ABSTRACT
As the Washington Star reported, in the 1976 presidential primary, candidate Ronald Reagan, former Governor of California, repeatedly referred to a woman in Chicago, Linda Taylor, who had been accused of welfare fraud, as the “Welfare Queen.” Although Reagan greatly exaggerated the facts of the case, he made this a centerpiece of his campaign. In the process, he popularized the use of the term “Welfare Queen” and helped establish and reinforce associations between welfare and cheating in the public discourse.
