I have a memory of several past Presidential elections. The year after my birth, Republican Dwight Eisenhower defeated his Democrat rival Adlai Stevenson. I was too young to remember that election or the one that followed when Eisenhower dispatched Stevenson again.
The first presidential contest I recall was in 1960. That featured Republican Richard Nixon and John Kennedy. Then I was in the 4th-grade at Fox Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia. I remember seeing their pictures in the local papers, both the morning addition of The Richmond Times Dispatch and the afternoon one, The Richmond News Leader. Back in those days, you received news largely from newspapers that objectively reported on the facts and left the opinions to the editorial pages.
However, in that election I didn’t understand much about it. My opinions were shaped by my parents, who tended to vote Republican. Then, any bias I had showed up in schoolyard taunts like “Nixon, Nixon” (and alternatively “Kennedy, Kennedy”) he’s your man, Kennedy (again alternatively “Nixon”) belongs in a garbage can.” Young and ill-informed, we kids favoring one or the other would chant this taunt based on the bias others had instilled in us. It was my first taste of how politics can get ugly at an early age. I recall seeing Kennedy’s picture in the papers the day after the election. It was a very close one. And I felt a twinge of disappointment having wasted my taunts on the loser.
By 1964 the contest was between Democrat Lyndon Johnson (who assumed the presidency after Kennedy was assassinated) and Republican Barry Goldwater. Johnson thoroughly defeated him. I was a bit more aware of the issues then. People were very concerned about how much Federal spending was occurring. Voters were also persuaded that Goldwater would provoke nuclear war with Russia. That was a defining issue.
By 1968, the Vietnam War was raging, and ironically Johnson was being blamed for that and the deaths of young Americans in combat. He elected not to run again and his Vice President Hubert Humphry—a happy warrior—lost to Nixon who had made a remarkable political comeback. The “new” Nixon promised to end the Vietnam War. He did and was rewarded in a lopsided victory in 1972 over Democrat George McGovern. It was the first election that I voted.
Nixon’s second term was marred with scandal, forcing him to resign or be impeached. His Vice President, Gerald Ford became President after Nixon was forced from office. But Ford lacked charisma and lost to an upstart southern Governor, Democrat Jimmy Carter, in another close election. Carter was a very decent man, but a feckless President, especially in dealing with Iran when the latter took American hostages after the fall of their Shah. Carter’s time in office was overshowed by a horrible economy and a disjointed foreign policy.
In 1980, an inspirational Republican governor, Ronald Reagan soundly defeated Carter. In 1984, Reagan would defeat Democrat Water Mondale in a landslide. Reagan had one of the more successful presidencies in my lifetime.
In 1988, his Vice President, George H.W. Bush would defeat the Democrat Michael Dukakis. Bush would have a very good run, presiding over a highly successful Gulf War, but with a sluggish economy, in 1992 Democrat Bill Clinton would oust him. Clinton would go on to reelection in 1996 over Republican Bob Dole but would also be scarred with salacious scandals.
In 2000, America would witness Bush’s son, George W. Bush, beat Clinton’s Vice President Al Gore in the closest election in our history. Bush’s chief contribution was leading the nation after 9-11. The downside was involving us in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. While he would win reelection in 2004 over Democrat John Kerry, Bush’s unpopularity would usher in the America’s first Black President in 2008 when Democrat Barack Obama defeated Republican John McCain.
Obama would embark on a huge and expensive social program that would win him reelection over Republican Mitt Romney in 2012. But by 2016, a very socially and politically divided nation—angry over many issues—elected a brash billionaire, Donald Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton. She made no secret of her disdain for Trump’s supporters whom she called “deplorables.” In 2020, following the COVID pandemic, Trumps’s successful economic record wasn’t enough to save him. He was castigated throughout his term and lost to Joe Biden in a very contentious race that has also characterized the current election between Trump and Biden’s Vice President, Democrat Kamala Harris.
Next Tuesday we’ll choose a new President. Will we opt for the popular conservative policies under Trump or the expansive progressive ones under Harris? Unfortunately, those issues are now secondary to Biden’s recent taunt that Trump supporters are “garbage.” Really? Somehow, I suspect the “deplorable garbage” voters will exchange schoolyard taunts for ballot ones.
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