Hello and welcome back to another edition of Lace ‘Em Up’s Presidential Election series and today we will be going over the Election of 1984; Ronald Reagan is looking for re-election in what turns out to be the biggest election victory of all time.

The Reagan Revolution

Upon his decisive victory over Jimmy Carter in 1980, former actor and Governor of California Ronald Reagan led the charge to a conservative tidal wave that took over the country. Within his first few years in office he dealt with everything from stagflation to a rising crack epidemic which will led to the continuation of the War on Drugs that was started under Richard Nixon and his even going to face an assassination attempt in March of 1981, but is able to survive.

By 1983, the economy is recovering quite nicely, Reagan has begun talks with the Soviet Union in reducing the amount of nuclear weapons between both sides and the United States efforts in dealing with a conflict in Grenada among other things have led many in the U.S. to feel a sense of patriotism that was lacking following the Watergate Scandal and the administrations of Ford and Carter.

Reagan’s efforts in making ‘America Great Again’ would have some successes, but it also had some disastrous consequences as the national debt and deficit skyrocketed from $74 million in 1980 to $208 million in 1983 and his refusal to negotiate with the Air Traffic Controllers while on strike would become the first big blow for labor unions in America for decades to come.

Not only that, but his continuing of President Carter’s deregulation efforts and his supply-side economic policy aka “Reaganomics” would not only lead to wealth inequality for the middle class but also lead to a boom/bust cycle in the economy that wouldn’t turn into a recession for another several years.

Even still, Reagan was widely popular and he was easily re-nominated alongside his Vice President, George Herbert Walker Bush marking the first and last time since the Eisenhower/Nixon ticket in 1956 that a Presidential and Vice Presidential roll call occurred in American History.

The 1984 Democratic Primaries

The first half of the 1980s was a tale of two halves for the Democratic Party as they were able to maintain a large majority of control in Congress thanks to their victories in the midterms, but they’ve also had members of their party being caught in corruption scandals thanks to a sting operation called ABSCAM, so now the Democrats are hoping to find a candidate in 1984 who can only excite the base but can also stand a chance against a popular incumbent president.

Following Ted Kennedy’s announcement that he wouldn’t be a candidate for president in 1982 and the campaigns of John Glenn and George McGovern failing to win any state primaries, the three major players fighting for the Democratic Party’s nomination were:

• Gary Hart- Senator from Colorado
• Jesse Jackson- Civil Rights Activist & Baptist Minister
• Walter Mondale- Former Vice President & Former Senator from Minnesota

Despite Jimmy Carter’s presidency not being viewed in high regard back then and even now, one of the best aspects of the Carter administration was Walter Mondale’s time as Vice President as he was able to make the position of VP feel more important as he was given the same type of briefings as the president. Not only that but he was the first to have his own office as VP and he also made the Vice President feel more like an advisory role to the commander-in-chief.

Jesse Jackson, who was a member of the People United to Save Humanity organization (aka PUSH) decided to make a run for president becoming the first African American since Shirley Chisholm to make a nationwide run for the high office. Many pundits and politicians at first looked at Jackson’s presidential bid as something of a joke until he came in third place behind Mondale and Hart, but also won state primaries and caucuses in places like South Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, the District of Columbia and even in the state of Mississippi.

Gary Hart, much like Jackson is a fresh face on the national stage whose first exposure to politics saw him becoming the campaign director for George McGovern’s ’72 election campaign and his also seen as the earliest example of what would be ‘The New Democrats’ aka Democrats who were more moderate or centrist on the political spectrum but were at times vague when it came to describing policy ideas.

During the debates, Jackson made a number of remarks that were quite memorable like his put down of Mondale when he says that Mondale’s mentor, Hubert Humphrey was the last significant politician to come from Minnesota, but his comments regarding Jewish people as ‘Hymies’ and places like New York City as “Hymietowns” lost him support.

Also at the debates, Hart mentions that Mondale was a old fashion Democrat with failed policies from the days of the Great Society; Hart then explained his plans for the country if elected president to which Mondale responded to Hart’s vague ideas with a phrase that includes the then popular Fast Food slogan from Wendy’s, he said:

“When I hear your new ideas, I’m reminded of that ad: Where’s the Beef?” .

Mondale’s ‘Where’s the Beef‘ remark further helped propel his candidacy where he managed to narrowly win enough delegates to surpass Hart and become the Democrats new nominee for president.

In terms of Mondale’s pick for running mate, their were a number of contenders; Henry Cisneros who was the Mayor of San Antonio Texas, Martha Collins the Governor of Kentucky, Dianne Feinstein who was the Mayor of San Fransico and even primary rivals, Jackson and Hart were in consideration.

In the end, Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro, the U.S. Representative of New York as his running mate as the former VP felt that having a woman on the ticket would be a first time ever pick which it was as she became the first ever female to ever be nominated by a major political party in American History.

Campaign Ads & Strategies

Reagan’s polling numbers were great throughout most of the election although unemployment was still high for many middle class Americans and he wasn’t too popular with a number of young Americans as evident by the protest, vandalism and even flag burnings that took place during that year’s GOP National Convention.

The president further didn’t help his case with things like an off handed remark about bombing the Soviet Union, using Bruce Springsteen’s famous song ‘Born in the USA’ without his permission and his policies along with his rhetoric made Reagan come off as a far-right conservative who had no problem disparaging minority groups by calling African American women “Welfare Queens”.

Walter Mondale had his own mistakes like when he said this at the ’84 Democratic National Convention:

“Let’s Tell the Truth. That Must Be Done-It Must Be Done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I, He won’t tell you, I just did”.

On the one hand, points for being honest and telling the truth to the American people, on the other hand, having a candidate openly admit he’ll be raising taxes much like the president at a time when they were too high for the middle class…doesn’t really sound like a convincing argument for why the people should go out and vote for you.

When it came to their campaigns, Mondale’s strategy was described as cautious, liberal and vague as he ran of his experience as Vice President and foreign policy, while also calling for a ‘Nuclear Freeze’ on nuclear weapons, supported the Equal Rights Amendment and warned of the dangers of Reagan’s space program known as “Star Wars”. The president for his part is running on the positive aspects of his record while also promoting the idea of America being revitalized following the quagmire of the seventies as seen with the famous ‘A Bear in the Woods’ and ‘Morning in America’ ads.

Despite hopes that Ferraro would turnout a large portion of the women vote to the Democrats this time around, it actually didn’t make much of a difference but it did led to the Mondale campaign having to carry around some baggage through the election as Ferraro was criticized by Roman Catholics for her support of being pro-choice when it came to abortion and her husband’s alleged connections to shady organizations and violations of campaign contributions…All of which was cleared up by Ferraro by releasing her family’s tax returns.

Reagan’s Age & The Presidential Debates

By the time of the general election debates most expected an outright victory for Reagan which makes sense as the man was nicknamed “The Great Communicator“, however a running issue Reagan had to face throughout the campaign was his age; Not since William Henry Harrison in 1840, had Americans ever had a president that was in their 60’s or older and by this time Reagan was 73 years old with growing fears on if he was still up to the tasks as commander-in-chief.

When the first presidential debate got underway, Reagan’s performance was a far cry from 1980 as he appeared confused and completely off his games with Mondale pulling off an upset victory over Reagan and gave off the impression that the former VP might pull off the surprise victory.

Speaking of VP’s, the Vice Presidential Debates were seen as a draw between Bush and Ferraro with the only notable moment of the whole debate being Bush sarcastically mentioning how he’ll explain to Ferraro the difference between Iran and the Embassy of Lebanon, only for Mondale’s running mate to retort by saying that Bush’s attitude/response was patronizing and that she didn’t need experience when it came to foreign policy.

In the second and final presidential debate, Mondale was looking to prove that his win over Reagan in their first encounter wasn’t a fluke, however much like what Mondale did to Hart in the Democratic primaries, Reagan was able to shut down his opponent with a witty remark. When the question regarding Reagan’s age was brought up during a question, the president responded with his now legendary reply:

“I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponents youth and inexperience.”

This led to the crowd, the mediators and even Mondale himself to break out in hysterics at Reagan’s one-liner, but it also signaled the end for Mondale’s chances as the former senator would go on to mention that he felt the election and his chances of winning were over following this debate.

Election of 1984: The Results

When election day came around it became clear real quickly that Ronald Reagan had easily won re-election as he won states that were usually solid blue Democratic States like Massachusetts.

Reagan’s victory was enormous to say the least as he got 525 electoral votes and 58.8% of the popular vote, making this the third and final time a president was re-elected with more then 500 electoral votes.

Walter Mondale finished with only 13 electoral votes (which was the District of Columbia and his home state of Minnesota) and received 40.6% of the popular. On top of that, Mondale just barely won his state of Minnesota by just 1.8%.

Reagan’s win stands to this day as the highest electoral vote victory in American history next only to the unopposed victories of James Monroe and George Washington; At 73 years old, Ronald Reagan became the oldest man to ever be re-elected as president.

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