Harry Dent, The Unsung Hero of Accountability

Harry Dent was a hatemongering racist. No question. He helped construct the “Southern strategy” where politicians use code words like “states rights” and “law and order” to signal to white voters that they will not enforce laws granting voting rights and equal opportunities to black people. They suggest they might even roll back the laws that are on the books.

This strategy won Southern states for successful presidential candidates such as Nixon, Reagan, and Bush father and son, got Strom Thurmond elected to the U.S. Senate for decades, and has helped many other politicians, local and national, get into office.

Dent worked for Thurmond for several years and then worked in the Nixon White House helping to solidify the advantages won by the Southern strategy. He showed mastery of the cover-up when he said the Southern strategy redresses the wrongs done to white people who are left out because of affirmative action and governmental aide programs.

Later in life, Mr. Dent became a church deacon and helped build orphanages in Romania. He had regrets. He said, “When I look back, my biggest regret now is anything I did that stood in the way of the rights of black people, or any people.”

Hooray for Harry Dent. He did wrong. He committed unkind deeds and cover-ups. He realized what he had done. He acknowledged what he had done. He changed his ways. In his accountability, Harry Dent is a model for us all. His unkind deed was egregiously harmful to millions. In that, he is no model.