Dover test The Dover test is an informal test and a journalistic phrase to describe whether the general population of the United States is supporting the participation of the United States in a war or other military action by the public reaction to returning war casualties . The test is usually used to support a partisan position concerning the United States government ' s actions than to actually determine the level of public support for the war . Description . The test ' s name refers to Dover Air Force Base in Dover , Delaware in the United States . The base is home to the Department of Defense ' s Charles C . Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs . 50 , 000 U . S . casualties have arrived at this airport since 1955 . The earliest use of the term " Dover test " so far found was uttered by Senator John Glenn ( D - Ohio ) in 1994 . The Dover test was also explicitly mentioned by Gen . Hugh Shelton in 1999 , and again on January 19 , 2000 when he said : The Dover test is not a formal test , and the consequences are difficult to measure . Some say that certain deduction from the tests can be attained , though . If the United States population continues to support the war after the news coverage , then the U . S . government has passed the Dover test , and continued warfare probably does not reduce the popularity of the government . If the American population does not continue to support the war , then the government has failed the test , and continued warfare may reduce the popularity of the government . Differing factions may use reactions to the results to further their own motives . Subsequently , the test is used more often to support someone ' s opinion or to question government actions than to actually determine the level of public support for the war . History . Early examples . The return of American war casualties created difficulties for the U . S . government for the first time during the Vietnam War , where the public opinion changed against the war during the conflict . On December 21 , 1989 , during the invasion of Panama , President George Herbert Walker Bush prohibited media coverage of returning casualties , apparently angered by a split screen , showing him giving a news briefing on one half of the screen , and returning caskets on the other half . In the first Iraq War , the government banned media outlets from showing any returning deceased at Dover . Recent examples . Operation Restore Hope in Mogadishu , Somalia , could be said to have failed the Dover test after the Battle of Mogadishu on October 3 , 1993 , when the mutilated bodies of US soldiers were shown on the news . Public support quickly fell and U . S . forces were soon withdrawn . During November 2000 , the Clinton administration established a rule prohibiting any press coverage of returning US war casualties . However , this rule was rarely enforced . During the U . S . invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 , photos of returning war casualties were frequently shown on the news . Iraq war and post - occupation . The Dover test was most recently mentioned by the press in regard to the invasion and occupation of Iraq . The Bush administration tried to avoid having to pass the Dover test by enforcing the rule from the end of the Clinton administration . Tami Silicio , a worker for a military contractor in Kuwait took photos of the coffins of returning casualties , which made their way to the front pages . Subsequently she and her husband were terminated by the contractor . Shortly thereafter a journalist from The Memory Hole requested casualty photos under the Freedom of Information Act , and received a number of pictures . Some photographs at the site were later identified as the coffins of Space Shuttle Columbia crewmembers , not military casualties . The Bush administration was displeased , and prohibited the further release of photos to the media .