Who Won a Landslide Election With Campaign Ads Declaring Its Morning Again in America
59a. "Morning in America"
Ronald Reagan swept into office in 1980, capturing nearly x times every bit many balloter votes as his incumbent opponent Jimmy Carter. The Republican Party was also able to ride Reagan's coattails to capture their first bulk in the Senate since 1954.
The long national nightmare was over.
The Us was filled with difficult-working, God-fearing citizens who cared about their fellow Americans. Inflation and unemployment were problems of government, not the national character. Vietnam was over; America was the most powerful nation in the earth. The Soviet Union was an evil empire. Old-fashioned initiative and ingenuity would maintain America's competitive border in commerce.
These themes soothed a nation sick with the angst of the 1970s. When all had seemed lost, a grandfatherly figure stepped forth and optimistically reassured Americans that the age-old beliefs they held about the grandeur of the United States were non myths.
This human, Ronald Wilson Reagan, understood the sprit of the times, and his message, personality, and politics dominated the 1980s.
Traditionally, working-class Americans, Southerners, Catholics, and urban dwellers had stiff ties to the Democratic Political party. The Republicans relied heavily on support from the rural Midwest, Protestant leaders, and wealthier voters. Ronald Reagan congenital a new coalition for the Republican Party in his quest for the Presidency in 1980.
Chaos ensues following an bump-off try on Ronald Reagan in March 1981. Reagan was striking in the breast but managed a quick recovery, returning to the White House less than two weeks later.
Working Americans were shocked to meet unemployment rates nearing double digits. Aggrandizement was pushing the middle class into taxation brackets previously reserved for the affluent classes. Reagan promised to reduce their level of misery with sound fiscal policy. Southerners disgruntled past affirmative action and busing found friendly ears in the Reagan campaign. The endorsement of Reagan by the Protestant establishment did not deter devout Catholics from voting Republican, since Reagan promised to oppose abortion rights and promote family values.
Crime-plagued urban center denizens looked to Reagan for comfort as he portrayed himself as the police and social club candidate. Americans across demographic lines were warmed by his promises for a stronger America domestically and overseas. Very quickly, these "Reagan Democrats" crumbled the quondam alignment. Jimmy Carter, his opponent in the 1980 election, never stood a chance.
Reagan's victory over the incumbent Carter was an electoral vote landslide. He tallied 489 votes to Carter's 49. The Republicans as well captured a majority of the Senate for the get-go time since 1954. Analysts bespeak out that this perceived mandate might take been overstated. Voter turnout was the lowest in the history of Presidential elections. Liberals argued that people were non voting for Reagan's bourgeois agenda as much every bit they were voting against Jimmy Carter. During his re-election campaign, Carter endured an approval rating of 23 percent — lower than Richard Nixon's in the darkest days of Watergate!
The new President seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Within hours of his inauguration, Iran released the American hostages that had been held for 444 days. Dubbed "The Great Communicator," Reagan had a grinning and a confidence that comforted many. At the historic period of 69, he was the oldest President e'er to accept office, but he exuded a youthful vitality that obscured his years.
The "Reagan Revolution" continued in 1984 every bit Reagan defeated former Vice President Walter Mondale in a landslide victory. Mondale and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro managed only 13 electoral votes to Reagan's 525.
Even an assassination attempt worked in his favor. When John Hinckley put a .22 caliber bullet in Reagan's chest within ii months of his inauguration, he took it all in stride. "I hope you're all Republicans," he quipped to the physicians that greeted him at the hospital. His popularity soared.
Charges that he had picayune control over his staff and a less than functional agreement of many matters of policy fell mostly on deaf ears. He earned a reputation as the "Teflon President" — no scandal could stick to him.
In 1984, Reagan won a smashing re-election campaign over Walter Mondale. Democrat Mondale, running with the commencement woman nominee for Vice-President, Geraldine Ferraro, won only his dwelling state of Minnesota and the Commune of Columbia. A 1984 Reagan campaign every bit declared proudly, "Information technology'south morning in America." Whether the claim was fact or fiction, American voters accepted Reagan's assurances and enthusiastically cried for a 2nd term.
Source: https://www.ushistory.org/us/59a.asp
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