Ronald Reagan's speech at the Neshoba County Fair

As part of his 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan made an appearance at the Neshoba County Fair where he gave a speech on August 3, 1980. Critics claim that Reagan's choice of location for the speech (the fairgrounds were about 7 miles from Philadelphia, Mississippi, a town associated with the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in 1964) was evidence of racial bias.

During his speech, Reagan said:

He went on to promise to "restore to states and local governments the power that properly belongs to them." The use of the phrase was seen by some as a tacit appeal to Southern white voters and a continuation of Richard Nixon's Southern strategy, while others argued it merely reflected his libertarian economic beliefs.

Coverage of the speech by the media immediately focused on the use of the phrase "States' rights." The headline the next day in the New York Times read "REAGAN CAMPAIGNS AT MISSISSIPPI FAIR; Nominee Tells Crowd of 10,000 He Is Backing States' Rights." Coverage of Reagan's subsequent campaign stops in the North explicitly linked the location of the speech to the 1964 murders. Douglas Kneeland of the Times wrote on August 6, "Adding perhaps to the cautious reception he was given by the Urban League here was Mr. Reagan's appearance Sunday at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Miss., where three young civil rights workers were slain in 1964."

"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."

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