States' rights speech

Republican Party political strategists chose the Neshoba County Fair for the speech as part of an effort to win over rural voters in the Southern United States.

[1][2] Lanny Griffith, then-Mississippi state Republican director, explained: It was not a mistake that Reagan went to the Neshoba County Fair, rather than Jackson.

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.

"[8] Coverage of Reagan's subsequent campaign stops in the North explicitly linked the location of the speech to the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.

On August 6, Douglas Kneeland of the Times wrote, "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.

Columnist Bob Herbert of the 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".

[12]Others, including the Washington Post editorial page, contended that there was nothing racist about Reagan's use of the phrase "states' rights" in the context of the speech; The New Republic criticized Carter's allegations of racism, calling them "frightful distortions, bordering on outright lies.

Brooks wrote that Reagan had been courting black voters at that time, and he flew to New York City after the speech to deliver an address to the Urban League.