Why did Jimmy Carter win the presidential contest in 1976 and yet lose to Ronald Reagan only four years later? Carter took the presidency with several issues that needed resolving, such as rising inflation and unemployment, a country disillusioned with the political system and turbulent foreign relations. To determine the reasons why he was successful in 1976 but not in 1980, it is necessary to look at what his successes and failures were, as well as the different situations in 1976 and 1980. While he seemed the perfect antidote to the corrupt ‘Washington scene’ in 1976, he turned out to be perceived as weak and ineffectual in his economic and foreign policies. He also had much stronger competition from Reagan in 1980 than he had from …show more content…
These were conservative people who were disgusted with more liberal policies in favour of abortion, sexual freedom, welfare and equal rights for women, black people and homosexuals. They were desperate for a return to traditional family values, which Reagan promised to bring back. With an estimated 5 million evangelical Christians who had never voted before now voting for Reagan, he was gaining vast numbers of new votes while Carter was losing ones he should have been able to rely upon. 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. One of the American population’s major concerns when Carter became president was rapidly rising inflation, as well as rising unemployment. Despite his promises when campaigning for presidency, his legislations did little to help the economic situation, that is if they even made it through Congress. This left many people wondering ‘can Carter cope?’ The rate of inflation had risen even higher
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
Republican President Ronald Reagan served as Commander-in-chief from January 1981 to January of 1989, holding his position in office for two terms. When Reagan took his oath into office, he inherited prior damage from predecessor Jimmy Carter, including the issue of the Iranian Hostage Crisis as well as damage inflicted by the Vietnam War from years prior. Reagan’s start in politics was not the normal approach. Coming from a successful career as a popular Hollywood actor, Reagan acquired his interest in politics in a more unconventional way. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan became involved in disputes over the issue of Communism in the film industry. His political views quickly shifted from liberal to conservative and he
Reagan had the same economic problems that his predecessor Jimmy Carter faced as president. One of these problems was very bad inflation in the economy.
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 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.
Thesis Statement: Ronald Reagan’s presidency was one of the most successful in United States history because he revitalized the failing economy, used his remarkable communication skills to reestablish America’s lost morale, and even played a vital role in ending the Cold War.
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.
President Ronald Reagan, the man who is accredited with ended the forty six year cold war was elected on Nov. 4, 1980. Reagan won his election with fifty percent of the popular vote over former President Jimmy Carter who had forty one percent. While Reagan as a president is praised for such successes as strengthening the national defense, stimulating growth in the U.S. economically, and as mentioned before he is considered the President who ended the Cold War. President Reagan had achieved many things by the end of his administration, but just as he had many successes his presidency was plagued with shortcomings and a handful of what could be considered flat out failures. The purpose of this writing is to establish and identify the ‘cons’ or failures of the Reagan administration, and provide a brief description of each different aspect of the administration.
As the sun rose on the beautiful American Heartland the soft tone of a narrator quietly said that is was, “morning again in America” (Morgado). The ad’s soft subtle music would go on to describe the growing prosperous nation. Lines like, “more men and women will go to work than ever before in our country’s history” and “inflation is at half it was 4 years ago” (Morgado) the ad spoke of a booming country. The ad “Morning in America” echoes the overall message Ronald Reagan’s campaign attempted to create in the 1984 presidential election against Walter Mondale. The country under Reagan had dug itself out of high inflation, and the “malaise” era, and was back on track thanks to the leadership of our president. This message seemed to work, Reagan would go on to win a historical landslide against Walter Mondale, winning 525 electoral votes to Mondale’s 13 (Pomper 65). Mondale would only win his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia (Pomper 65). The purpose this paper is to examine the effect the economy played in securing Reagan’s reelection. To effectively discuss this the candidates, and main issues will be discussed before a analysis voter data will occur.
Prior to Reagan’s inauguration the country was suffering from double-digit inflation, high interest rates, high unemployment, oil shortages, and
This turned many in the favor of Reagan. "It was the worst defeat of an incumbent president since Hoover 's loss to FDR in 1932. Carter won only four small states plus his home state of Georgia" (Campaigns 4).
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
In 1976, Jimmy Carter ran for president and gained attention from many people in which he promised substantial changes in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy. He wanted to make a shift by infusing new morality in American diplomacy, one that is established in the strive for human rights. The Carter administration then created a human rights strategy that would serve as the basis of Carter’s foreign policy. Many social conservatives voted for Jimmy Carter because they wanted to stick to tradition. Jimmy Carter is a Democrat and even attracted Republicans to the Democratic party. While Jimmy Carter is a conservative Democrat, his widespread for support for international human rights sparked controversy with his social conservative supporters.
Before Jimmy Carter, President Gerald Ford had taken over the country in August of 1974 when President Nixon had resigned the same year. As the first unelected president in United States history, Ford offered an inflation to those who struggled with the economy and issued amnesty to Vietnam draft dodgers. Pardon was given along with conditions to serve two years and pledge their allegiance to the United States. But there had been economical issues and the energy crisis had taken place. When Carter was running for president as a Democrat in 1976, a close race resulted in 55% of electoral votes and 50% of popular vote. Then later in 1980 when running for a second term, Carter only won 9.1% of the electoral vote and 41.01% of the popular vote.