The card
Born in 1924 in Plains (Georgia), a Democrat, he was Governor of his home state from 1970 to 1976. Having defeated Gerald Ford in the ’76 elections, he became President. During his administration he was particularly attentive to the issue of Human Rights. An important success was the agreement of Camp David between Israel and Egypt. However, he pursued a weak and contradictory foreign policy. He first sought détente with the Soviet Union and then returned to a rigid anti-Soviet position after the invasion of Afghanistan.
The final blow to his popularity was given by the poor management of the Iranian crisis and by an economic situation of profound decline. After having obtained the nomination again by rejecting the challenge brought by Ted Kennedy, he was soundly defeated in the 1980 presidential elections by the Republican Ronald Reagan. Later very active internationally as a mediator in various conflicts, he obtained the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He is obviously the first former American President to reach the century of life.
The 1976 elections
He then took over Richard Nixon after his resignation following the ‘Watergate Scandal’. Ford’s nomination was highly opposed, in particular by former California Governor Ronald Reagan. At the Kansas City Convention – a brokered Convention – the two were so close in terms of delegates that it was said that the outcome was not determinable (slang, ‘tooclose to call’). As mentioned, Ford prevailed, also renouncing the Deputy he had previously chosen (Nelson Rockefeller) and accepting a conservative program far from his own ideas. With him on the ticket is Kansas Senator Robert Bob Dole, future and unfortunate candidate for the White House.
There are many possible suitors among the Democrats. Among others, mention should be made of at least SargentShriver – already alongside McGovern in 1972 – and Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, later running with Michael Dukakis. Surprisingly, among many, during the primaries, the name of a former Governor of Georgia emerged, Jimmy Carter. Having the advantage of not having previously been involved in nationwide scandals, he was ultimately the chosen one in the New York City Convention.
It’sScandal Watergate‘ and the fact that the first President in history forced to resign was a Republican obviously weighed like a boulder on poor Ford’s shoulders. All observers thought that the Democrat would therefore win easily.
However, this was not the case.
A very lackluster Carter ultimately prevailed by a narrow margin. It was calculated that if eight thousand people had voted differently between Ohio and Hawaii the incumbent would have remained in office. Among the many third-party exponents of decidedly minor parties, a new candidacy as an independent should be noted Eugene McCarthy. Alongside Carter, the party nominated Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale for Vice President. In the end, the representative of the Donkey won in twenty-three states and the District of Columbia while the leader of the Elephant prevailed in twenty-seven states, unfortunately for him with a total of fewer ‘Electors’ (two hundred and forty) than those conquered by his rival (two hundred and ninety-seven). The total is not five hundred and thirty-eight because in the Electoral College one vote was given by a dissenter to Ronald Reagan.
The 1980 elections
The Primary and Caucus system for choosing convention delegates?
Of course, the Republican Party had introduced primaries at presidential level already in the 1912 session but few states were involved at the time. As late as 1968, only forty percent of the aforementioned delegates were actually chosen by voters. It was precisely in 1980 that the mechanism became fully operational: thirty-seven out of fifty states adopted it. Many citizens were involved, a triumph of basic democracy.
The President in office, Jimmy Carterwas so little defensible due to numerous failures, especially in foreign policy, that he greatly feared the internal challenge to Asinello brought to him by Massachusetts Senator Edward Ted Kennedy, brother of John and Robert. California Governor Jerry Brown also runs for a short time. Through ups and downs, despite the vehemence of Ted’s attacks, Carter manages to narrowly prevail in the primaries and to be nominated again in a New York convention in which there is a heavy air of defeat.
The outgoing Vice President composed the ticket Walter Mondale. In the GOP, the race is led by the former Governor of California Ronald Reagan who is gradually gaining an advantage against a certainly valuable challenger such as the former Ambassador to the UN and China as well as Director of the CIA George Herbert Walker Bush. In truth, a third party exists and is revealed: the Representative of Illinois John Anderson who, defeated, leaves the party and runs as an independent.
In the end, further crippled by the Iranian events and the failures of the actions taken to free the US hostages held captive in the Tehran embassy, Carter loses disastrously. It should be underlined that this is historically the only occasion in which a Republican challenger manages to unseat a candidate President outgoing and Democratic re-candidate.
In fact, what happened in 1888, when the Asinello Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison had been defeated and ousted by the GOP, firstly because Cleveland had still won in terms of popular votes and secondly because he would be able to win again in 1892, thus managing to conquer, in a unique case, the White House twice with an interlude .
The votes?
Ronald Reaganforty-four states and four hundred and eighty-nine ‘Electors’. Jimmy Carter, six states and forty-nine votes in the House.
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