Pretty self-explanatory. IOTL, Gerald Ford, after getting assassinated by "Squeaky", was succeeded by Ronald Reagan, who managed to beat out Jimmy Carter..and proceeded to screw up the economy and foreign policy so hard his name is now a by-line for bad Presidents of the 20th Century. Then we got President Ted Kennedy in 1980, the Soviet collapse, the "Fair Deal" and "New America" of the 1990s, the 1/11 attacks by Right-Wing terrorist groups, the wars in the Middle East and the icy relations with Mr. Putin...It's been an eventful 40 years. However, it all goes back to Reagan. People forget this, but Reagan only won by a razor-thin margin. If he hadn't done unexpectedly well in The West, he would have lost. Let's say Reagan loses. What now? Carter, i'm sad to say, because I love our former Secretary of State more than I love most things, probably wouldn't have done much better than Reagan did. He would have been a lot better on foreign policy, been a lot less openly hostile towards the Soviets, but I doubt even he could have stopped the Iran Crisis, or the economic collapse. The late 70s were just a bad time to be President. Your thoughts?