Willie Horton
Willie Horton is a convicted criminal who was the subject of controversial advertisements during the 1988 U.S. Presidential race.
Horton was imprisoned at the Concord Correctional Facility in Massachusetts for murder. In 1986, he was released as part of a weekend furlough program but did not return. He eventually fled to Oxon Hill, Maryland where he assaulted local resident Clifford Barnes and raped his fianceé. Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis was the governor at the time, and while he did not start the furlough program, he had supported it as a method of rehabilitation.
The case of Willie Horton was discussed as a political issue during the Democratic presidential primary by Senator Al Gore. After Dukakis won the Democratic Party nomination, Republican candidate George H.W. Bush's campaign released ads criticizing the furlough program to portray Dukakis as soft and ineffective on crime, but these ads didn't mention Horton specifically. Then a political action committee (PAC) named "National Security" produced a television commercial titled "Weekend Passes" which was much more explosive. The ad not only told the Horton story but also featured his mug shot, which critics saw as a tactic to divide white and black voters (Horton is a black man). National Security member Larry McCarthy called the image "every suburban mother's greatest fear."
Willie Horton is also the name of a baseball player who played for the Detroit Tigers.
Referenced By
12th Street Riot | Detroit Tigers | Southern strategy | U.S. presidential election, 1988 | White nationalism | White nationalist
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