This will blow your mind.

[DonRedwood]

1976 Jimmy Carter is elected President.

[joshcryer]

1. What the fuck happened?

[cprise]

19. um, you don't remember?

The Repukes made a deal with the Iranian revolutionaries to delay releasing the hostages until after Reagan was sworn in. They also used inside information from their relationship with the Iranians to make Carter look stupid during the debates.

Does that answer your question?

More importantly, does it give you an idea of how bad the situation still is (having some of the worst scoundrels and provocateurs as opposition)? It doesn't really get better until most of the lower and middle class people get on the same page and cast a severe stare at the entire array of concentrated wealth and power; the corporate plutocrats and the militarists. Not just at politicians, industrialists and bankers but the judiciary and media as well. Our first reaction to them, the ones we have in this era, should be general suspicion.

[joshcryer]

29. I wasn't aware he won the deep south...

...and CA voted against him!

[LittlestStar]

2. That did blow my mind. What has changed so much?

[DonRedwood]

3. Welcome to DU! I don't know what happened! I was just curious of the last time TX was blue

and then I saw the entire South. Holy hell!! I was too young to remember what happened that year but I was shocked to see this map!

[LittlestStar]

12. Yeah bizarre. I barely remember Reagan getting elected. THX for welcome!

[NWmomma]

7. this...

The Fairness Doctrine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine

[DonRedwood]

15. That was a concise read--thank you for sharing that

I had never read up on it before so my info was a bit sketchy.

[jeff47]

8. Dixiecrats died/retired. (nt)

[phasma ex machina]

4. Texas, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York are five of the "big six."

The "big six" (those five plus California) are the only thing that count. The rest of the states only count when the "big six" is evenly split.

[aaaaaa5a]

5. What changed so much? Ronald Reagan and the southern strategy.

Nixon ran on it first in the early 1970s. Reagan cemented it in the 1980 election and the the post civil rights Presidential election map was drawn.

[Tigress DEM]

6. Jimmy was a Southern Boy.

Well liked by the Bible Belt it seems.

[DonRedwood]

11. Oregon didn't vote for Carter!

I was surprised by that.

[kentuck]

13. I think Mark Hatfield was a Republican leader in the Senate at that time...

From Oregon, I believe?

[DonRedwood]

17. yup

[condoleeza]

14. I did, both times n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

30. You have to remember that the republicans were not always the party they are today.

A great example was Tom McCall, Governor of Oregon from '67 - '75. He was the guy that said, (I'm paraphrasing here) "Welcome to Oregon, enjoy your stay, then go home". Republicans were not always the narrow-minded bigots and batshit crazy religious nuts we have today.

You should at least read the Wiki link provided, maybe your curiosity will be peaked. Historically, the republican party has always been the party of change. Unfortunately, it has been the party of changing for the worse since WWII.

[JCMach1]

9. Another election determined by Ohio... plus ca change

[TwilightGardener]

10. Vermont was red. CA...red. Deep south blue.

So weird, all within my lifetime.

[DonRedwood]

21. It is a little unsettling that things can change like that.

But, the religious right had not taken over yet so maybe the parties were different then? I don't know, I find it confusing.

[DonRedwood]

18. blue is carter on this map

[budkin]

20. Wow shit really has changed!

Texas voting for Jimmy Carter?? LMAO

[cprise]

22. It was identity politics. They focused on his Evangelical-ness.

Later on, many decided they preferred belligerence and greed delivered with a dapper smile.

[redStateBlueHeart]

23. Wow

The entire South went blue Yay, Oklahoma still defiantly red! I don't think we've ever gone blue...I dunno, maybe when FDR was prez.

But, even more mind-blowing than this...can someone please explain to me how Reagan won 49 out of 50 states when he was re-elected??? I've talked to people who were alive at the time and NO ONE can explain how it happened.

EDITED: Looked it up - ah, we apparently voted for Johnson in '64...and Oklahoma hasn't gone blue since. Apparently before WWI the Socialist party was a huge player in Oklahoma politics. What happened???

[Blue_In_AK]

28. 1964 was the last year Alaska voted for a Democratic president, also.

[mick063]

31. I was alive at that time

I was one of those Reagan Democrats.



I'll tell you why (49 out of 50 states):

Friedman economics. Supply Side economics. Trickle down.

Whatever you want to call it, the country took it hook, line, and sinker. Of course it has proven to be foolish four decades later, but back then, it was new, it was fresh, and Friedman won a nobel prize for his thesis on it.

Then there was the "Kennedy like" space ambition. No, not a man to the moon, but "Star Wars". We were going to shoot down 15,000 ICBMs pointed at us with laser beams.



Also, the last time a Democrat was in office (Carter):

Three Mile Island plus a movie to scare everyone about it. (The China Syndrome)
Our first taste of an Arab oil embargo (muscle cars turned into wimpy cars ie. Mustang II)
Iran hostages (News lead every, single, night....Iran Hostage Day XXX)
Deep, deep recession (This is where trickle down comes in)

I liked Jimmy Carter, but events beyond his control made it seem like the world was falling apart around him. Plus, the Democrats owned Congress. How much harm could a GOP President do with a Democratic legislative body?

I thought Carter's lame duck speech, his very last address to the nation, was one of the finest speeches I had ever heard (still do), and I immediately regreted voting for Reagan upon hearing it. Jimmy Carter was a very, very brilliant man.

Also understand.....no internet, no PCs, no Fox News, and a boatload of wing nut Democrats (called Dixiecrats...modern GOP). Not nearly the political polarization there is now. Not even close.

Does that explain it?

[redStateBlueHeart]

32. It does help

But still...like every damn state? Just seems so crazy

[Jennicut]

24. Wait, what? CA, CT, VT, WA, OR, ME were red????

I was about 11 months old on election night in '76.

The south...wow.

[redStateBlueHeart]

25. IKR

Crazy how things change...

[Jennicut]

26. It reversed in 35 years. Or at least the south did and the west coast.

[Blue_In_AK]

27. Jerry Ford had somewhat restored "normalcy" after the disaster that was Nixon

and was an incumbent. He was moderate, had a wonderful wife, and a lot of people liked him. I will admit to voting for him, the ONLY time I voted for a republican president. I didn't trust Carter's evangelicalism at the time, and was not excited by a candidate from the Deep South who was a virtual unknown. By the time 1980 rolled around, I realized what a good man Carter was and happily voted for him -- especially since I had lived in CA when Reagan was governor. Reagan did more to divide this country along its present political lines than anyone.