2
the racial politics of the time. This initial spark led to a study of the Reagan administration
archives. I was searching for direct evidence of a political relationship between race and the
planning of the Reagan welfare reforms. This paper describes the initial findings of this project.
While there have been important studies of the heightened role of race in the anti-
poverty politics in the 1960s (Davies 1996; Quadagno 1994), none have addressed the shifting
identity of racial/institutional structures in the continuing development of American welfare state
policies. My research does just this, adapting Lieberman’s (1998) general historical-institutional
approach to race in the development of U.S. social policy, and applying it to the turmoil of the
1960s. My approach, however, adds another element to this research. In order to understand the
impact of race on the political development of welfare, I use the archives of presidential
administrations to ferret out the role of race in the welfare policy strategies of the presidencies
during the civil rights era, and afterwards. This approach enables me to study the substance of
the racial code word claims, using the analytic power of social science methods.
The Reagan administration’s conservative approach to welfare can best be understood by
tracing the influence of the politics of race and welfare in the 1960s on his efforts. As race
became increasingly important in welfare politics, and as presidents Johnson and then Nixon
sought to respond to this linkage, a ‘racially structured welfare politics’ emerged.
1
This structure
formed the political context for the Reagan administration’s efforts to diminish the size and
centralization of federal welfare programs for the poor. This paper describes this structure, and
applies it to the study of the Reagan administration’s first attempt to reform welfare in 1981.
Reagan’s approach to welfare reform is characterized, based on this research, as
predominantly racially neutral, despite suggestive references to race throughout. Applying my
1
For a study of welfare during both presidencies, see Davies 1996. For work on Johnson and his War on Poverty
generally see Sundquist 1968; Levitan 1969; Brauer 1982. For work on Nixon’s welfare reforms, see Moynihan
1973; Burke and Burke 1974.
Convention