800 Chapter 30 Running on Empty, 1975–1991
than apologizing for it. He repeatedly called attention
to his integrity and deep religious faith. “I’ll never lie to
you,” he promised voters, a pledge that no candidate
would have bothered to make before Nixon’s disgrace.
He won the Democratic nomination easily.
Carter sought to make the election a referendum
on morality. After Watergate, an atmosphere of scan-
dal permeated Washington, and aspiring journalists
and congressmen trained their sights on Kissinger,
who remained secretary of state after Nixon’s resig-
nation. The most significant of the allegations was his
meddling in the affairs of Chile, which in 1970
elected Salvador Allende, a Marxist, as president. “I
don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a coun-
try go communist due to the irresponsibility of its
people,” Kissinger had quipped. He called on the
CIA to “destabilize” Allende’s regime. In 1973,
Allende was murdered in a military coup and his gov-
ernment toppled. Carter promised an administration
of “constant decency” in contrast to Kissinger’s pen-
chant for secret diplomacy and covert skullduggery.
In the Republican primaries, Ford was challenged by
Ronald Reagan, ex-governor of California, a movie actor
turned politician who was the darling of the Republican
right wing. Reagan was an excellent speaker, whereas
Ford proved somewhat bumbling on the stump. Reagan,
too, hammered away at Kissinger, citing his “immoral”
détente with communist China. At Reagan’s insistence,
the Republican platform denounced “secret agreements,
hidden from our people”—another jab at Kissinger.
Both Republican candidates gathered substantial
blocs of delegates, but Ford staved off the Reagan
challenge. That he did not win easily, possessed as he
was of the advantage of incumbency, made his
chances of election in November appear slim.
When the final contest began, both candidates
were vague with respect to issues, a situation that hurt
Carter particularly because he had made so much of
honesty and straight talk. The election was memorable
chiefly for its gaffes: Carter’s admission to Playboythat
he had “lusted after women” in his heart and Ford’s
declaration in a televised debate, “There is no Soviet
domination in Eastern Europe.” Voters were left to
choose between Carter’s seeming ignorance of human
frailty and Ford’s human frailty of seeming ignorant.
With both candidates stumbling toward the finish
line, pundits predicted an extremely close contest,
and they were right: Carter won, 297 electoral votes
to 241, having carried most of the South, including
Texas, and a few large industrial states. He also ran
well in districts dominated by labor union members.
The wish of the public to punish the party of Richard
Nixon probably was a further reason for his victory.
Ford Presidential Campaign Ad: Feeling Good
About Americaatwww.myhistorylab.comThe Carter Presidency
Carter shone brightly in comparison with Nixon, and he
seemed more forward-looking and imaginative than
Ford. He tried to give a tone of democratic simplicity
and moral fervor to his administration. After delivering
his inaugural address he walked with his wife Rosalynn
and their young daughter Amy in the parade from the
Capitol to the White House instead of riding in a limou-
sine. They enrolled Amy, a fourth-grader, in a largely
black Washington public school. Soon
after taking office he held a “call-in”; for
two hours he answered questions phoned
in by people from all over the country.
Carter’s actual administration of his
office did not go nearly so well. He put
so many Georgians in important posts
that his administration took on a
parochial character. The administration
developed a reputation for submitting
complicated proposals to Congress with
great fanfare and then failing to follow
up on them. Whatever matter Carter was
considering at the moment seemed to
absorb him totally—other urgent matters
were allowed to drift.A National Malaise
To Carter, the nation’s economic woes
were symptomatic of a more fundamental
flaw in the nation’s soul. In a heraldedWatchtheVideoGeorgia governor Jimmy Carter and President Gerald Ford debate in 1976. The campaign
featured Carter’s candor in a Playboyinterview: “I’ve committed adultery in my heart many
times.” The headline stories often neglected the sentences that followed: “This is something
that God recognizes I will do—and I have done it—and God forgives me for it.”