage” or “cannibal” characters in cartoons. Maybe some of the people who honestly thought that way weren’t racist, just xenophobic or just plain ignorant, but a lot of them were. Reagan’s remark strikes me as being in this “tradition.” Does it _prove_ he was a racist, or even a white supremacist? By itself I don’t think it rises to the level of proof—but it is, indeed, hard for me to imagine someone who wasn’t racist saying what he said. And if so: I didn’t know Reagan was a racist, but it doesn’t surprise me particularly. And I knew Nixon was a nasty man. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/31 "2019-07-31T15:23:43Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > No, the terms are not synonymous. White supremacy involves the belief that white people should be in control, should be dominant. It’s possible to be racist without holding that particular belief. You can believe that if you want. People can argue the semantics of both terms, but they are commonly understood to be synonymous. > **[Racism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism)** > > Racism is discrimination and prejudice against people based on their race or ethnicity. Racism can be present in social actions, practices, or political systems (e.g. apartheid) that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices. The ideology underlying racist practices often assumes that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as inferior or superior. Racist ideology can... > [@](#): > > Racism is the belief in the superiority of one race over another > [@](#): > > In terms of political systems (e.g., apartheid) that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices or laws, racist ideology may include associated social aspects such as nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, and supremacism. Again, if you want to argue differently, that’s your choice, but it’s my choice to ignore it because they’re commonly understood to be synonymous. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/32 "2019-07-31T15:25:13Z")
I agree that Reagan’s words, here, are racist. I’m not sure what is the proposed solution or action though. To rename Reagan Airport or the USS Ronald Reagan carrier? For conservatives to stop praising the economic growth and revival of the 1980s? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/33 "2019-07-31T15:25:50Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > It used to be common, and maybe still is, for Americans to think of the people of Africa as primitive savages, running around with a spear and a loincloth and a bone in their nose. If you’re old enough, you may remember seeing black “savage” or “cannibal” characters in cartoons. Maybe some of the people who honestly thought that way weren’t racist, just xenophobic or just plain ignorant, but a lot of them were. In other words, racism used to be more common than it is now. The fact that it’s “tradition” doesn’t make it less racist. Christ, look at what you’re writing and think about it for more than a minute. ---
**Author:** ![KAndre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@KAndre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KAndre)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/34 "2019-07-31T15:28:10Z")
“One racist joke”? Black people have been saying for years Reagan was racist because he opposed the Voting Rights Act, vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act, said Jefferson Davis was a hero of his, supported apartheid South Africa and ‘states rights’ and used racist appeals in all of his campaigns. Now we have Reagan being clearly as racist as you can get (and just because other people made “jokes” like this, that doesn’t mean they weren’t racist - it was simply “acceptable”) and people still make excuses. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/35 "2019-07-31T15:29:39Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I agree that Reagan’s words, here, are racist. > > I’m not sure what is the proposed solution or action though. To rename Reagan Airport or the USS Ronald Reagan carrier? For conservatives to stop praising the economic growth and revival of the 1980s? I would posit that there’s no need to rename anything. Reagan, like Woodrow Wilson, achieved some measure of good which cannot be taken away from him. I’ve always personally felt Reagan was a shitty, overrated president and it had nothing to do with what I’ve always suspected was closet racism - long before what we’ve just uncovered. Legacies are complex. We don’t have to completely rewrite a legacy based on an obvious flaw, even if it’s offensive. But we should acknowledge the character flaw, and we shouldn’t just accept it because other people of Reagan’s generation were racist too. So what? There were plenty of other people, including Republicans, who were not racist during that time and fought hard to improve what most decent people knew to be a terrible social and political injustice in this country - something which Reagan apparently worked hard to fight against. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/36 "2019-07-31T15:29:40Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > but it’s my choice to ignore it because they’re commonly understood to be synonymous. Looks to me like the cite you just quoted supports me. “racist ideology _may include_ … supremacism.” When one category includes another, they’re not synonymous. (“A is a subset of B” is different from “A is equal to B.”) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/37 "2019-07-31T15:30:45Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > I will never vote for Ronald Reagan again!!! > > Anyone else remember LBJ’s favorite saying about black Americans? (though he liked to use another word to refer to them) “All those n\*\*\*\*\*s want is a loose pair of shoes, a tight piece of ass and a warm place to take a shit.” That wasn’t Johnson who said that. It was Ford’s Secretary of Agriculture, [Earl Butz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Butz#Scandals_and_resignation). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/38 "2019-07-31T15:36:12Z")
> [@KAndre](#): > > “One racist joke”? Black people have been saying for years Reagan was racist because he opposed the Voting Rights Act, vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act, said Jefferson Davis was a hero of his, supported apartheid South Africa and ‘states rights’ and used racist appeals in all of his campaigns. This is the kind of thing that needs to be said. I was relatively young and apolitical during the Reagan years, so I wasn’t particularly aware of the evidence for Reagan’s racism; so pointing this stuff out now is helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/39 "2019-07-31T15:42:31Z")
and, btw, Fuck the National Archives: > [@](#): > > The National Archives originally released the tape of the phone call in 2000 without the racist portion It’s not their job to sanitize history ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923/40 "2019-07-31T15:54:39Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > That wasn’t Johnson who said that. It was Ford’s Secretary of Agriculture, [Earl Butz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Butz#Scandals_and_resignation). I had always heard that attributed to LBJ, so I stand corrected and appreciate the Straight Dope on that. :o [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ronald-reagan-was-a-white-supremacist-new-reagan-nixon-tape/837923.md?page=3)