When President Jimmy Carter ran for reelection in 1980, he had to compete against former California Gov. Ronald Reagan.
It was no contest. Reagan took 44 of the 50 states and won the popular vote by more than 8 million.
Why was Carter’s reelection effort so disastrous?
Perhaps the most significant reason — but not the only reason — was that Iran had taken Americans hostage in 1979 and was still holding them when the 1980 election took place.
In an essay posted on the National Archives website, archives specialist Michael J. Hancock summed up what happened.
“The hostage crisis had grave consequences in President Carter’s attempt to win reelection in 1980,” he wrote. “Many voters perceived his inability to resolve the crisis as a sign of weakness. To compound this, dealing with the crisis prevented him from campaigning effectively. The country was plagued by many problems — double-digit inflation, rising unemployment, the crisis in Iran, and the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
“Americans cast their ballots, and the results was a landslide victory for Ronald Reagan,” he wrote.
A summary of the hostage crisis published by the Office of the Historian at the State Department argues that the Soviet Union took advantage of the weakness the Carter administration displayed in dealing with Iran.
“Representing the United States abroad has been a dangerous job since the beginning of the Republic, but that was never truer than during the Carter Administration,” says this department posting.
“On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the embassy and detained more than 50 Americans, ranging from the Charge d’Affaires to the most junior members of the staff, as hostages,” it says.
“While the courage of the American hostages in Tehran and of their families at home reflected the best tradition of the Department of State, the Iran hostage crisis undermined Carter’s conduct of foreign policy,” it says. “The crisis dominated the headlines and news broadcasts and made the Administration look weak and ineffectual.”
“The Administration’s vitality was sapped, and the Soviet Union took advantage of America’s weakness to win strategic advantage for itself,” it says.
On April 25, 1980, Carter went on television to tell the American people about a disastrous effort his administration had made to rescue the hostages.
“Equipment failure in the rescue helicopters made it necessary to end the mission,” Carter said. “As our team was withdrawing, after my order to do so, two of our American aircraft collided on the ground following a refueling operation in a remote desert location in Iran.”
“There was no fighting; there was no combat,” said Carter. “But to my deep regret, eight of the crewmen of the two aircraft which collided were killed, and several other Americans were hurt in the accident.”
“In the aftermath of the attempt,” Carter said, “we continue to hold the Government of Iran responsible for the safety and for the early release of the American hostages, who have been held so long.”
The Iranians kept the hostages — until the day Reagan became president.
On Jan. 21, 1981, the New York Daily News reported: “In a drama at high noon as President Reagan was delivering his inaugural speech, Iran freed the 52 American hostages yesterday and sent them homeward after 444 days of terror, humiliation and agonizing last-minute delays.”
Reagan’s greatest conflict was not with Iran, but the Soviet Union — and he handled it much differently than Carter handled the hostage crisis.
In 1977, Richard Allen — who would later become Reagan’s first national security adviser — was thinking of running for governor of New Jersey. So, he traveled to California to ask Reagan for his support.
During a conversation at Reagan’s home, as memorialized in an interview Allen gave to the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, Reagan explained his approach to the Cold War.
“I’d like now to tell you my basic theory about the Cold War,” Reagan said to Allen.
“What’s that?” said Allen.
“Some people say I’m very simplistic, but there’s a difference between being simplistic and simple,” said Reagan. “A lot of very complex things are very simple if you think them through.”
“Yes, sir,” said Allen.
“Keeping that in mind,” said Reagan, “my theory of the Cold War is, we win and they lose. What do you think of that?”
Allen was thrilled by Reagan’s approach — and joined his team.
In his second term, Reagan delivered a speech in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.
“The totalitarian world finds even symbols of love and of worship an affront,” Reagan said in that speech. “Years ago, before the East Germans began rebuilding their churches, they erected a secular structure: the television tower at Alexander Platz. Virtually ever since, the authorities have been working to correct what they view as the tower’s one major flaw, treating the glass sphere at the top with paints and chemicals of every kind. Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere — that sphere that towers over all Berlin — the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed.”
“Mr. Gorbachev,” Reagan defiantly declared, “tear down this wall.”
A little more than two years later, when Reagan’s vice president had succeeded him, the wall came down. The Cold War was won — and history will remember Reagan as the leader who made it happen.
Terence P. Jeffrey is an editor for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
(Featured Image Media Credit: National Archives)
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