ABSTRACT

Some political ads are seared into the collective memory of Americans. One of the most memorable aired in 1988 and featured the story of a convicted criminal named Willie Horton. While Michael Dukakis, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee that year, was governor of Massachusetts, Horton was released from prison on a weekend furlough program and never returned. A year later, he twice raped a woman after beating up her fiancé.