In 1972 Richard M. Nixon won re-election over democratic challenger, George McGovern in an epic landslide victory. The magnitude of Nixon's win really can't be understated. He won 49 states while McGovern carried just one, Massachusetts. (Nixon, being a vindictive bastard, immediately shut down the Boston Navy Yard in retaliation.) It appeared the mandate was in place and Richard Nixon would have smooth sailing for the next four years.
Oops. Actually, what came next was division and chaos.
Within a year of that victory, Nixon's heir apparent, Vice President, Spiro Agnew resigned after pleading no contest to tax evasion charges. Then Nixon also quit rather than face impeachment by the House and probable conviction by the Senate for scores of heinous crimes. (Back in those quaint times both parties put country above partisanship, and everyone knew the man called, Tricky Dick was, as Garry Trudeau wrote, guilty, guilty, guilty.)
By the time the 1976 election rolled around Gerald Ford, who Nixon had named as his new VP, was the incumbent and he was challenged by a nationally unknown Georgia Governor, Jimmy Carter. Carter won in 1976 by the hair of his chinny, chin, chin, possibly because Ford, in the days before Presidential Immunity, had pardoned Nixon for any and all crimes committed while he was in and out of office.
To say this republic was different in 1976 is a gross understatement. When Carter was interviewed by, "Playboy," magazine during the campaign it caused a stir. When the interview came out and people read the married candidate's admission he had sometimes lusted for "other women," in his heart the press went wild with faux outrage. No, he didn't say he had actually committed adultery and he certainly didn't say he, "grabbed women by their pussies.' He simply said he had thought about it--which even psychiatrists of the day were forced to concede was normal. The scandal was such, "Playboy," commented it was obvious the mainstream media was more obsessed with sex than a magazine which featured photos of nude women and bawdy cartoons. A derogatory comment made by Carter about fellow democrat, Lyndon Johnson's ethics in the same interview, which should have been the real news, was largely ignored.
That's right, Jimmy Carter nearly lost the White House due in large part because he said he had thought about having sex with women other than his wife. Donald Trump has been elected twice after not only bragging about being a sexual predator, but getting nailed for it in both criminal and civil court.
In addition, Jimmy Carter was the first true evangelical Christian--and the last--to be elected President. In 1976 the general public was so unfamiliar with evangelicals, not to mention uncomfortable with them, at least one major news service had to reassure readers that when Jimmy Carter sought the advice of God, he wasn't actually hearing voices in his head answering him.
Despite the misgivings, especially among the democrats left wing Carter won in a way we will probably never see again. The democratic nominee lost the entire west coast, including California. He lost Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, and Illinois. However, he carried, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, and every former slave state in the nation except Virginia.
Now, thanks to the passage of time, we now know, James Earl Carter could well be the most, "Christian," President the nation has ever elected. His Christian faith not only drove his philosophy and personal behavior, but his policies as well. He brokered a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and a nuclear weapons deal with the Soviets. In addition, he gave up America's imperialist control of the Panama Canal. Name the last, "Christian," President who actually believed in spreading peace on earth without any strings attached.
Of course, in the end, that belief in a non-nationalist Christianity helped cost him the job. Four years later, in 1980 he was trounced by Ronald Reagan. He lost because OPEC decided to fuck him and us by creating an acute oil shortage. He also couldn't find a solution to runaway inflation, and then the final blow was delivered by the Iranians. When the former Shah of Iran came to the U.S. for cancer treatment, the new regime demanded the Carter administration extradite him back home so they could execute him. Carter refused and Iranian, "students," overran the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking the staff hostage. As the crisis continued over months, a rescue attempt was made, but it failed horribly.
Evangelical Christians began turning more and more to what we now call Christian Nationalism. They declared Reagan--a guy who refused to attend church and occasionally sought advice from astrologists, the Annointed One, a practice they continue to this day--thanks in part to their grotesquely twisted belief Jesus Christ was a right-wing republican.
Less than eight years after Reagan took office he came down with dementia and his wife Nancy was secretly calling the shots. Jimmy Carter, on the other hand, was literally building homes for the poor and helping fund medical care for the sick in undeveloped countries. He was doing the same and more while Bill Clinton was inserting imported cigars into the Monica Lewinski's private parts and Donald Trump was cornering E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room. He was still doing it when George W. and Dick Cheney were invading Iraq. He was still actively practicing his Christian faith as Donald Trump was attempting to extort the Ukrainian President into lying about Joe Bidens son. He was, no doubt, practicing his faith, however he could, right up until the moment he died yesterday.
This nation lost a decent and honest man yesterday--one who not only said he was a Christian, but through his charity demonstrated he was. In some ways he was a great President and in some ways his Presidency failed miserably. The right wing and some on the left have vilified him over the years. He didn't deserve it, but then, given what we condone and applaud these days, in truth, we didn't deserve him.
sic vita est
12-30-24
I enjoyed this one very much. Thank you.
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