1980 Election The candidates in the 1980 election were Democrat Jimmy Carter, Republican Ronald Reagan, and Independent John B. Anderson. The election was held Tuesday, November 4th. Ronald Reagan won by a landslide. It marked the beginning of a time called "The Reagan Revolution."
Reagan was the Governor of California in 1966. He tried unsuccessfully to be the Republican presidential nominee in 1968 and 1976. By the time of 1980, Reagan had been campaigning for that election for nearly four years. By late 1979, the list of Republican hopefuls included Senators Howard Baker, Bob Dole, and Lowell Weicker; Representatives John Anderson and Philip Crane; a former Treasury Secretary and Governor John Connally, and Reagan's biggest opponent, George Bush. Bush won victories in the Iowa caucuses and in the Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Michigan primaries, but Reagan soon became unstoppable. It became clear that the race was going to be tight between the two. A debate between the two was set up by the Nashua Telegraph, but it was thought to be a violation of the Federal Election Commission rules by not adding the other candidates. Three chairs were set up on the stage where the debate was going to take place. Reagan said that he would pay for the other candidates to participate, and he lead Anderson, Baker, Crane, and Dole with him onto the stage. During the debate, Reagan started to protest because they wouldn't let the other candidates speak. Breen quickly ordered for his microphone to be turned off, but Reagan said “I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green [sic].” He then walked off the stage with the other candidates, showing protest at Bush. In the end, Reagan won the nomination. In May 1980, Bush threw his support to Reagan for president. Reagan had to choose a running mate to help him get to the top. He was considering former President Gerald D. Ford. He ended up choosing George Bush as his running mate. On November 4, 1980, the votes were counted. Reagan ended up winning by a landslide. He won a little over 50 percent of the votes, Carter won 41 percent of the votes, and Anderson won 7 percent. Carter became the first elected incumbent to be defeated for reelection as president since Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. Reagan became the oldest president of the United States. He was 69 when he first entered the president's office. |
Interview on The Fall of the berlin wall Heidi-Rose Fokken was born in Germany in 1943. Luckily, she lived on the west side of the wall when it was built. She moved to America in October of 1961 at age 18, and now lives in Minnesota. She went to visit Germany again five years after the wall was taken down.
Interview: When the Berlin Wall Was Up: Did you know anybody on the East side of the wall? No. I was lucky to be far away from the wall in west Germany when it was built. I was born and raised in the Black Forest. It is located near the border of France, and in southwest Germany. Did people act differently? Yes, many people were separated from their families and friends. For some people the wall went right through their house and separated their intermediate family. They had no way to communicate with each other. It would be terrible. East Germany was very depressed and the people could not leave. If they tried to escape, they would be killed. Some Germans on the east side of the wall would hide in cars and other transportation to hope it would be driven to the other side of the wall or to another country. That's how desperate they were to escape. Were soldiers in Germany in public places and private places? There were German and Russian soldiers on the east side of the wall guarding all over to make sure no one would escape or try to escape, and for protection. There were a few German soldiers on the west side. Extra Information About the Berlin Wall: My son, Steve went to Germany to study for school. Since he was an American citizen he had a 24 hour visitation limit in east Germany. Only foreigners could go to east Germany. They had a certain time period until they had to be back. If they weren't back, there were consequences. They could go to prison. Germans could not go to east Germany if they were on the west side, and Germans on the east side could not get out of east Germany. They were like prisoners. They couldn't go anywhere. Charlie Point was a crossing border between east and west Germany. Only specific people could go through it. When the Berlin Wall Came Down: Did people act differently? Yes. Since east Germany was communist, Germans relied on the government to pay for them. The east Germans were not used to living on their own and earning their own money. When the east Germans came to west Germany, the west Germans had to give the east Germans some of their money. West Germans didn't like it because they earned the money and now they have to give some of it to the east Germans so they could get a place to live and get medical help. This made Germany's economy bad because they were losing money helping the east Germans. Were soldiers still there? German soldiers were there still, but for a different reason. Some of the Russian soldiers stayed there, but many went back to Russia because Russia's government changed. Could people move more freely? Yes. If you look at the map, Germany became a much bigger country because the wall wasn't there anymore. People were now able to travel to east Germany and west Germany when ever they wanted. Extra Information About When The Wall Fell: There was still a great population that stayed in east Germany. Many people had farms and houses that they didn't want to leave behind. East Germany was very polluted. Russia didn't care about pollution so east Germany polluted most of its side. My niece married a man named Holger. Holger was on the east side of the wall. He had a wife and a daughter. They came to the west side when the wall went down. He later divorced his wife and married my niece. He now lives in west Germany with my niece and his one kid. Charlie Point now has a museum about the Berlin Wall. |