When Harvey Met Jesse: Attack Ads of the 1990 Gantt-Helms U.S. Senate Race in North Carolina (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

In the 1970s and 80s, Republican Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina was one of America’s leading spokesmen for far right-wing causes. All over the nation, there was no shortage of people who either loved or hated Helms, an ultra-conservative, unrepentantly bigoted demagogue straight out of the Jim Crow era. Helms’ challenger in his 1990 re-election battle was Harvey Gantt, the first black mayor of Charlotte, N.C., and a progressive, liberal Democrat. The Gantt-Helms U.S. Senate race was the most closely watched political campaign of that year’s midterms. National media descended on the state, with camera crews and print reporters rushing from campaign appearance to appearance as if a presidential contest was underway. The media was captivated by the symbolism of the Gantt-Helms campaign, characterizing it as the Los Angeles Times did - "a struggle between the Old South and the New," one that "held the nation rapt," according to USA Today. As Time magazine explained it, this election would answer the question of whether "Helms' brand of racial politics (was) finally obsolete." To save his seat, Helms unleashed a wave of blistering attack ads against Gantt, including some of the most racially divisive political advertising in modern history. The campaign’s ad wars brought down the candidate whose loss inspired Barack Obama to run for office, while charting a course for the negative ads that have since come to dominate our national politics. Many thought Helms’ influence might have finally waned when Obama won North Carolina in 2008, the same year Helms died at age 86. But instead, his victory sparked a backlash. Republicans took control of the state and pushed through the worst voter suppression measures since the Voting Rights Act was passed, designed to keep African-Americans and other Democratic constituencies from voting. The story of the 1990 Gantt-Helms campaign is an important chapter in the history of race and U.S. politics, and illuminates how North Carolina and the nation are still battling the aftershocks of bigotry that Helms left behind.