Carter, who lived longer than any other U.S. president, entered home hospice care in Plains, Georgia in February 2023 after a series of short hospital stays.
The long and the short of it. Oil crisis and Reagan’s hostage sabotage in Iran. It’s really not that much different to anything today. Listen to any conservative complaint about contemporary Democrats and you will hear clear inane echoes.
He told Americans that we just need to tighten our belts and we will get through it. As he had personally done as a young member of the silent generation during the depression. Reagan told them all they were special little sausages. And should cater to their every greedy Indulgence. I’m sure you can guess which message they liked better. The same message they got this time.
Americans have not and will never learn their lesson as long as the wealthy own the media. Telling people what they want to hear. And turning them against those that would help them in any way.
A lot of it had to do with the Iran hostage crisis (1979-81). There was a failed rescue attempt by US military in 1980 that cost the lives of 8 servicement (chopper crash) that really put the nail in the coffin for Carter.
The final death knell was the October surprise theory (supported by “several individuals—most notably, former Iranian President Abulhassan Banisadr, former Lieutenant Governor of Texas Ben Barnes, former naval intelligence officer and U.S. National Security Council member Gary Sick, and Barbara Honegger, a former campaign staffer and White House analyst for Reagan and his successor, George H. W. Bush—have stood by the allegation.” source). While the theory does have its detractors it has a lot of support by those in the know.
I was around back then and remember watching Carter almost wither away under the onslaught from Reagan and the Moral Majority.
You didn’t actually explain what the October Surprise Theory was. According to your link:
The 1980 October Surprise theory refers to an allegation that representatives of Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign made a secret deal with Iranian leaders to delay the release of American hostages until after the election between Reagan and President Jimmy Carter, the incumbent.
The 1980 October Surprise theory refers to an allegation that representatives of Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign made a secret deal with Iranian leaders to delay the release of American hostages until after the election between Reagan and President Jimmy Carter, the incumbent. The detention of 66 Americans in Iran, held hostage since November 4, 1979, was one of the leading national issues during 1980, and the alleged goal of the deal was to thwart Carter from pulling off an “October surprise”. Reagan won the election, and on the day of his inauguration—minutes after he concluded his 20-minute inaugural address—the Islamic Republic of Iran announced the release of the hostages.
There was also both the energy crisis itself and the “Crisis of Confidence” speech during the middle of the energy crisis, which people saw as Carter just ignoring the energy crisis.
Really, a lot of things went wrong. The biggest, though, was that Carter just refused to kiss Tip O’Neill’s ring and it meant he had both parties working against him.
It is exactly like today. What Carter did, just like what Biden has done more recently , was drowned out by hate fueled character assassination. Yes Carter was a genuine nice human being wanting the best for everyone but at the same time Reagan was genuinely likable, believable. He was “the great communicator”. So like today, only a much nicer person getting his character assassinated but by somberly influential rather than todays centrism, racism, hatred and spite.
Carter also told people things they didn’t want to hear but had to. He was the genuine “telling it like it is”.
I was alive at the time e and thought Carter was a great president. I may have been biased by even then preferring engineers. However I also got swept up in the wave of Reaganism along with everyone else. Yes, I believed cities were hellish gang ridden dystopias, the countryside filled with “welfare queens” collecting generational wealth by pumping out babies, and college elite using abortion at will as just casual contraception. I still believe Reagan hastened the fall of the Soviet Union by outspending them in an arms race. I was surely naive at the time but also Reagan was that good to make you believe anything
Everyone I know who was alive at that time has a negative opinion of him as a president but I never really understood it fully.
The long and the short of it. Oil crisis and Reagan’s hostage sabotage in Iran. It’s really not that much different to anything today. Listen to any conservative complaint about contemporary Democrats and you will hear clear inane echoes.
He told Americans that we just need to tighten our belts and we will get through it. As he had personally done as a young member of the silent generation during the depression. Reagan told them all they were special little sausages. And should cater to their every greedy Indulgence. I’m sure you can guess which message they liked better. The same message they got this time.
Americans have not and will never learn their lesson as long as the wealthy own the media. Telling people what they want to hear. And turning them against those that would help them in any way.
That fucking asshole killed our conversion to metric. Carter had us pretty well on the way.
Their generation ate the paint chips we were warned about.
Makes me wonder what kind of utopia we will live in once the last of the lead breathers kicks it
A lot of it had to do with the Iran hostage crisis (1979-81). There was a failed rescue attempt by US military in 1980 that cost the lives of 8 servicement (chopper crash) that really put the nail in the coffin for Carter.
The final death knell was the October surprise theory (supported by “several individuals—most notably, former Iranian President Abulhassan Banisadr, former Lieutenant Governor of Texas Ben Barnes, former naval intelligence officer and U.S. National Security Council member Gary Sick, and Barbara Honegger, a former campaign staffer and White House analyst for Reagan and his successor, George H. W. Bush—have stood by the allegation.” source). While the theory does have its detractors it has a lot of support by those in the know.
I was around back then and remember watching Carter almost wither away under the onslaught from Reagan and the Moral Majority.
You didn’t actually explain what the October Surprise Theory was. According to your link:
Whoops. Sorry about that.
1980 October Surprise
There was also both the energy crisis itself and the “Crisis of Confidence” speech during the middle of the energy crisis, which people saw as Carter just ignoring the energy crisis.
Really, a lot of things went wrong. The biggest, though, was that Carter just refused to kiss Tip O’Neill’s ring and it meant he had both parties working against him.
It is exactly like today. What Carter did, just like what Biden has done more recently , was drowned out by hate fueled character assassination. Yes Carter was a genuine nice human being wanting the best for everyone but at the same time Reagan was genuinely likable, believable. He was “the great communicator”. So like today, only a much nicer person getting his character assassinated but by somberly influential rather than todays centrism, racism, hatred and spite.
Carter also told people things they didn’t want to hear but had to. He was the genuine “telling it like it is”.
I was alive at the time e and thought Carter was a great president. I may have been biased by even then preferring engineers. However I also got swept up in the wave of Reaganism along with everyone else. Yes, I believed cities were hellish gang ridden dystopias, the countryside filled with “welfare queens” collecting generational wealth by pumping out babies, and college elite using abortion at will as just casual contraception. I still believe Reagan hastened the fall of the Soviet Union by outspending them in an arms race. I was surely naive at the time but also Reagan was that good to make you believe anything