For five years before his election as president, Reagan had been regaling audiences with tales of "the welfare queen," the Chicago woman who he said "had eighty names, thirty addresses, twelve Social Security cards and is collecting veterans' benefits on four non-existing deceased husbands. ... Her tax-free income is over $150,000" It was not just the baldest demagoguery but also a gross distortion of the facts. The woman, Linda Taylor, had been convicted in 1977 of using two aliases to collect checks totaling $8,000. But the anecdote was a powerful tool for arousing the anger of white working-class and middle-class voters who were coping with tough economic times. Indeed, Reagan found it so compelling that he continued using it in the White House, even after the press had revealed it to be a false-hood.
William Kleinknecht
