48
The lack of a substantive policy response to these concerns did not change even when
their political ramifications seemed to grow in importance. By 1982, there was increasing
concern among high level advisors that black antipathy toward the Reagan administration might
adversely impact their quest to increase conservative democrats and republicans in the House
and Senate in the 1982 midterm elections. In August of 1982, Dan Smith, Senior Policy Advisor
to the President and formerly with OPD, wrote a letter to Deaver in which he argued that there
was an impending “black voter backlash” this coming November, and that this could produce a
record black voting turnout which would work to defeat Republican Congressional and
Gubernatorial candidates.
97
Several weeks later Smith offered a memo to Deaver outlining a
“Black Voter Plan”. This plan advocated that the president make “several black-related
addresses this fall to demonstrate his sensitivity to black problems,” and suggested a number of
other ways that the administration might better “highlight the many positive actions taken by the
Administration that help black America.”
98
It is significant to note that the administration
actions that Smith thought the president should highlight included Voting Rights; Black
Appointees; Black colleges initiative; and Minority Business enterprise. (p. 1) Smith concluded
his memo with a list of congressional races where an “increase in the Black Vote Could Make
the Difference Between Victory or Defeat For the Republican Nominee This Fall.” (pp. 3-4).
Edwin Harper, Assistant to the President in the Office of Policy Development,
recognizing the strategic importance of the black vote, wrote a memo to the President in March
of 1982 that provided Reagan with “talking points on civil rights.” In this memo, Harper began
by observing that their budget cuts in social programs were potentially disruptive:
97
Letter to Michael Deaver, from Dan Smith, August 4, 1982, in Deaver, Michael, WHSF, OA7621, Miscellaneous
Memos/ Correspondence ’82 (July – December) (7)., RRPL.
98
Memorandum from Dan Smith to Michael Deaver, August 18, 1982, Subject: Black Voter Plan, in Deaver,
Michael, WHSF, OA7621, File: Miscellaneous Memos/Correspondence ’82 (July – December) (6), RRPL.
Convention