At last, the grand spectacle that was the US Presidential election is fading from memory; but don't worry, it'll soon be time for the primaries to be restarting, and with the incumbent barred from standing again, you can bet these will start again early. Some bemoan this constant electioneering, and wonder aloud if the primaries actually matter?
Ask the late Gerald Ford. In 1976 Ford was plunged headlong into the fight of his political life. Having become President in 1974 by default, when the disgraced Richard Nixon had resigned amid the Watergate scandal, leaving Vice-President Ford to take the helm. Ford had instantly alienated many moderate voters by pardoning Nixon for any crimes he may have committed whilst in office, and a sluggish economy put the President behind all likely Democratic candidates in the polls. Meanwhile, the GOP's right wing was infuriated with Ford's perceived easy going foreign policy, which they saw as betraying South Vietnam and bowing to the Soviet Union. At their head was the outgoing Governor of California, former film star Ronald Reagan, who had been the darling of the conservative movement since he gave a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater's doomed 1968 presidential run. Reagan announced a primary challenge to Ford in autumn 1975, and steadily ate into Ford's delegate lead; by the 1976 Republican National Convention, the race between the two men really was too close to call.
The two men vied for the remaining delegates, but it remained impossibly close. Eventually, Reagan just pipped Ford to the post, thanks in part to delaying the announcement of moderate Senator Richard Schwekier as his running mate, which may otherwise have cost him the conservative vote. With the Convention in chaos, Reagan imposed order with a fantastic speech, urging voters to rally around him, proclaiming his vision of America as a 'Shining City on a Hill.' The GOP was enthused, and Reagan hit the road with the momentum behind him.
Even so, the election proved to be very close. The Democratic nominee, former Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter, was running as a Washington outsider to try and capitalise on the public revulsion over the corruption of Watergate. Also a Washington outsider, Reagan neutralised this advantage, and proved a much more effective media campaigner than Carter, dismissing his criticisms in the TV debate with the swipe 'There you go again.' And yet, Carter's message that the Republicans weren't to be trusted hit home, and in the week of polling the two candidates were neck and neck. In the end, Reagan squeezed home, winning 271 electoral votes and a small plurality of the popular vote. Carter returned to Georgia, later to be UN Secretary-General, but for now a broken man.
Reagan assumed office in 1977, and immediately set his plan for economic recovery in place. Under Nixon and Ford, the economy had begun to falter, with growth dipping and inflation surging. Reagan and his advisors believed that they had the answer. A short, sharp, shock of deflation, achieved by slashing taxes, spending and regulation, would eventually cause inflation to fall. Reagan warned the American people that things would get worse before they got better, and in that first element his administration succeeded brilliantly. Unemployment surged, as thousands of businesses went bust, and inflation continued to rise out of control. The economy, which had been recovering from the severe bust of 1973-75, plunged back into recession. The appointment of Reagan's economics guru, Arthur Laffer, as Chairman of the Federal Reserve in 1978, signalled that there would be no turning back. A view more in touch with that of most Americans was the CIA Director, George Bush, who labelled the strategy 'voodoo economics.'
Away from the USA, Reagan's foreign policy did little to endear the world to the United States. He adopted a hard line towards the USSR, which responded by severing virtually all diplomatic ties with the West, seemingly taking the world to the brink of nuclear war. The refusal to negotiate the end of the US presence at the Panama Canal led to American forces there effectively being under siege, and covert CIA aid to Afghan resistance fighters lit a spark under the future threat of Islamic fundamentalism. However, it was Iran which came to define Reagan's presidency. He pledged as much help to the beleaguered Shah as possible, yet was unable to prevent the Shah being toppled in the Islamic Revolution. Reagan then committed a massive blunder, by offering the Shah refuge in the US. The response of the revolutionaries was to storm the US embassy in Tehran and take the staff hostage. Through most of 1979 and 1980, the crisis dragged on, until in April 1980 Reagan took the ultimate gamble. Operation El Dorado Canyon was launched, with US war planes pounding Iranian military installations and special forces landing in Tehran to try and rescue the hostages. A secret deal with the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, also saw him launch a land invasion of Iran. The mission was a disaster, with the hostages being executed, and the subsequent oil embargo by OPEC plunging the West further into economic crisis.
President Reagan now looked like the reckless cowboy many had warned he would be. With the jobless queues growing at home, and the US humiliated abroad, Reagan lost the 1980 presidential election to Ted Kennedy by a landslide; not even Kennedy's murky past at Chappaquiddick could save Reagan. President Kennedy immediately accepted the resignation of Arthur Laffer, and put his own man Paul Volcker in the driving seat. Between them, these two men helped to restore the US economy back to being the world's prime economic force, while overseas Kennedy helped to restore the US' tarnished reputation, especially thanks to his cooperation with Mikhail Gorbachev as the Soviet Union unravelled. His universal healthcare programme, while controversial, was eventually gratefully received by millions of Americans. As for the Republican party, they would not be trusted with returning to power until 1996, when moderate John McCain was entrusted with the Presidency. However, this trust was still fragile, as Mitt Romney found out to his cost when he presided over the recent Great Recession, which saw voters flock to President Clinton in 2008 and again just last week.
P.S. US Presidents, 1969-Present Day
1969-1974- Richard Nixon (Republican)
1974-1977- Gerald Ford (Republican)
1977-1981- Ronald Reagan (Republican)
1981-1989- Edward Kennedy (Democrat)
1989-1997- Al Gore (Democrat)
1997-2005- John McCain (Republican)
2005-2009- Mitt Romney (Republican)
2009-2017- Hillary Clinton (Democrat)
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