The Launch of President George H. W. Bush’s War on Drugs
The following originates from a Twitter thread by Joshua Clark Davis (@JoshClarkDavis), Assistant Professor at University of Baltimore, Division of Legal, Ethical and Historical Studies
President George Bush wanted to show America what crack cocaine looked like at his first Oval Office address on Sept 5, 1989. He wanted to show you could even buy crack in front of the White House. That’s how bad the crisis had gotten. That’s how Bush announced his War on Drugs. But there wasn’t much crack sold near the White House. As a U.S. Park Police official explained, "We don't consider that a problem area…There's too much activity going on there for drug dealers."
Easy solution: invite someone to sell crack outside the White House!
The DEA caught wind of Bush’s plan and they set about arranging a deal for Lafayette Square across from the White House. DEA agents planned to lure someone there to sell them a small amount of crack. Later a WH official claimed no one requested the DEA make the purchase.
On August 31, DEA Special Agent Sam Gaye was approached by his boss and asked if he could make a crack purchase across from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The DEA’s first choice ended up not showing up, so agents went to work on a second choice. That was Keith Jackson, an African American resident of Anacostia and 19 year old high school senior who agents had been in contact with for months.
Jackson and Bush lived in the same city, but they lived worlds apart. DC was deeply segregated, two-thirds Black, but a city where most whites cloistered in the NW corner.
The halls of power in the fed govt were shut off to most Black DC residents, too.
“Where the fuck is the White House” Jackson asked in a secretly recorded call with an undercover DEA agent.
That’s how segregated DC was.
The Agent had to explain the location to Jackson, who eventually replied, “Oh, you mean where Reagan lives."
Agents lured Jackson to Lafayette Square where they made the small purchase from him, but didn’t arrest him, on September 1.
On September 5, President Bush held up the bag of crack on national TV. "This is crack cocaine...seized a few days ago in a park across the street from the White House . . . . It could easily have been heroin or PCP."
Without getting too deep into the details, Bush’s central point was this: “we need more jails, more prisons, more courts and more prosecutors.” (Friday: 25th Anniversary of President George H.W. Bush's Infamous Oval Office Speech Escalating "War on Drugs": https://bit.ly/2KKjUfk)
DEA agents had decided not to immediately arrest Jackson. Not sure why, but it seems that they thought the story of a White House drug bust would make the news and undercut the drama of the President’s address.
DEA agents worried Jackson would see the address and hear Bush discussing the Lafayette Square purchase and flee. But they were happy to learn that Jackson “had absolutely no idea what went on” with the national address, and they easily arrested him after the speech.
Many applauded Bush’s story of the arrest, but Kevin Zeese, a defense attorney specializing in drug cases, didn't. "It's disgusting...The situation is not bad enough that they have to create a false situation? It's the government creating a hoax so they can rev up the war effort."
Keith Jackson was charged and then tried two times his senior year, once in December 1989 and again in January 1990, both times ending in hung juries.
Prosecutors tried him a third time and finally got a conviction in September 1990.
At sentencing, “U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin told Jackson, who had no prior criminal record, that he regretted having to impose the sentence of 10 years without parole. At the same time, Sporkin urged Jackson, 19, to ask Bush for a commutation.” (Washington Post, 10/01/90)
Sporkin: "He used you, in the sense of making a big drug speech," said Sporkin, former CIA general counsel appointed to court by President Reagan in 1986. "But he's a decent man, a man of great compassion. Maybe he can find a way to reduce at least some of that sentence."
Sporkin apparently thought 10 years was too harsh, but regretted, "I've got to follow the law."" Congress had recently passed a new mandatory minimum law as part of the Anti-Drug Abuse of 1988. (WP, 10/01/90)
Bush never commuted his sentence.
According to one historian, Jackson served almost 8 years for the sale in four different prisons until being released on August 5, 1998. (#KEITHJACKSONMATTERS: The Kid That Sold Crack To The President: https://bit.ly/2E8j1wG)
For more details, see:
Drug Buy Set Up For Bush Speech: DEA Lured Seller to Lafayette Park (https://wapo.st/2zAgc3L)
D.C. Student Is Given 10 Years In Drug Case (https://wapo.st/2RtppBE)
White House Set Up Drug Buy in the Park For Bush TV Speech (https://nyti.ms/2U4FW0Q)
This is a major part of Bush’s legacy. It’s what his War on Drugs did to just one person. But it shows the human costs of that war in miniature detail. A high schooler was lured to the WH to sell crack and spent 7+ years in prison, so that the President could make a point on TV.
A clarification:
Despite 2 hung juries on the WH sale, prosecutors finally got convictions on 2 unrelated pre-September 1989 charges. Only after Bush's address and the first mistrial did the feds feel it necessary to charge him on prior acts. Seems they wanted to prove a point.
