States' rights
"States' rights" had for decades been a rallying slogan for racial segregationists, including Strom Thurmond in 1948 and George Wallace in 1968, and several press writers interpreted Reagan's use of the phrase according to that tradition. Columnist Bob Herbert of "The New York Times" wrote, "Everybody watching the 1980 campaign knew what Reagan was signaling at the fair," and that it "was understood that when politicians started chirping about 'states' rights' to white people in places like Neshoba County they were saying that when it comes down to you and the blacks, we're with you". Paul Krugman, also of the "Times", noted that a Republican national committee member from Mississippi had urged Reagan to speak at the county fair, as it would help win over "George Wallace-inclined voters", and wrote that this was just one of many examples of "Reagan's tacit race-baiting in the historical record."