An American History

1058 ★ CHAPTER 26 The Triumph of Conservatism

president as an independent, received

about 7 percent of the popular vote, Rea-

gan won only a bare majority, although

he commanded an over whelming

margin in the electoral college. Car-

ter received 41 percent, a humiliating

defeat for a sitting president.

Jimmy Carter’s reputation improved

after he left the White House. He went

to work for Habitat for Humanity, an

organization that constructs homes for

poor families. In the 1990s, he nego-

tiated a cease- fire between warring

Muslim and Serb forces in Bosnia and

arranged a peaceful transfer of power

from the military to an elected govern-

ment in Haiti. In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His presi-

dency, however, is almost universally considered a failure. And his defeat in

1980 launched the Reagan Revolution, which completed the transformation

of freedom from the rallying cry of the left to a possession of the right.

THE REAGAN REVOLUTION

Ronald Reagan followed a most unusual path to the presidency. Originally a

New Deal Democrat and head of the Screen Actors Guild (the only union leader

ever to reach the White House), he emerged in the 1950s as a spokesman for

the General Electric Corporation, preaching the virtues of unregulated capital-

ism. His nominating speech for Barry Goldwater at the 1964 Republican con-

vention brought Reagan to national attention. Two years later, California voters

elected Reagan as governor. In 1976, he challenged President Ford for the Repub-

lican nomination and came close to winning it. His victory in 1980 brought to

power a diverse coalition of old and new conservatives: Sunbelt suburbanites

and urban working- class ethnics; antigovernment crusaders and advocates of a

more aggressive foreign policy; libertarians who believed in freeing the individ-

ual from restraint and the Christian Right, which sought to restore what they

considered traditional moral values to American life.

Reagan and American Freedom

Reagan’s opponents often underestimated him. By the time he left office at the

age of seventy- seven, he had become the oldest man ever to serve as president.

8

1

6

45

3

4

4

3

(^47)
(^64)
3
4
5
7
8
26
(^1011)
21
8
12
6
10 7
9 128
17
10 13
9 12
(^2613256)
27
41
34 4
414
3178
(^103)
3
4
Democrat
Republican
Other candidates
Party
Carter
Ford
CandidateElectoral V(Share)ote
297 (55%)
240 (45%)
1
Popular V(Share)ote
40,825,839 (50%)
39,147,770 (48%)
1,577,333 (2%)
THE PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTION OF 1980