1980 Reagan VS. Carter VS. Anderson

"Reagan's Record"

Transcript

Museum of the Moving Image
The Living Room Candidate
"Reagan's Record," Reagan, 1980

MALE NARRATOR: This is a man whose time has come. A strong leader with a proven record. In 1966, answering the call of his party, Ronald Reagan was elected Governor of California - next to President, the biggest job in the nation. What the new Governor inherited was a state of crisis. California was faced with a $194 million deficit and was spending a million dollars a day more than it was taking in. The state was on the brink of bankruptcy.

Governor Reagan became the greatest tax reformer in the state's history. When Governor Reagan left office, the $194 million deficit had been transformed into a $550 million dollar surplus. The San Francisco Chronicle said Governor Reagon has saved the state from bankruptcy.

[TEXT: "We exaggerate very little when we say that [Reagan] has saved the state from bankruptcy." -San Francisco Chronicle]

The time is now for strong leadership. [with TEXT] Reagan for President.

Credits

"Reagan's Record," Reagan Bush Committee, 1980

Maker: Campaign '80

Video courtesy of Ronald and Nancy Reagan/Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

From Museum of the Moving Image, The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952-2012.
www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1980/reagans-record (accessed July 22, 2025).

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1980 Reagan Carter Anderson Results

On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students stormed the American embassy in Tehran. Protesting the entry of the deposed Shah into the United States, they held 53 Americans hostage. For the next twelve months, the hostage situation was an ongoing American nightmare magnified by constant media attention. Confidence in President Carter eroded as a result of the Iran crisis, an oil shortage and resultant increase in gas prices, and 18 percent inflation. Carter’s chances were further damaged by a tough primary battle against Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy.

While Carter had been the fresh face of 1976, this year the role of Washington outsider was played by the Republican nominee, Ronald Reagan. A former Hollywood actor who became governor of California in 1966, Reagan made a brief run for the presidency in 1968, and nearly beat Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination in 1976. Reagan’s landslide victory was due not only to Carter’s problems, but also to a demographic shift toward an aging population that was growing more conservative. Carter became the first Democratic incumbent to lose the presidency since Grover Cleveland in 1888. In a further indignity, the Iranians waited until the moment of Reagan’s inauguration to release the hostages.

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