Hello and welcome to another edition of the presidential election series, where I’ll be discussing the election of 1976. A lot has changed since the previous election, with a very unpopular Republican president facing off against an unlikely challenger from the Democrats. So, with that said, let’s dive into the election of 1976.
The End of the Nixon Administration
Following his landslide victory in the 1972 election, President Richard Nixon appeared to have things well in hand, both domestically and in foreign policy. Unfortunately, the seeds of his political demise were already planted before election day ’72, with events spiraling out of control in the following years.
The trouble began in June 1972 with the discovery of five men breaking into the Democratic Party’s National Headquarters at the Watergate Office Complex, intending to steal information by bugging and recording the Democrats. While the investigation and subsequent arrest of these men made national headlines, it wasn’t enough to hurt Nixon’s re-election chances. However, that would change in 1973.
As the investigation into the break-in continued, it began to unravel a web of illegal activities tied directly to the Nixon administration. In 1973, various members of Nixon’s administration were either dismissed or fired, leading to widespread speculation about the president’s role in what would become known as “The Watergate Scandal.” The scandal deepened when it was revealed that the break-in was part of a larger campaign of political espionage and sabotage orchestrated by Nixon’s re-election committee.
A pivotal moment came in July of that year when the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon had to turn over all audio recordings in his possession, as they were essential for the ongoing federal and Senate investigations. These tapes, recorded in the Oval Office, contained crucial evidence that Nixon had not only known about the Watergate break-ins but had even approved efforts to cover them up, implicating him in the conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The revelations from the tapes led to a dramatic shift in public opinion and political pressure, with calls for Nixon’s impeachment growing louder. Facing almost certain impeachment, Nixon announced on August 8, 1974, that he would “resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow.” This made Richard Milhous Nixon the first and so far only president in United States history to resign from office, marking a profound moment of crisis in American political history and setting the stage for the election of 1976.
Gerald Ford: The New President
Since John Tyler’s unexpected rise to the presidency in 1840 following William Henry Harrison’s death, the unwritten law of presidential succession has seen the VP become the new Commander-in-Chief, and this occasion was no different. However, just 10 months before Nixon stepped down, his original VP, Spiro Agnew, resigned from office following corruption charges.
This required Nixon to find a new VP, thanks to the newly passed 25th Amendment, which officially states that the VP can become president if the previous one dies or resigns. Nixon chose Gerald Ford, the GOP’s Senate Minority Leader, as his new Vice President. Once Nixon resigned, Ford became the 38th President in U.S. history and chose liberal Republican and former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President.
Ford’s presidency was problematic from the start, with the country facing an oil shortage, ongoing Cold War tensions, a struggling economy in its worst shape since the Great Depression, and the aftermath of U.S. troops withdrawing from Vietnam after a devastating defeat. As bad as this was, Ford’s luck would worsen, not only facing two assassination attempts within weeks but also making the decision to pardon Richard Nixon of all crimes related to the Watergate Scandal. Ford believed the country needed to move on from ‘Tricky Dick’ to address other issues, but this decision sent his poll numbers into a nosedive, from which he never fully recovered for the Election of 1976.
Reagan vs. Ford
With President Ford’s popularity plummeting after pardoning Nixon and other challenges in office, things got worse on December 12, 1974, when Ford received a phone call from Ronald Reagan. The former actor turned politician had spent much of the late 60s and 70s as Governor of California and was a leading figure in the Conservative wing of the Republican Party.
Reagan informed Ford that he would challenge him in the upcoming GOP primaries, with the Republican Party shifting away from the liberal/Eastern Establishment style of politics and moving more to the right since Barry Goldwater’s defeat in the election of 1964.
Many expected Reagan to use his charm and political experience to win over the people, but Ford managed to use Reagan’s previous proposals, which would hurt many Northern states, to win several primaries. Reagan responded by using similar tactics against Ford and, after winning the North Carolina primary, regained momentum, helping him win more primaries in the West and South.
Ultimately, by the time of the Republican National Convention, it was a close race for delegates between Ford and Reagan. Fortunately for the GOP, the decision was made on the first ballot, with Gerald Ford narrowly defeating Reagan to win the party’s nomination. With Nelson Rockefeller stepping away from politics, Ford chose Bob Dole, the Senator from Kansas, as his running mate.
The Democratic Nominees for the Election of 1976
With the fallout of Watergate, Nixon’s resignation, and their success in the ’74 midterm elections, the Democratic Party looked poised to reclaim the White House, and plenty of candidates were running:
- Jerry Brown – Governor of California
- Henry Jackson – Senator from Washington
- Mo Udall – U.S. Representative from Arizona
- Frank Church – Senator from Idaho
- George Wallace – Governor of Alabama
- Jimmy Carter – Governor of Georgia
At first, Jackson was seen as the frontrunner for the party’s nomination until he made the mistake of not competing in the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, opening the door for Jimmy Carter to build momentum and garner media attention.
The race quickly narrowed down to Carter, Udall, Jackson, and Wallace, but by the time of the New York, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania primaries, the peanut farmer turned Governor of Georgia had defeated his contemporaries to become the Democratic Party’s nominee for president.
When the time came to nominate Jimmy Carter at the Democratic National Convention in Madison Square Garden, he won on the first ballot and chose Walter Mondale, a fresh-faced Senator from Minnesota and a protégé of former VP and presidential candidate Hubert H. Humphrey, as his running mate.
Campaign Strategies and Political Gaffes
With Ford and Carter winning their party’s nominations, the election of 1976 officially began. Both men had distinct campaign strategies: Ford attempted to project leadership and experience in government while diligently working in the White House, a method commonly referred to as the ‘Rose Garden Strategy.’
Jimmy Carter ran on his status as a ‘DC Outsider,’ with his campaign focusing on ‘Restoring Honor & Integrity to Government,’ as many Americans were still resentful of Ford’s decisions in office, especially his choice to pardon Richard Nixon after Watergate.
For much of the election, Carter led with a 33% advantage in the polls, but things began to unravel when he gave an interview to Playboy Magazine in an attempt to come across as an average guy. Unfortunately, it did more harm than good when he talked about “committing adultery in my heart” and “looking at a lot of women with lust,” causing his numbers to tank with key demographics, including evangelicals and women voters.
The Debates and More Political Gaffes
Carter’s Playboy scandal emerged just as the presidential debates were about to begin, marking the first such debates since 1960. Despite issues arising from an audio malfunction with both candidates’ microphones, leading to awkward moments of silence for nearly half an hour, the biggest blunders came from the candidates’ answers and performances in the debates.
In the first debate, Carter refused to practice beforehand, leading to a less-than-stellar performance. Carter himself called it “the worst 20 minutes of my life.”
In the second debate, it was Ford who made a mistake when asked about Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. Ford had prepared for this type of question, intending to say, “The policy of this government is to recognize the independence, sovereignty, and autonomy of all Eastern European countries.” Unfortunately, when the time came to answer in front of a viewing audience, Ford instead said, “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe… and there never will be under a Ford administration,” making him appear out of touch with foreign affairs.
The blunders didn’t end with the presidential debates. Even the Vice Presidential debate saw a fatal mistake when Ford’s running mate, Bob Dole, mentioned that America’s involvement in conflicts like World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War was due to Democratic presidents. This comment actually harmed the Republican Party ticket.
Despite all this, the race remained tight, with Carter ahead by six points until November 1st, when Ford led Carter in the polls by just one percentage point. But to see who truly won this race, let’s go to the results.
The Results
By the time election day arrived, Jimmy Carter was declared the winner, becoming the 39th President in American history. Carter received 297 electoral votes to Gerald Ford’s 240, with at least one faithless elector in Washington voting for Ronald Reagan.
Although Ford won more states than Carter (Ford carried 27 states to Carter’s 23 plus DC), he still lost both the Electoral Vote and the Popular Vote, with Carter getting 50.1% and Ford winning just 48%, making this the closest presidential election since 1916.
Carter became the first Democrat since JFK to carry states in the Deep South and the first since LBJ to hold a majority of Southern states in an election. This was also the last time several states voted for a Democrat, with some not doing so again until 1992 or 2008.
And that was the election of 1976. Jimmy Carter became the first Democrat elected to the White House since 1964, and now he faces the challenges of dealing with the country’s problems, both at home and especially abroad. But more on that in the next article.
