Memo: Gore Slur on People w/Down&#039;s Syndrome During Slam on North

Memo: Gore Slur on People w/Down's Syndrome During Slam on North

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Other Media: c021_001_002_017_tr

Transcription (Scripto): c021_001_002_017_tr
Extent (Dublin Core): 1 page
File Name (Dublin Core): c021_001_002_017
Title (Dublin Core): Memo: Gore Slur on People w/Down's Syndrome During Slam on North
Description (Dublin Core): Al Gore received criticism for derogatory remarks against those with Down's Syndrome when discussing a Senate candidate. An article compared Gore to James Watt, who received criticism for saying disabled slurs.
Date (Dublin Core): 1994-10-29
Date Created (Dublin Core): 1994-10-29
Congress (Dublin Core): 103rd (1993-1995)
Topics (Dublin Core): See all items with this value Down syndrome; See all items with this value People with disabilities
Policy Area (Curation): Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Creator (Dublin Core): Vachon, Alexander
Record Type (Dublin Core): memorandum
Names (Dublin Core): See all items with this value Gore, Al, 1948-
Location representation (Dublin Core): District of Columbia (national district)
Rights (Dublin Core): http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/
Language (Dublin Core): eng
Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core): https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/?p=collections/findingaid&id=54&q=
Physical Location (Dublin Core): Collection 021, Box 1, Folder 2
Institution (Dublin Core): Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Archival Collection (Dublin Core): Alec Vachon Papers, 1969-2006
Full Text (Extract Text): MEMORANDUM
Date: October 29, 1994
To: Senator Dole
From: Alec Vachon
Re: Gore Slur on People w/Down's Syndrome During Slam on North
(Handwritten) CC: Dan Shenk

Yesterday (Friday, October 28) Gore said, in discussing Oliver North's chances for the Senate, "[H]e is banking on the fact that he can raise enough money from the extreme right wing, the extra chromosome right wing,..." when a reporter questioned Gore's choice of words --whether he was referring to mongoloidism (Down's Syndrome) which is caused by an extra chromosome --Gore replied, "Are we having a bit of political correctness here?" Attached is excerpt of the transcript of Gore press conference.

There is an AP wire story on Gore's remarks (buried in a larger story on Nancy Reagan's dump on North), with a reaction to the "extra chromosome" remark by the North campaign. AP wire story also attached. On local news(Channel 4), the Gore remark was picked up w/ negative reactions

It will be interesting to see if there is any further pick up by the press and disability groups --in particular, whether Gore gets the same treatment James Watt got in 1983, when he lost his job over the remark that the coal commission contained "a black, ... a woman, two Jews and a cripple." There was a broad, bipartisan attack on Watt, with your comments during a press conference w/Itzhak Perlman among the most intense:

"If I were there (in the White House), he wouldn't be." Dole said that "modern folks" stopped using the term "crippled" about 25 or 30 years ago, adding he finds it "kind of scary" that Watt invoked it.

"This is a matter of great significance to 36 million Americans who are disabled, and if in fact it takes some strange remark like his to really get the American people to focus on the handicapped, maybe by some convoluted logic, he Watt may have done a service."

Perlman also got it right. "If someone is capable of doing that using the term cripple," Perlman said, "he's probably capable of calling a black man a nigger and a Jew a kike. I feel the verbiage of the man is like a window on his soul... Off-the-cuff remarks are a real indication of what a person thinks, and that is what I question."

(Handwritten) Original not [cut off]

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