Lee Atwater

About Lee Atwater

Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater (February 27, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was a political consultant and strategist to the Republican party in the United States. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, grew up in Aiken, South Carolina, and graduated from Newberry College, a small private Lutheran institution in Newberry, South Carolina. He married and was father of three daughters.

Atwater was a trusted advisor of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He was also a political mentor and close friend of Republican strategist Karl Rove. Atwater invented or improved upon many of the techniques of modern electoral politics, including promulgating unflattering rumors and attempting to drive up opponents' "negative" poll numbers as techniques. His foes have characterized him as the "happy hatchet man". In spite of whatever shortcomings are ascribed to Atwater, he was widely regarded as a near-brilliant political operative who helped candidates to win.

Atwater was also a musician. He briefly played backup guitar for Percy Sledge during the 1960s and frequently played with bluesmen such as B.B. King. Atwater recorded an album with King and others on Curb Records in 1990 entitled Red Hot & Blue. He once sat in with Paul Schaeffer and his band on Late Night with David Letterman. His life is the subject of the feature-length documentary film Boogie Man.