The incident occurred in 1980, when I was a Democratic nominee for Congress in South Carolina and [Lee Atwater] was a consultant for my opponent, the Republican incumbent. Atwater's antics included phony polls by "independent pollsters" to "inform" white suburbanites that I was a member of the NAACP, because my congressman opponent was afraid to publicly say so, and last-minute letters from Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) warning voters that I would disarm America and turn it over to the liberals and Communists. I ran a respectable campaign but lost.

In the last few months of his life, Lee Atwater apologized to me. In a letter dated June 28, 1990, Lee wrote, "It is very important to me that I let you know that out of everything that has happened in my career, one of the low points remains the so called `jumper cable' episode." Faced with the ultimate question of life, Lee also publicly proclaimed his Christianity and sought reconciliation with his enemies.