1980 Turning Point

President Richard Nixon’s Watergate incident and resignation in August of 1974 left the nation feeling skeptic toward the national government. Gerald Ford, who was not elected by the public, took the oath of office and became the 38th president of the United States. President Ford, coined with a repugnant image in both the eyes of the public and the media, was defeated by 56 electoral votes in the election of 1976. Jimmy Carter managed to receive similar distasteful images by the end of his single term as well. Although there were similarities between Ford and Carter, the two presidents were different in terms of previous experience, domestic policies, and foreign affairs.

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, was a very simple and relatable man from Plains, Georgia. His ideals appealed to the Southern democrats. Washington was in chaos after the resignation of Nixon and the citizens of America were tiered of the government’s drama. This is what made Carter so popular in the 1976 election. Carter appealed to America because he was an outsider to Washington. He also wanted to comply with what the people wanted for America; “Carter sought to portray himself as a man of the people” (“Jimmy Carter”, 2009). He used the Watergate scandal to his advantage. He promised America he would always be honest with them: “I’ll never tell a lie”. (“Jimmy Carter”, 2009). This seemed to win over America for the moment because he won

One major reason Ronald Reagan was able to defeat Carter in the election of 1980 was because Carter failed to rescue the hostages from the American embassy, prior to the election. He had already run for president in 1968 and in 1976, but didn’t win until 1980 as a Republican nominee because he established himself as the conservative candidate with the support of like-minded organizations such as the American Conservative Union. Reagan had several policies to try to recover the economy, one of them being deregulation, in which he advocated limiting government involvement in business. Following this policy, he deregulated several industries from government control. Another policy was to reduce inflation by controlling the growth of the money

The President of the United States during the 1980s was Ronald Reagan. The liberals were known as “Reagan Democrats”. The most significant event that happened under President Reagan was the Berlin wall being torn down. The wall being torn down was significant because of the end of communism. Reagan wanted to improve America.

The 20th century consisted of many difficult and controversial foreign policy decisions. From President Jimmy Carter, elected in 1977, to President Ronald Regan elected in 1981. Carter attempted at peacemaking efforts to help bring stability to the Middle East, but faced the challenge of the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979. He shaped his foreign policy through integrity, morality, and honest, to bring trust in the government to the American citizens as the previous president, Richard Nixon made the people lost their trust in the government. Ronald Regan supported a conservative foreign policy and greatly increased military spending, putting the United States in huge deficit. Ronald Regan is also given credit for the end of the Cold War, and

The 1980 presidential election of the United States featured three primary candidates, Republican Ronald Reagan, Democrat Jimmy Carter and liberal Republican John Anderson. Ronald Reagan was the governor of California before he decided to run for the presidency. John Anderson was a representative in Illinois and Carter was the incumbent. The lengthy Iran hostage crisis sharpened public opinions by the beginning of the election season. In the 1970s, the United States were experiencing a straining episode of low economic growth, high price increases and interest rates and an irregular energy crisis. The sense of discomfort in both domestic and foreign affairs in the nation were heading downward, this added to the downward spiral that was already going on. Between Carter, Anderson and Reagan, the general election campaign of the 1980s seemed more concerned with shadowboxing around political issues rather than a serious discussion of the issues that concerned voters.

Reagan was just elected president, but that did not mean he did not have a lot of work ahead of him. As soon as he got elected, he had to deal with the collapsing economy. In 1980, the rate of inflation reached 13.5 percent,

Jimmy Carter was running for reelection, and Americans overall were very unhappy with his leadership. Ronald Reagan emerged as his challenger, a former actor with great public skills and a plan.

For the 1980 election for presidency, Reagan was considered the best choice for the Republican nomination. Reagan had been voted as our president with 51% of the popular vote and 489 out of 538 of electoral votes. George Bush was elected by his side as the vice president. Ronald’s campaign was centered on inflation, the gasoline shortage at the time, and the hostage situation that was in Iran. (Ronald Reagan)

Issues with foreign policies under Carter also played a large part in him losing the election in 1980. As well as concerns over him taking in 125,000 refugees from Cuba and equivocating over dealings with the Soviet Union, there was the Iran hostage crisis in 1980. The timing of this was terrible for Carter as it continued throughout the election, and his failed rescue attempt made him appear weak and incompetent. This of course played into Reagan’s hands, as he promised to bring strength and security to the USA, and to return it to it’s superpower status.

Anxiety is an emotion that works like a switch, and much like our political views it is susceptible to changes in severity. When people feel safe and secure, they become more liberal, however when they feel threatened the opposite may occur causing individuals to seek out more conservative principles as a mean of protection. In a country where the last two decades underwent great historical and social changes these tense emotions grew. The eighties were full of Americans who felt a constant unease. If we look at some of the previous decades such as the 60s, which were riddled with liberal movements, antiwar propaganda, civil rights protests and the rise of feminism we notice that the general population was at a

The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan was not only significant because it was the start of a new decade, but it signified a return to conservatism. Reagan had made a bid for office in 1976 trying to bypass the incumbent Ford for the Republican nomination. Although unsuccessful in his attempt, Reagan definitely had merit in pursuing his endeavors.

Two years after Ronald Reagan ran for the spot in the California Govermentship by a lead of more than a million votes compare to his candidate opponent, then by ninety-eighty he was able to run for presidency against Jimmy Carter. Making Ronald the Oldest person to be elected president at the age of sixty-nine, but being elected wasn’t going to home free, meaning that there was going to be critics that didn’t like his viewpoints or opinions on the United States. There was an attempt of assassination on his life and was hit but wasn’t enough to kill him.

The United States was progressively unsatisfied with the government in 1980. The states had high inflation and unemployment, including gasoline shortages. Not mentioning the hostage crisis in Iran held captive by Muslims. This made Carter seem weak and impotent, Citizens of the United States were now profoundly worried about what the future might hold.

During the election of 1980 most Americans eyes were fixed on two presidents. Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Most Americans hearts were fixed on one issue. The Iranian hostage crisis. Jimmy Carter, the current president, had tried without success to end the crisis diplomatically. Ronald Reagan, an actor turned politician, had very little experience in a political position. Carter was not fit to handle the current crisis. His attempts to free the hostages had gone poorly both diplomatically and through use of force. Ronald Reagan was not very well known as a politician, he was known as an actor and many people believed that he would just act in office instead of being the