{{Short description|US journalistic phrase}} {{About|the expression ''Dover test''|The West Wing episode|The Dover Test (The West Wing)}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}}
[[Image:USCasualtiesC130DoverAFB.jpg|thumb|American war casualties returning to Dover AFB from [[Iraq]] in 2004. Photo by the [[U.S. Air Force]].]]
The '''Dover test''' is an informal test and a [[journalist]]ic phrase to describe whether the general population of the [[United States]] is supporting the participation of the United States in a [[war]] or other [[military action]] by the public reaction to returning war casualties. The test is usually used to support a [[partisan (political)|partisan]] position concerning the United States government's actions rather than to actually determine the level of public support for the war.
==Description== [[Image:DoverTest01a.jpg|thumb|right|A U.S. Army soldier sleeps near transfer cases aboard an aircraft bound for Dover Air Force Base, Delaware from [[Afghanistan]] in 2003. He was accompanying his friend's remains.]] The test's name refers to [[Dover Air Force Base]] in [[Dover, Delaware|Dover]], [[Delaware]] in the United States. The base is home to the Department of Defense's [[Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs]]. 50,000 [[United States casualties of war|U.S. casualties]] have arrived at this airport since 1955. An early use of the term "Dover test" was uttered by Senator [[John Glenn]] (D-Ohio) in 1994.<ref name="lat940924">{{cite news|last1=Ross|first1=Michael|title=Pre-Election Battle Over Haiti Shaping Up in Congress Politics|url=http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/citations/dover_test_2/|newspaper=LA Times|accessdate=7 December 2017|date=September 24, 1994|quote=As it stands, congressional support for the Haiti mission is too thin 'to pass the Dover test,' said Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio), referring to the Dover, Del., Air Force base where the bodies of any U.S. soldiers killed in Haiti will be flown.}}</ref> The Dover test was also explicitly mentioned by Gen. [[Hugh Shelton]] in 1999, and again on January 19, 2000, when he said:<ref name="cnn031103">{{cite news|last1=Shields|first1=Mark|title=Time to take the Dover test|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/03/column.shields.opinion.dover/|accessdate=7 December 2017|publisher=CNN|date=November 3, 2003}}</ref>
{{blockquote|...(M)ust be subjected to what I call the 'Dover test.' Is the American public prepared for the sight of our most precious resource coming home in flag-draped caskets into Dover Air Force Base in Delaware – which is a point entry for our Armed Forces?}}
The Dover test is not a formal test, and the consequences are difficult to measure. Some say that certain deduction from the tests can be attained, though. If the United States population continues to support the war after the news coverage, then the [[Federal Government of the United States|U.S. government]] has passed the Dover test, and continued warfare probably does not reduce the popularity of the government.
If the American population does not continue to support the war, then the government has failed the test, and continued warfare may reduce the popularity of the government. Differing factions may use reactions to the results to further their own motives. Subsequently, the test is used more often to support someone's opinion or to question government actions than to actually determine the level of public support for the war.
==History==
===Early examples=== The return of American war casualties created difficulties for the U.S. government for the first time during the [[Vietnam War]], where the public opinion changed against the war during the conflict. On December 21, 1989, during the [[Operation Just Cause|invasion of Panama]], President [[George Herbert Walker Bush]] prohibited media coverage of returning casualties, apparently angered by a [[split screen (film)|split screen]], showing him giving a news briefing on one half of the screen, and returning caskets on the other half. {{Dubious|What in the world?|date=May 2022}}
In the first Iraq War, the government banned media outlets from showing any returning deceased at Dover.
===Recent examples=== [[Operation Restore Hope]] in [[Mogadishu]], [[Somalia]], could be said to have failed the Dover test after the [[Battle of Mogadishu (1993)|Battle of Mogadishu]] on October 3, 1993, when the mutilated bodies of US soldiers were shown on the news. Public support quickly fell and U.S. forces were soon withdrawn. During November 2000, the [[Bill Clinton|Clinton administration]] established a rule prohibiting any press coverage of returning US war casualties. However, this rule was rarely enforced. During the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|U.S. invasion of Afghanistan]] in 2001, photos of returning war casualties were frequently shown on the news.
===Iraq war and post-occupation=== The Dover test was most recently mentioned by the [[Newspaper|press]] in regard to the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|invasion]] and [[Post-invasion Iraq, 2003–present|occupation]] of [[Iraq]]. The [[George W. Bush|Bush administration]] tried to avoid having to pass the Dover test by enforcing the rule from the end of the Clinton administration. Tami Silicio, a worker for a military contractor in [[Kuwait]] took photos of the coffins of returning casualties, which made their way to the front pages. Subsequently, she and her husband were terminated by the contractor. Shortly thereafter a journalist from [http://www.thememoryhole.org/ The Memory Hole] requested casualty photos under the [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]], and received a number of pictures. Some photographs at the site were later identified as the coffins of [[Space Shuttle Columbia]] crewmembers, not military casualties. The Bush administration was displeased, and prohibited the further release of photos to the media.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * https://nppa.org/news/797 National Press Photographers Association reporting 14 out of 19 families have agreed to media coverage of returning casualties.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dover Test}} [[Category:Iraq War terminology]] [[Category:Censorship in the United States]] [[Category:Political terminology of the United States]] [[Category:Dover Air Force Base|Test]] [[Category:Public opinion in the United States]]