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What A Ride

In the 52 years that I have been eligible to vote, I have cast ballots in 12 presidential elections, my first coming in 1972 and I remember feeling totally discouraged and disconsolate when I learned that Richard Nixon had been re-elected.

I was 18 for the 1968 election but couldn’t vote. It wasn’t until 1971 when the 26th Amendment of the Constitution was signed and granted 18 year olds the right to vote. Prior to that date, the voting age had been 21.

Funny how things go as I fast forward to 2016 and how I felt totally discouraged and disconsolate to find that Donald Trump had been elected even though he lost the popular vote by 2.87 million votes in a system that depends on electoral votes and that no longer makes any sense.

And here we are again at yet another huge moment in history and anyone who doesn’t go to the polls on election day should be shipped off to Siberia and anyone who votes for Trump should be put in a box and sent hurtling into space on a rocket made by Elon Musk, never to be heard from again.

As they say, I have seen it all since I turned 18 and was old enough to vote and each election has been momentous and world-changing. Hold on, this will be quite a ride.

1972

Nixon won in a landslide over Democratic Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota. Nixon garnered almost 18 million more votes than McGovern for the widest popular vote margin in any post-World War II United States presidential election.

The election was a plebiscite about the war in Vietnam with McGovern strongly against the war and Nixon pressing for a “just peace with honor.”

Another Democratic candidate for the nomination was Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American to run for a major party’s presidential nomination. It didn’t help McGovern when it was reported that his vice presidential candidate, Thomas Eagleton, had undergone electroconvulsive therapy as a treatment for depression. Eagleton was replaced on the ballot by Sargent Shriver, John F. Kennedy’s brother in law.

Nixon promised a strong economy and had a secret plan to end the war. And then the Watergate flood gates opened. Within two years, Nixon resigned with support vanishing due to the Watergate burglary and ensuing cover-up while Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned on a separate corruption charge

Gerald Ford succeeded Agnew as vice president, and later succeeded Nixon as president, making him the only U.S. president in history to not be elected to the office on a presidential ticket. Ford later pardoned Nixon.

1976

Democratic Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia campaigned as a moderate and political outsider and defeated Ford, marking the only Democratic victory in a presidential election held between 1968 and 1992. A sagging economy, the fall of South Vietnam and the pardon of Nixon added up to a loss for Ford and a majority of the popular and electoral vote for Carter.

It was the last time that Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas voted for a Democrat for president.

Carter’s popularity fell with his famous statement that the country was drowning in a “malaise” and the final straw was his inability to rescue the hostages taken by Iran.

1980

Reagan, with the future president, George H.W. Bush, as his running mate, beat Carter in a landslide victory. Turn around is fair play, as Carter had defeated Ford in a landslide.

Reagan campaigned for increased defense spending, supply-side economic policies and a balanced budget. Carter said Reagan was a dangerous right-wing extremist and warned that Reagan would cut Medicare and Social Security, another familiar ring.

Reagan won a large majority of the electoral vote and 50.7 percent of the popular vote. Republicans also won control of the Senate for the first time since 1955.

1984

Reagan and Bush defeated Democrat Walter Mondale, the former vice president and his running mate, Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first woman to be on a major party’s presidential ticket.

Voters reacted positively to Reagan’s campaign of strong economic recovery and a revival of national confidence and prestige. Mondale won just one state and lost in another landslide as he voters didn’t buy his criticisms against Reagan’s supply-side economic policies and budget deficits or his call for a nuclear freeze and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

1988

Bush and his running mate, Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana, who had a spelling deficiency, defeated Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis whose cachet fell when he was photographed in a tank with a helmet that was too big and made him look 14.

Bush ran on a platform of boosting the economy and cutting crime, with blatantly racist ads that claimed Dukakis had been soft on crime when he pardoned a man by the name of Willie Horton, who was later re-arrested on rape charges.

No candidate of either party has gotten as many electoral or popoular votes as Bush and he was the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836.

1992

Bush was popular because of the U.S. invasion of Iraq after Iraq had invaded Kuwait. The surge of love didn’t last. If he had no lips, Bush might have been re-elected but instead he told voters to “read my lips, no new taxes” and then proceeded to raise taxes. He lost to Arkansas Gov. Bill “I didn’t inhale” Clinton, a moderate Democrat who focused on rebuilding the economy, and his running mate, Sen. Albert Gore of Tennessee. Independent billionaire Ross Perot of Texas also lost a self-funded campaign.

Clinton won a plurality in the popular vote and a majority of the electoral vote, breaking a streak of three straight Republican victories. Bush, Carter and Ford were the only incumbent presidents since World War II to lose in the general election.

1996

Clinton-Gore won re-election over former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and his running mate, former congressman and professional football player, Jack Kemp. Reform Party candidate Ross Perot, gave it a second try and then went back to business to count his billions.

In the middle of Clinton’s first term, both houses of Congress went Republican, the first time in decades. But the economy ws recovering from the 1990s recession and the voters backed Clinton over Dole’s characterization of Clinton as a “spoiled” Baby Boomer.

Clinton won with a substantial margin in the popular vote and the Electoral College with a turnout of 49 percent, the lowest for a presidential election since 1924. Clinton also was the first Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win two straight presidential elections.

Clinton was impeached but not convicted in the Senate related to his sex scandal with intern Monica Lewinsky.

2000

George W. Bush, son of George H.W. and former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney were elected over Al Gore with the help of a relatively few hanging chads. Bush lost the popular vote in one of the closest elections in U.S. history.

In a wise move, Clinton did not campaign with his former vice president, fearing backlash from the Lewinsky affair. Gore and Bush focused on the budget, tax relief and reforms for federal social insurance programs.

On election night, there was still no winner because of the undecided race in Florida. Returns showed that Bush had won Florida, but the margin was so close that a recount was required. The election went to the Supreme Court which ruled 5–4 in favor of Bush and the recount ended.

Ultimately, Bush won 271 electoral votes, one more than a majority and Gore got 543,895 more popular votes than Bush.

2004

Bush and Cheney were re-elected, largely based on Bush’s huge popularity for responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Republicans defeated Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was an early front-runner in the 2004 Democratic primaries but his campaign scream sunk his boat, leading to Kerry’s nomination.

Foreign policy was the dominant theme for the election campaign, while Bush criticized Kerry for his opposition to the Vietnam War while Bush supporters ran a successful smear campaign over Kerry’s actions in Vietnam as part of the Swiftwater campaign.

Bush was strongly condemned for having fabricated a fear of weapons of mass destruction as the reason for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Bush won by a slim margin of 35 electoral votes and took 50.7 percent of the popular vote. This time there were no suspect hanging chads to swing the vote.

Bush did not win electoral votes in any northeast state, the first time that a major party candidate did not gain Northeast support.

2008

Sen. Barack Obama became the first African American elected president, along with his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden. They defeated Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah “I can see Russia from here” Palin. Obama was just the third sitting U.S. Senator elected president.

The initial frontrunner for the Democratic nomination was Sen. Hillary Clinton but she faded while Obama soared.

Obama campaigned on strong opposition to the Iraq War and a call for change while McCain emphasized his experience. Obama won the Electoral College and the popular vote by a large margin.

As of the 2016 presidential election, Obama’s total of 69.5 million votes remains the largest tally ever won by a presidential candidate.

2012

Obama and Biden defeated former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan.

Romney won the GOP nomination over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others.

The campaigns focused on responses to the Great Recession, the future of social insurance programs, and the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s major legislative program. Foreign policy was also an issue, including the phase-out of the Iraq War, military spending, the Iranian nuclear program, and how to confront terrorism.

Obama won a majority of both the Electoral College and the popular vote.

2016

Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence were elected over former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Sen. Tim Kaine.

Trump beat out a slew of GOP candidates for the nomination, promising to “Make America Great Again” while Clinton defeated Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Trump was against political correctness, immigration and free trade while Clinton spoke of her political experience and called Trump and his followers a “basket of deplorables” for their racist, xenophobic and sexist beliefs.

A basket of sexual misconduct allegations weren’t enough to derail Trump while Clinton faced a late controversy over her improper use of a private email server.

Clinton led in most pre-election polls and a landslide was expected. Instead it was one of the greatest political upsets in U.S. history as Trump won the electoral votes but Clinton got 2.87 million more popular votes.

Trump is the first president with no prior public service or military experience, and the oldest person to be inaugurated for a first presidential term.