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"In war there is no substitute for victory"
- General Douglas Macarthur.
Chapter One: Gridlock
"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
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It was not to be.
Things unravelled in quick succession. First went Agnew on tax evasion. He wasn't missed. Then rose Gerald Ford, who was at the time content in his role as House Minority Leader. Then went Cox, to be followed by Richardson and Ruckelshaus in the 'Saturday Night Massacre' as Ervin, Church, and the rest grilled the president over his involvement with the activities of Hunt and Liddy with regards to the Watergate Complex.
Then, on the 9th of August 1974, went the president. Gerald Ford rose to the occasion, becoming the 38th president of the United States, declaring an end to the long national nightmare. But, there were still troubles. Swine Flu, Nixon's pardon, and the general economic malaise in part because of the Nixon shock. The American people grew angrier, more cynical, as highlighted in the hit 1976 Sidney Lumet movie Network, in which deranged news anchor Howard Beale (played by the actor Peter Finch) declared to millions "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
Seeking to harness this anger all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue was Ronald Reagan. After eight long, tiring years, it was finally chance to become president at the elderly age of 65. Ford was still reeling from the Democratic landslide in the 1974 midterms, making him a prime target. If he fought the president to a draw and forced another nominee, he would've merely been the first to do so since Eugene McCarthy. If he actually won, he would break a precedent of presidential renomination that stretched all the way back to Chester Arthur. But he was confident that he could pull it off, and that he could be a latter day James G. Blaine.
Reagan launched his second bid for the white house at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. in November 1975, flanked by his wife Nancy and son Ron. A month before, Ford declined to send federal assistance to the city of New York, which was undergoing a severe economic crunch. The backlash was intense, and was famously encapsulated in the headline 'FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD' by the provocative New York Daily News tabloid. It damaged his credibility.
The first primary was, as per usual, in the farming state of Iowa, on the 19th of January. The result came as a disappointment to the campaign, who were expecting an invigorating victory rather than a slim win from Ford. Only 14 'caucus-goers' separated the president and his challenger. A loss in New Hampshire and Massachusetts soon followed. Many wondered if the campaign was falling into a downward spiral and if it would soon fall into bankruptcy, as indeed it might. Reagan's fortunes changed for the better when North Carolina Governor James Holshouser switched sides, soon to be followed by the conservative powerbroker Jesse Helms, who failed to be convinced even by Ford's own staff of the president's record.
Florida became a tight battleground, with Reagen edging out the president by a tiny 8,932 vote margin. This was coupled with a smaller than expected loss in the state of Illinois. Reagan then secured a crushing victory in North Carolina with the help of Helms. It was also during this time that Reagan gave a speech entitled 'To Restore America', in which he blasted the administration's ineffective response to rising unemployment and inflation (one of the final lines memorably said "I would like to be president, because I would like to see this country become once again a country where a little six-year old girl can grow up knowing the same freedom that I knew when I was six years old, growing up in America"). Ford's campaign panicked. A string of victories in May worsened the situation, as only West Virginia, Maryland (home of the independent candidate Charles Mathias, whose third party candidacy may have caused a smaller win for Ford), and the president's home state of Michigan wnet against Reagan. In response to his flagging situation, Ford announced the selection of his running mate for the general. The event took place on the 27th of May 1976 in Wichita, and it was blatantly clear that the choice would not be the incumbent vice president Nelson Rockefeller, who had burned one bridge too many for Reagan's supporters. The mystery candidate eventually turned out to be Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. It didn't work out, and the mass-produced Ford/Dole memorabilia went to waste, left to dust in antique shops in years to come as the losses continued without haste. Reagan, on the eve of the convention in Kansas City, Missouri, announced his own pick.
The team he assembled included Michael Deaver, John Sears, and Lyn Nofziger. Sears pushed for the moderate pro-labor Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania, who could give Reagen some credibility with blue collar voters. The idea was rejected out of hand after Helms personally intervened to prevent it. Also on the shortlist was Tennessee Senator Howard Baker, who was a supporter of Ford in the primaries and therefore someone who could bridge the gap between the two campaigns. Reagan himself wished to put Baker on the ticket, but the senator declined, wishing to take up a leadership post in the senate. Ray Blanton, a Democrat, was the governor of Tennessee at the time, so Reagan would be in effect ceding Baker's seat. Also detailed on the list were Congressman Donald Rumsfeld, who Helms thought was both too inexperienced and too wonky, Senator Paul Laxalt, who was dismissed by Sears for his radical brand of conservatism, Governor John Connally, whose association with Nixon tainted him, and even the president himself.
The final choice was agreed upon by all members of the campaign team, and was presented to Ford, who consented to the choice. It was to be official. William D. Ruckelshaus, the thick eyebrowed former EPA director and one of the victims of the Saturday Night Massacre, was to become Reagan's vice president if he should win.
The Kansas City convention turned out more than well. The president gave a gracious speech, reminiscent of his concession some weeks prior, in which he refused to shy away from his fate. "While I am disappointed to become the first president to be denied his party's nomination since the 1800's, I am proud to present a united party. A party that can and has shown sound results for this nation over the past four years!" he cried. Reagan took the stage to an uproarious five minute standing ovation. He, unsurprisingly, failed to mention the criticisms of the administration that he was making previously. Instead, he pressed forth with a positive vision for the country, in sharp contrast to the image of what he called "Carter's America," a land in which the family was under threat, a land in which many could not pay the taxes to keep the roof above their head. It was a ratings bonanza, far outstripping the 1972 one featuring the then-president Richard Nixon. The polls did not reflect this, still showing a ten point deficit for the California governor (with a small portion for Charles 'Mac' Mathias). He would have a little over two months to repair it, and for the moment, Jimmy Carter was the man with his eye on the ball. However, two months was still a long time in the slow world of politics. A time in which anything could happen...
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